Albert E . Fulton II | University at Buffalo, State University of New York (original) (raw)
Papers by Albert E . Fulton II
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2019
We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extr... more We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle lake in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared chord distance analyses of the pollen data support these interpretations. The basal radiocarbon age from the core (17 540 cal years BP) is rejected as being anomalously old, based on biostratigraphic anomalies in the core and the date’s incongruity with respect to the accepted regional deglaciation chronology. We reason that this erroneous age estimate resulted from the redeposition of middle-Wisconsin-age fossils by the ice sheet, mixed with the remains of plants that existed as the kettle lake formed at ca. 10 940 cal years BP by ice block ablation. Thereafter, the kettle lake became a reliable repository of Holocene-age fossils, documen...
GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA - 2017, 2017
Quaternary Research, 2020
We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of th... more We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt–clay boundary and a sand mode. Spatial grouping analysis suggests that tills can be divided into six groups, each with different textures and clay mineral compositions that vary systematically down-ice. The similarity among groups with respect to the silt–clay mode and clay mineralogy argues for a common origin for the fines—illite-rich lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. Fine-textured sediments were probably entrained, transported, and deposited down-ice as till, which also becomes sandier and enriched in kaolinite, reflecting increasing mixing wit...
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or...
Quaternary Research, 2020
We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of th... more We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt-clay boundary and a sand mode. Spatial grouping analysis suggests that tills can be divided into six groups, each with different textures and clay mineral compositions that vary systematically down-ice. The similarity among groups with respect to the silt-clay mode and clay mineralogy argues for a common origin for the fines-illite-rich lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. Fine-textured sediments were probably entrained, transported, and deposited down-ice as till, which also becomes sandier and enriched in kaolinite, reflecting increasing mixing with shallow sandstone bedrock with distance from the lacustrine clay source. Clayey tills on the flanks of the Saginaw terrain may reflect proglacial ponding against nearby uplands. A process model of progressive down-ice mixing of preexisting fine lake sediments with crushed/abraded sandstone bedrock helps to better explain till textures compared with a purely crushing/abrasion process model.
The Holocene, 2022
Temperate forested ecosystems of northeastern North America have been subjected to rapid-onset an... more Temperate forested ecosystems of northeastern North America have
been subjected to rapid-onset and prolonged climate events as well as
major landscape disturbance by European colonists and their
descendants. In contrast, prior impacts of Native Americans in shaping
these ecosystems remain unclear. To investigate this topic, we selected
a paleoecological site located on the periphery of intensive prehistoric
agricultural settlement in Iroquoia, western New York State, USA. Our
analyses of multiple proxies (pollen, charcoal, stable carbon isotopes,
loss-on-ignition, grain size, and magnetic susceptibility) from a kettlepeatland
sediment core provide a record of hydroclimatic variability and
phases of emerging anthropogenic landscape modification. Additional
insights are provided by principal component analysis and time-series
analysis of pollen data, and archaeological radiocarbon chronology
analysis. We identified three temporal phases prior to Euro-American
settlement. Phase 1 (4400 to 2500 BP) records quasi-cyclic alternation in
forest species composition reflecting centennial-scale variability in fire
frequency, largely modulated by climate change. Phase 2 (2500 to 750
BP) chronicles a first-order increase in fire-tolerant tree species
attendant upon the earliest regional archaeological evidence for maize.
Phase 3 (750 to 150 BP), coeval with the emergence of fully agricultural
Iroquoian societies, documents a dramatic increase in herbaceous pollen
taxa and ample proxy indicators of ecosystem disturbance. This study
demonstrates the utility of synthesizing statistical analyses of multiple
paleoecological proxies with key trends revealed from recent revisions to
the archaeological chronology of cultigen domestication in order to reveal
prehistoric indigenous land-use signals that are distinguishable from
paleoclimate signals.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2020
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or...
