Oxygen isotope analysis of California mussel shells: seasonality and human sedentism at an 8,200-year-old shell midden on Santa Rosa Island,California |
| |
Authors: | Nicholas P. Jew Jon M. Erlandson Torben C. Rick Leslie Reeder-Myers |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403-1224, USA 2. Museum of Natural & Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403-1224, USA 3. Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA 4. Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 75275, USA
|
| |
Abstract: | To evaluate coastal settlement and land use strategies among maritime hunter-gatherers, we analyzed oxygen isotope (δ18O) data from 131 marine carbonate samples from 21 California mussel (Mytilus californianus) shells obtained from a large ~8,200-year-old shell midden (CA-SRI-666) on California’s Santa Rosa Island. Seasonal distributions of the isotopic data were assigned using a paleo-sea surface temperature model created by comparing modern sea surface temperatures (SST) to a fully profiled ~8,200-year-old shell. For 20 additional shells, we used two sampling strategies to compare season-of-harvest inferences and explore whether the Early Holocene site occupants were sedentary. Estimated season-of-harvest differed by 35 % between the two sampling methods, corroborating recent isotope analysis of an 8,800-year-old shell midden on San Miguel Island. Shellfish appear to have been collected year-round at CA-SRI-666 from intertidal or subtidal water temperatures similar to modern SST in the vicinity of eastern Santa Rosa Island. The isotope results are consistent with other evidence from CA-SRI-666 that suggest that the site served as a residential base for relatively sedentary maritime people. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|