HR: 1340h
AN: GC33A-1252    [Abstracts]
TI: Bristlecone Pine (BCP) Paleoclimatic Model for Archaeological Patterns in the White Mountain of California
AU: * Ababneh, L
EM: linah@ltrr.arizona.edu
AF: Deep Springs College, HC 72 Box 45001 Deep Springs, CA, Dyer, NV 9803 United States
AB: Climatic factors like temperature and precipitation play a major role in tree growth and the resulting tree-ring widths. Temperature governs tree ring growth patterns at upper elevation subalpine trees in the presence of sufficient amount of soil moisture. The tie between paleoclimate and archaeology is an evolving interdisciplinary field of study that aims to facilitate a better understanding of archaeological patterns and settlements through climatic variability and how it altered human settlements. In this research, I use a paleoclimatic model; reconstructed temperature based on tree-ring widths of bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California to explain aboriginal subsistence-settlements in Owens Valley and the White Mountains of California. Temperature reconstruction is compared visually and statistically with archaeological 14C dates and precipitation reconstruction from the same region. Basic results suggest the rule of water availability in the frequency and intensity of settlements, as 88% of the 14C dates fall within drought periods. Two dates, A.D. 1662 and A.D. 1530 fall within drought periods, while the rest cluster around precipitation maxima. The magnitude of the drought period is a possible reason for the presence of those settlements during drought periods. I provide an explanation of the observed subsistence-settlements and tie those patterns with climate variability in the area within the past 900 years. The model presents a new approach to the applications of tree-ring analysis in understanding archaeological settlements in Eastern Sierra.
DE: 1817 Extreme events
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005