A Land of Many Seasons: Bioarchaeology and the Medieval Climatic Anomaly Hypothesis in Central California

2016 ◽  
pp. 93-114
Author(s):  
Al W. Schwitalla ◽  
Terry L. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Central California ◽  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly

scholarly journals THE MORRO BAY FAUNA: EVIDENCE FOR A MEDIEVAL DROUGHTS REFUGIUM ON THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry L. Jones ◽  
Deborah A. Jones ◽  
Kacey Hadick ◽  
Kenneth W. Gobalet ◽  
Judith F. Porcasi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Species ◽  
Aquatic Birds ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
California Coast ◽  
Central California ◽  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Strong Focus ◽  
Late Transition ◽  
Fish And Shellfish

A robust collection of mammal, bird, fish, and shellfish remains from an 8,000-year residential sequence at Morro Bay, a small, isolated estuary on the central California coast, shows a strong focus on marine species during the Middle-Late Transition cultural phase (950–700 cal B.P.), which largely coincides with the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA). Previous studies have provided modest evidence for increased fishing and rabbit hunting during the MCA in adjacent regions, but the Morro Bay findings suggest a distinctive marine-focused subsistence refugium during the period of drought. Specifically, the sequence shows striking all-time peaks in marine and estuarine birds, fish NISP/m3, and fish/deer + rabbits during the MCA. Heavy exploitation of fish, aquatic birds, rabbits, and shellfish suggests that the bow and arrow, which seems to have arrived in the area at this time, had little impact on local subsistence strategies.

The Diablo Canyon Fauna: A Coarse-Grained Record of Trans-Holocene Foraging from the Central California Mainland Coast

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry L. Jones ◽  
Judith F. Porcasi ◽  
Jereme W. Gaeta ◽  
Brian F. Codding
Keyword(s):  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Costly Signaling ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Central California ◽  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Terrestrial Mammals ◽  
Northeastern Pacific

Decades ago the Diablo Canyon site (CA-SLO-2) on the central California mainland revealed one of the oldest and longest sequences (ca. 9400 radiocarbon years ago to contact) of coastal occupation on the shore of the northeastern Pacific. The artifacts from these important deposits were reported in detail by Greenwood (1972), but only a fraction of the site's faunal collections was analyzed in the original site report. Acquisition of 30 additional radiocarbon dates and analysis of the complete vertebrate fauna have produced a coarse-grained record of human foraging on the California mainland from 8300 cal B.C. to cal A.D. 1769. The temporally controlled faunal matrix, constituting one of the largest trans-Holocene records from western North America, speaks in a meaningful way to two significant issues in hunter-gatherer prehistory: early Holocene foraging strategies and economic intensification/resource depression over time. The site’s earliest component suggests a population invested in watercraft and intensely adapted to the interface of land and sea along the northeastern Pacific coastline. While boats were used to access offshore rocks, terrestrial mammals (e.g., black-tailed deer) were also of primary importance. Dominance of deer throughout the Diablo occupations is inconsistent with recent generalizations about big-game hunting as costly signaling in western North American prehistory. Diachronic variation, correlated with superimposed burials that show growth in human populations through the Holocene, includes: (1) modest incremental changes in most taxa, suggesting resource stability and increasing diet breadth; (2) gradual but significant variation in a few taxa, including the flightless duck which was hunted into extinction and eventually replaced by sea otters; (3) punctuated, multidirectional change during the late Holocene related to historic contingencies of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly and protohistoric disruptions.

scholarly journals A pluvial episode identified in arid Australia during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 167-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.J. Cohen ◽  
G.C. Nanson ◽  
J.D. Jansen ◽  
L.A. Gliganic ◽  
J.-H. May ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly

On the Medieval Climatic Anomaly

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 627
Author(s):  
Stine
Keyword(s):  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly

On the Medieval Climatic Anomaly

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Stine
Keyword(s):  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly

Record of the Sedimentary Dynamics and Climatic Variability Within the Sedimentary Filling of Mchiguig Wetland During the Late Holocene

2022 ◽  
pp. 252-266
Author(s):  
Elhoucine Essefi
Keyword(s):  
Solar Activity ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Climatic Anomaly ◽  
Sedimentary Dynamics ◽  
Atmospheric Factors ◽  
Sun Activity ◽  
Great Acceleration

This work aimed to study the cyclicity of the geochemical chemical parameters and the carbonate percentages along a 59 cm core from the sebkha of Mchiguig, Central Tunisia. In fact, from the bottom upwards, six climatic phases were recorded including the Warming Present (Great Acceleration), the Late Little Ice Age (Anthropocene), the Early Little Ice Age, the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, the Dark Age, and the Roman Warm Period. In fact, the spectral analysis of the studied parameters visualized many cycles. Those cycles are related to sun activity, oceanographic, and atmospheric factors. Solar activity generated 500 yr cycles; however, the oceanographic circulation generated other cycles of 1500 yr and 700-800 yr. The 1500 yr cycle may be the result of the solar activity and NAO-like circulation.

Climate Variability in East-Central California during the Past 1000 Years Reflected by High-Resolution Geochemical and Isotopic Records from Owens Lake Sediments

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Chun Li ◽  
James L. Bischoff ◽  
Teh-Lung Ku ◽  
Steven P. Lund ◽  
Lowell D. Stott
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Depositional History ◽  
Central California ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Owens Lake ◽  
Medieval Climatic Anomaly ◽  
The Past ◽  
Isotopic Records

Core OL-97A, retrieved from the depocenter of Owens Lake, represents a depositional history spanning the past 1000 yr. Among the 17 elements analyzed in the acid-leachable fractions of 315 salt-free samples (at ∼3 yr/sample), Mg and Li, which come chiefly from authigenic Mg-hydroxy-silicates, were found to have concentration variations reflecting lake salinity and climatic changes during the past. A total of 231 isotopic measurements on carbonates from the same samples in the upper 181 cm show that δ18O and δ13C values range from −5.66 to 0.12‰ (PDB) and 1.38 to 4.28‰ (PDB), respectively. The rate of change with time in δ18O records the rate of change in lake's volume due to climate fluctuations, whereas variations in δ13C reflect mainly variations in biological productivity, nutrient supply, and dissolved carbonate in the lake. Results indicate an effectively dry climate between A.D. 950 and 1220, corresponding to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (a warm period in northern Europe), during which Owens Lake approached playa conditions. Wet climates prevailed during A.D. 1220–1480, producing relatively large and deep lakes. Beginning about A.D. 1550, the regional climate turned colder but had frequently oscillating precipitation. Six wet/dry cycles with ∼50-yr duration occurred between A.D. 1480 and 1760, during the later half of which Owens Lake became a playa. Since ∼A.D. 1880, the lake level has steadily dropped from its historic high stand under strong impact of human activity.

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