Lake States Fire Science Consortium Research Brief LSFSC RB-21-5, 2021
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetati... more Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetation patterns related to Native American land-use practices prior to widespread Euro-American settlement. This study's use of an expanded range of vegetation related variables derived from LSR sources, combined with archaeological site distribution data, and analysed using complementary multivariate statistical methods, has provided new insights on the spatial and compositional dynamics of the vegetation of central New York State, USA, an area historically occupied by the Cayuga and Onondaga nations. The upland vegetation of the study area was modulated primarily by fire, followed by soil fertility, and canopy disturbance. Clear signals of Native American agriculture and silviculture were associated with a number of fire-tolerant vegetation communities that were geographically concentrated within an area most conducive to maize cultivation. Numerical classification partitioned the LSR vegetation data into distinct community types: mesophytic upland forest and xerophytic upland forest. This latter type was secondarily differentiated into an unequivocally anthropogenic landscape (Iroquoian agricultural mosaic) and a series of fire-tolerant forest and savanna communities with possible connections to silvicultural land-use practices. Distance analysis of ordination scores indicated statistically-significant spatial trends associated with the distribution of archaeological sites, with disturbance most heavily concentrated within 6 km of most sites. Given the success of this methodology, we recommend that this integrated approach become the standard for LSR-based research of Native American vegetation disturbance.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European Amer... more Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European American settlement are critical sources of information on past environmental controls of forest dynamics in eastern North America. Embedded within these historical data sources is evidence of prior Native American land use. This study expands on previous LSR-based analyses of Seneca and Iroquoian populations’ impacts on the temperate forests of west central New York State. We use an enhanced array of geospatial LSR vegetation data beyond conventional bearing tree data and implement, for the first time, combined indirect ordination of vegetation data along major environmental gradients and numerical classification of discrete upland vegetation communities. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed three main drivers of vegetation dynamics in the study area: (1) fire frequency (53.7 percent of total variance); (2) soil productivity (22.6 percent variance); and (3) Native American land use (15.9 percent variance). Agglomerative hierarchical clustering reinforced the primacy of these gradients by delineating two major forest types differentiated primarily by fire frequency and secondarily by soil productivity. Seneca and Iroquoian agricultural villages were preferentially concentrated within fire-tolerant dry upland forests on high-productivity soils within the interior portion of the Lake Ontario Lowland. Fire-tolerant, dry upland forests on low-productivity soils were situated on the adjacent Appalachian Plateau, which was likely used by indigenous populations for silvicultural land-use activities. Native American disturbance of temperate forested ecosystems likely varied across the diverse culture areas of eastern North America, with the Seneca and Iroquois representing an extreme end-member within a broad continuum of anthropogenic disturbance.
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale
anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of
maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or more proxy indicators of amplified fire regimes (increased soil charcoal deposition, higher lake sediment charcoal influx, greater percentages of fire-tolerant pollen taxa), decreased forest canopy density (increased herbaceous pollen
taxa, enriched speleothem d13C values), paleopopulation growth (increased archaeological 14C date frequencies), and dietary innovations (increased cultigen 14C date frequencies, enriched pottery residue d13C values). Although prominent climate excursions also greatly influenced forest species composition, forest structure, and disturbance regimes, demographic and cultural factors impinging on Native American subsistence regimes and settlement patterns became increasingly important modulators of ecological processes over the course of the Holocene.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2019
We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extr... more We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared-chord distance analyses of the pollen data support these interpretations. The basal radiocarbon age from the core (17,540 cal yr BP) is rejected as being anomalously old, based on biostratigraphic anomalies in the core and the date’s incongruity with respect to the accepted regional deglaciation chronology. We reason that this erroneous age estimate resulted from the redeposition of Middle Wisconsin- age fossils by the ice sheet, mixed with the remains of plants that existed as the kettle lake formed at ca. 10,940 cal yr BP by ice block ablation. Thereafter, the kettle lake became a reliable repository of Holocene- age fossils, documenting a mature boreal forest that existed until 10,640 cal yr BP, followed by a pine-dominated mixed forest, an early variant of the mixed conifer- hardwood forest that persists to the present day. Our study demonstrates that researchers investigating kettle lakes, a common depositional archive for plant fossils in deglaciated landscapes, should exercise caution in interpreting the basal (late Pleistocene/early Holocene- age) part of lake sediment cores.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2019
Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European Amer... more Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European American settlement are critical sources of information on past environmental controls of forest dynamics in eastern North America. Embedded within these historical data sources is evidence of prior Native American land use. This study expands on previous LSR-based analyses of Seneca and Iroquoian populations’ impacts on the temperate forests of west central New York State. We use an enhanced array of geospatial LSR vegetation data beyond conventional bearing tree data and implement, for the first time, combined indirect ordination of vegetation data along major environmental gradients and numerical classification of discrete
upland vegetation communities. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed three main drivers of vegetation dynamics in the study area: (1) fire frequency (53.7 percent of total variance); (2) soil productivity (22.6 percent variance); and (3) Native American land use (15.9 percent variance).
