scholarly journals Mid to Late Holocene Population Trends, Culture Change and Marine Resource Intensification in Western Alaska

ARCTIC ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H. Tremayne ◽  
William A. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Culture Change ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Population Crash ◽  
Cultural Traits

The goal of this project is to understand the influence of population size on human adaptation processes and culture change during the Mid to Late Holocene in Western Alaska. We use a database of 1180 radiocarbon dates ranging from 6000 to 1000 14C years BP and drawn from 805 archaeological components in Alaska to construct a proxy record for relative change in regional and Alaskan metapopulation sizes over time. Our analysis indicates that a major population crash coincided with the disappearance of the Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) and the subsequent emergence of the Norton tradition. The ASTt population began to decline around 3600 cal BP, and by 3500 cal BP it had disappeared almost completely from northern tundra habitats, though it persisted in coastal areas in Northwest and Southwest Alaska for another 500 years. The reduction in human population across Alaska after 3600 cal BP appears linked to a reduced carrying capacity that was perhaps driven by a caribou population crash. Such a shock would have increased population pressure and fostered increased reliance on marine resources, precipitating cultural changes associated with an increasingly complex maritime economy. The sharp decline in ASTt population size reduced the number of cultural role models for this population, resulting in the loss of some of the tradition’s characteristic cultural traits, while the influence of neighboring populations in southern Alaska and across the Bering Strait apparently increased, counteracting this attrition of cultural traits. Holistic explanations of the ASTt-Norton transition must take into account population size, ecological adaptation, and cultural transmission processes, as is true for cultural change more generally.

Population Fluctuation and the Adoption of Food Production in Prehistoric Korea: Using Radiocarbon Dates as a Proxy for Population Change

Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1761-1770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongje Oh ◽  
Matthew Conte ◽  
Seungho Kang ◽  
Jangsuk Kim ◽  
Jaehoon Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distribution ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Population Fluctuation ◽  
Intensive Agriculture ◽  
Rice Farming ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Transition To Agriculture

AbstractPopulation growth has been evoked both as a causal factor and consequence of the transition to agriculture. The use of radiocarbon (14C) dates as proxies for population allows for reevaluations of population as a variable in the transition to agriculture. In Korea, numerous rescue excavations during recent decades have offered a wealth of14C data for this application. A summed probability distribution (SPD) of14C dates is investigated to reconstruct population trends preceding and following adoptions of food production in prehistoric Korea. Important cultivars were introduced to Korea in two episodes: millets during the Chulmun Period (ca. 6000–1500 BCE) and rice during the Mumun Period (ca. 1500–300 BCE). The SPD suggests that while millet production had little impact on Chulmun populations, a prominent surge in population appears to have followed the introduction of rice. The case in prehistoric Korea demonstrates that the adoption of food production does not lead inevitably towards sustained population growth. Furthermore, the data suggest that the transition towards intensive agriculture need not occur under conditions of population pressure resulting from population growth. Rather, intensive rice farming in prehistoric Korea began during a period of population stagnation.

Discontinuity in the Fijian Archaeological Record Supported by a Bayesian Radiocarbon Model

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V Burley ◽  
Kevan Edinborough
Keyword(s):  
Culture Change ◽  
Sand Dunes ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Population Replacement ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sequential Model ◽  
Southwest Coast

The Fijian archaeological record is segmented into a series of phases based on distinctive transformations in ceramic forms. Interpretations of the mid-sequence (∼1500–1300 cal BP) transition between the Fijian Plainware phase and the Navatu phase are contentious, with alternative explanations of population replacement versus internal processes of culture change. We present and analyze a series of Fijian Plainware and Navatu phase AMS radiocarbon dates acquired from superimposed but stratigraphically separated occupation floors at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes site on the southwest coast of Viti Levu. Employing an OxCal Bayesian sequential model, we seek to date the temporal span for each occupation as well as the interval of time occurring between occupation floors. The latter is estimated to be 0–43 calendar years at 2σ probability. The magnitude of ceramic and other differences between the Fijian Plainware and Navatu phase occupations at Sigatoka is substantive. We conclude that the abruptness of this change can be explained only by exogenous replacement at the Sigatoka site.

