Stable Isotope Signatures in Modern Elk Teeth and Their Relevance for Paleoclimate Reconstruction

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Isotope signatures of oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) from herbivore tooth enamel carbonate have been established as useful paleoenvironmental proxies in a number of archaeological contexts. Elk remains are abundant in the European and North American archaeological records, therefore making them a valuable taxon for study. We selected 13 individuals of Cervus elaphus canadensis from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park collected over a period of ten years for isotopic analysis. These individuals were part of a herd that was introduced to the park in the early 2000s and is geographically constrained to the Cataloochee Valley of North Carolina. Our study evaluates the potential of tooth enamel carbonate from modern elk 2nd and 3rd molars as climate indicators (precipitation and temperature) with relevance for archaeological and paleoenvironmental interpretation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37272.0