Agglomerative hierarchical clustering reinforced the primacy of these gradients by delineating two major forest types differentiated primarily by fire frequency and secondarily by soil productivity. Seneca and
Iroquoian agricultural villages were preferentially concentrated within fire-tolerant dry upland forests on high-productivity soils within the interior portion of the Lake Ontario Lowland. Fire-tolerant, dry upland
forests on low-productivity soils were situated on the adjacent Appalachian Plateau, which was likely used by indigenous populations for silvicultural land-use activities. Native American disturbance of
temperate forested ecosystems likely varied across the diverse culture areas of eastern North America, with the Seneca and Iroquois representing an extreme end-member within a broad continuum of
anthropogenic disturbance.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2019
Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetati... more Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetation patterns related to Native American land-use practices prior to widespread Euro-American settlement. This study's use of an expanded range of vegetation related variables derived from LSR sources, combined with archaeological site distribution data, and analysed using complementary multivariate statistical methods, has provided new insights on the spatial and compositional dynamics of the vegetation of central New York State, USA, an area historically occupied by the Cayuga and Onondaga nations. The upland vegetation of the study area was modulated primarily by fire, followed by soil fertility, and canopy disturbance. Clear signals of Native American agriculture and silviculture were associated with a number of fire-tolerant vegetation communities that were geographically concentrated within an area most conducive to maize cultivation. Numerical classification partitioned the LSR vegetation data into distinct community types: mesophytic upland forest and xerophytic upland forest. This latter type was secondarily differentiated into an unequivocally anthropogenic landscape (Iroquoian agricultural mosaic) and a series of fire-tolerant forest and savanna communities with possible connections to silvicultural land-use practices. Distance analysis of ordination scores indicated statistically-significant spatial trends associated with the distribution of archaeological sites, with disturbance most heavily concentrated within 6 km of most sites. Given the success of this methodology, we recommend that this integrated approach become the standard for LSR-based research of Native American vegetation disturbance.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2019
We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extr... more We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle lake in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared chord distance analyses of the pollen data support these interpretations. The basal radiocarbon age from the core (17 540 cal years BP) is rejected as being anomalously old, based on biostratigraphic anomalies in the core and the date’s incongruity with respect to the accepted regional deglaciation chronology. We reason that this erroneous age estimate resulted from the redeposition of middle-Wisconsin-age fossils by the ice sheet, mixed with the remains of plants that existed as the kettle lake formed at ca. 10 940 cal years BP by ice block ablation. Thereafter, the kettle lake became a reliable repository of Holocene-age fossils, documen...
GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA - 2017, 2017
Quaternary Research, 2020
We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of th... more We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt–clay boundary and a sand mode. Spatial grouping analysis suggests that tills can be divided into six groups, each with different textures and clay mineral compositions that vary systematically down-ice. The similarity among groups with respect to the silt–clay mode and clay mineralogy argues for a common origin for the fines—illite-rich lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. Fine-textured sediments were probably entrained, transported, and deposited down-ice as till, which also becomes sandier and enriched in kaolinite, reflecting increasing mixing wit...
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or...
Quaternary Research, 2020
We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of th... more We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt-clay boundary and a sand mode. Spatial grouping analysis suggests that tills can be divided into six groups, each with different textures and clay mineral compositions that vary systematically down-ice. The similarity among groups with respect to the silt-clay mode and clay mineralogy argues for a common origin for the fines-illite-rich lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. Fine-textured sediments were probably entrained, transported, and deposited down-ice as till, which also becomes sandier and enriched in kaolinite, reflecting increasing mixing with shallow sandstone bedrock with distance from the lacustrine clay source. Clayey tills on the flanks of the Saginaw terrain may reflect proglacial ponding against nearby uplands. A process model of progressive down-ice mixing of preexisting fine lake sediments with crushed/abraded sandstone bedrock helps to better explain till textures compared with a purely crushing/abrasion process model.
The Holocene, 2022
Temperate forested ecosystems of northeastern North America have been subjected to rapid-onset an... more Temperate forested ecosystems of northeastern North America have
been subjected to rapid-onset and prolonged climate events as well as
major landscape disturbance by European colonists and their
descendants. In contrast, prior impacts of Native Americans in shaping
these ecosystems remain unclear. To investigate this topic, we selected
a paleoecological site located on the periphery of intensive prehistoric
agricultural settlement in Iroquoia, western New York State, USA. Our
analyses of multiple proxies (pollen, charcoal, stable carbon isotopes,
loss-on-ignition, grain size, and magnetic susceptibility) from a kettlepeatland
sediment core provide a record of hydroclimatic variability and
phases of emerging anthropogenic landscape modification. Additional
insights are provided by principal component analysis and time-series
analysis of pollen data, and archaeological radiocarbon chronology
analysis. We identified three temporal phases prior to Euro-American
settlement. Phase 1 (4400 to 2500 BP) records quasi-cyclic alternation in
forest species composition reflecting centennial-scale variability in fire
frequency, largely modulated by climate change. Phase 2 (2500 to 750
BP) chronicles a first-order increase in fire-tolerant tree species
attendant upon the earliest regional archaeological evidence for maize.
Phase 3 (750 to 150 BP), coeval with the emergence of fully agricultural
Iroquoian societies, documents a dramatic increase in herbaceous pollen
taxa and ample proxy indicators of ecosystem disturbance. This study
demonstrates the utility of synthesizing statistical analyses of multiple
paleoecological proxies with key trends revealed from recent revisions to
the archaeological chronology of cultigen domestication in order to reveal
prehistoric indigenous land-use signals that are distinguishable from
paleoclimate signals.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2020
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or...