Misinformation

2019 ◽  
pp. 117-155
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Selective Advantage ◽  
The Real ◽  
Broad View ◽  
Cultural Traits ◽  
Real Danger

This chapter takes a broad view of misinformation: the spread of factually false claims is as old as cultural transmission itself, and to assess the real danger represented by social media we need to understand what kind of cognitive triggers are activated by successful information, online or offline. The chapter critically reviews some hypotheses for which digital media are especially suited for the spreading of misinformation, and then it explores in detail the idea that some cultural traits possess features that make them particularly well suited to be retained and transmitted, conferring on them a selective advantage relative to other traits. From this perspective, misinformation can be manufactured building on features that make it attractive in an almost unconstrained way, whereas true news cannot, simply because it needs to correspond to reality. Misinformation can be designed to spread more than real information does,—whether this is consciously planned or not.

Cultural traits and cultural integration

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-358
Author(s):  
R. Lee Lyman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Traits

Modern efforts to model cultural transmission have struggled to identify a unit of cultural transmission and particular transmission processes. Anthropologists of the early twentieth century discussed cultural traits as units of transmission equivalent to recipes (rules and ingredients) and identified integration as a signature process and effect of transmission.

scholarly journals Late Holocene landscape change history related to the Alpine Fault determined from drowned forests in Lake Poerua, Westland, New Zealand

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2051-2064 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Langridge ◽  
R. Basili ◽  
L. Basher ◽  
A. P. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Lake Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Time Of Death ◽  
Fault Rupture ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Living Tree ◽  
Alpine Fault ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lowland Forests

Abstract. Lake Poerua is a small, shallow lake that abuts the scarp of the Alpine Fault on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Radiocarbon dates from drowned podocarp trees on the lake floor, a sediment core from a rangefront alluvial fan, and living tree ring ages have been used to deduce the late Holocene history of the lake. Remnant drowned stumps of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) at 1.7–1.9 m water depth yield a preferred time-of-death age at 1766–1807 AD, while a dryland podocarp and kahikatea stumps at 2.4–2.6 m yield preferred time-of-death ages of ca. 1459–1626 AD. These age ranges are matched to, but offset from, the timings of Alpine Fault rupture events at ca. 1717 AD, and either ca. 1615 or 1430 AD. Alluvial fan detritus dated from a core into the toe of a rangefront alluvial fan, at an equivalent depth to the maximum depth of the modern lake (6.7 m), yields a calibrated age of AD 1223–1413. This age is similar to the timing of an earlier Alpine Fault rupture event at ca. 1230 AD ± 50 yr. Kahikatea trees growing on rangefront fans give ages of up to 270 yr, which is consistent with alluvial fan aggradation following the 1717 AD earthquake. The elevation levels of the lake and fan imply a causal and chronological link between lake-level rise and Alpine Fault rupture. The results of this study suggest that the growth of large, coalescing alluvial fans (Dry and Evans Creek fans) originating from landslides within the rangefront of the Alpine Fault and the rise in the level of Lake Poerua may occur within a decade or so of large Alpine Fault earthquakes that rupture adjacent to this area. These rises have in turn drowned lowland forests that fringed the lake. Radiocarbon chronologies built using OxCal show that a series of massive landscape changes beginning with fault rupture, followed by landsliding, fan sedimentation and lake expansion. However, drowned Kahikatea trees may be poor candidates for intimately dating these events, as they may be able to tolerate water for several decades after metre-scale lake level rises have occurred.

Oasis or Mirage? Assessing the Role of Abrupt Climate Change in the Prehistory of the Southern Levant

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Maher ◽  
E.B. Banning ◽  
Michael Chazan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Culture Change ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
Lack Of Fit ◽  
Village Life

Few prehistoric developments have received as much attention as the origins of agriculture and its associated societal implications in the Near East. A great deal of this research has focused on correlating the timing of various cultural transformations leading up to farming and village life with dramatic climatic events. Using rigorously selected radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites and palaeoenvironmental datasets, we test the predominate models for culture change from the early Epipalaeolithic to the Pottery Neolithic (c. 23,000–8000 cal. bp) to explore how well they actually fit with well-documented and dated palaeoclimatic events, such as the Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas, Preboreal and 8.2 ka event. Our results demonstrate that these correlations are not always as clear or as consistent as some authors suggest. Rather, any relationships between climate change and culture change are more complicated than existing models allow. The lack of fit between these sources of data highlight our need for further and more precise chronological data from archaeological sites, additional localized palaeoclimatic data sets, and more nuanced models for integrating palaeoenvironmental data and prehistoric people's behaviours.

