Using Fish Remains from Paisley Caves, Oregon to Explore Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways and Lake Level History in the Chewaucan Basin over the Past 14,000+ Calendar Years

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Paisley Caves holds some of the earliest evidence for human occupation in North America. The site’s fish remains have received only limited attention before now. Our pilot study sought to assess the potential for using a sample of the fish remains to help reconstruct lake level history, better understand regional paleoenvironments, and gain insights on forager adaptations over the ~14,000 years of human occupation. Besides morphological analysis (and body size estimates), aDNA and C/O isotopes were studied. Recent reconstruction of Pleistocene lake history provided a framework for developing expectations of fish response. An age-depth model was created from 109 radiocarbon dates. A total of 3,342 fish remains from 6 test units were identified. Tui chub (Siphateles bicolor) dominates with small frequencies of rainbow/redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) present. When grouped by climate interval, measures of overall fish abundance, salmonid abundance, and tui chub body size are largely consistent with expectations of lake levels for the Bølling/Allerød, Early, Mid, and Late Holocene, but not for the Younger Dryas. A sample of 32 tui chub bones revealed a similar correspondence for expected water conditions from δ13Capa and δ18Oapa isotope values.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24415