Radiocarbon dates as estimates of ancient human population size

Anthropocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle A. Chaput ◽  
Konrad Gajewski
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates

scholarly journals Pollen-inferred regional vegetation patterns and demographic change in Southern Anatolia through the Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 728-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Woodbridge ◽  
C Neil Roberts ◽  
Alessio Palmisano ◽  
Andrew Bevan ◽  
Stephen Shennan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Change ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Population Expansion ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Significant Area ◽  
The Mediterranean

Southern Anatolia is a highly significant area within the Mediterranean, particularly in terms of understanding how agriculture moved into Europe from neighbouring regions. This study uses pollen, palaeoclimate and archaeological evidence to investigate the relationships between demography and vegetation change, and to explore how the development of agriculture varied spatially. Data from 21 fossil pollen records have been transformed into forested, parkland and open vegetation types using cluster analysis. Patterns of change have been explored using non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) and through analysis of indicator groups, such as an Anthropogenic Pollen Index, and Simpson’s Diversity. Settlement data, which indicate population densities, and summed radiocarbon dates for archaeological sites have been used as a proxy for demographic change. The pollen and archaeological records confirm that farming can be detected earlier in Anatolia in comparison with many other parts of the Mediterranean. Dynamics of change in grazing indicators and the OJCV ( Olea, Juglans, Castanea and Vitis) index for cultivated trees appear to match cycles of population expansion and decline. Vegetation and land use change is also influenced by other factors, such as climate change. Investigating the early impacts of anthropogenic activities (e.g. woodcutting, animal herding, the use of fire and agriculture) is key to understanding how societies have modified the environment since the mid–late Holocene, despite the capacity of ecological systems to absorb recurrent disturbances. The results of this study suggest that shifting human population dynamics played an important role in shaping land cover in central and southern Anatolia.

Rapid neoglaciation on Ellesmere Island promoted by enhanced summer snowfall in a transient climate model simulation of the middle-late-Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1474-1480
Author(s):  
Stephen J Vavrus ◽  
Feng He ◽  
John E Kutzbach ◽  
William F Ruddiman
Keyword(s):  
Snow Depth ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
The Arctic Oscillation

Arctic neoglaciation following the Holocene Thermal Maximum is an important feature of late-Holocene climate. We investigated this phenomenon using a transient 6000-year simulation with the CESM-CAM5 climate model driven by orbital forcing, greenhouse gas concentrations, and a land use reconstruction. During the first three millennia analyzed here (6–3 ka), mean Arctic snow depth increases, despite enhanced greenhouse forcing. Superimposed on this secular trend is a very abrupt increase in snow depth between 5 and 4.9 ka on Ellesmere Island and the Greenland coasts, in rough agreement with the timing of observed neoglaciation in the region. This transition is especially extreme on Ellesmere Island, where end-of-summer snow coverage jumps from nearly 0 to virtually 100% in 1 year, and snow depth increases to the model’s imposed maximum within 15 years. This climatic shift involves more than the Milankovitch-based expectation of cooler summers causing less snow melt. Coincident with the onset of the cold regime are two consecutive summers with heavy snowfall on Ellesmere Island that help to short-circuit the normal seasonal melt cycle. These heavy snow seasons are caused by synoptic-scale, cyclonic circulation anomalies over the Arctic Ocean and Canadian Archipelago, including an extremely positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. Our study reveals that a climate model can produce sudden climatic transitions in this region prone to glacial inception and exceptional variability, due to a dynamic mechanism (more summer snowfall induced by an extreme circulation anomaly) that augments the traditional Milankovitch thermodynamic explanation of orbitally induced glacier development.

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