Lake States Fire Science Consortium Research Brief LSFSC RB-21-5, 2021
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetati... more Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetation patterns related to Native American land-use practices prior to widespread Euro-American settlement. This study's use of an expanded range of vegetation related variables derived from LSR sources, combined with archaeological site distribution data, and analysed using complementary multivariate statistical methods, has provided new insights on the spatial and compositional dynamics of the vegetation of central New York State, USA, an area historically occupied by the Cayuga and Onondaga nations. The upland vegetation of the study area was modulated primarily by fire, followed by soil fertility, and canopy disturbance. Clear signals of Native American agriculture and silviculture were associated with a number of fire-tolerant vegetation communities that were geographically concentrated within an area most conducive to maize cultivation. Numerical classification partitioned the LSR vegetation data into distinct community types: mesophytic upland forest and xerophytic upland forest. This latter type was secondarily differentiated into an unequivocally anthropogenic landscape (Iroquoian agricultural mosaic) and a series of fire-tolerant forest and savanna communities with possible connections to silvicultural land-use practices. Distance analysis of ordination scores indicated statistically-significant spatial trends associated with the distribution of archaeological sites, with disturbance most heavily concentrated within 6 km of most sites. Given the success of this methodology, we recommend that this integrated approach become the standard for LSR-based research of Native American vegetation disturbance.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European Amer... more Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European American settlement are critical sources of information on past environmental controls of forest dynamics in eastern North America. Embedded within these historical data sources is evidence of prior Native American land use. This study expands on previous LSR-based analyses of Seneca and Iroquoian populations’ impacts on the temperate forests of west central New York State. We use an enhanced array of geospatial LSR vegetation data beyond conventional bearing tree data and implement, for the first time, combined indirect ordination of vegetation data along major environmental gradients and numerical classification of discrete upland vegetation communities. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed three main drivers of vegetation dynamics in the study area: (1) fire frequency (53.7 percent of total variance); (2) soil productivity (22.6 percent variance); and (3) Native American land use (15.9 percent variance). Agglomerative hierarchical clustering reinforced the primacy of these gradients by delineating two major forest types differentiated primarily by fire frequency and secondarily by soil productivity. Seneca and Iroquoian agricultural villages were preferentially concentrated within fire-tolerant dry upland forests on high-productivity soils within the interior portion of the Lake Ontario Lowland. Fire-tolerant, dry upland forests on low-productivity soils were situated on the adjacent Appalachian Plateau, which was likely used by indigenous populations for silvicultural land-use activities. Native American disturbance of temperate forested ecosystems likely varied across the diverse culture areas of eastern North America, with the Seneca and Iroquois representing an extreme end-member within a broad continuum of anthropogenic disturbance.
Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit,... more Beyond its centrality to debates on the definition of a global chronostratigraphic geologic unit, the Anthropocene concept has served as a useful theoretical construct with which to assess regional-scale
anthropogenic impacts on prehistoric ecological systems through the recognition of earlier “Paleoanthropocene” events predating the onset of modern, industrial, global-scale effects. To this end, we present data derived from the archaeological and paleoecological records of the lower Great Lakes region of northeastern North America to evaluate the nature, magnitude, and timing of Native American land use impacts over the course of the Holocene. We identified three phases of emerging and progressively intensifying anthropogenic influence coinciding with initial human paleopopulation increase (5400–2500 BP), regional introduction of maize (Zea mays; 2500–1100 BP), and the regional adoption of
maize-based agriculture (1100–300 BP). Each phase was accompanied by notable shifts in one or more proxy indicators of amplified fire regimes (increased soil charcoal deposition, higher lake sediment charcoal influx, greater percentages of fire-tolerant pollen taxa), decreased forest canopy density (increased herbaceous pollen
taxa, enriched speleothem d13C values), paleopopulation growth (increased archaeological 14C date frequencies), and dietary innovations (increased cultigen 14C date frequencies, enriched pottery residue d13C values). Although prominent climate excursions also greatly influenced forest species composition, forest structure, and disturbance regimes, demographic and cultural factors impinging on Native American subsistence regimes and settlement patterns became increasingly important modulators of ecological processes over the course of the Holocene.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2019
We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extr... more We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared-chord distance analyses of the pollen data support these interpretations. The basal radiocarbon age from the core (17,540 cal yr BP) is rejected as being anomalously old, based on biostratigraphic anomalies in the core and the date’s incongruity with respect to the accepted regional deglaciation chronology. We reason that this erroneous age estimate resulted from the redeposition of Middle Wisconsin- age fossils by the ice sheet, mixed with the remains of plants that existed as the kettle lake formed at ca. 10,940 cal yr BP by ice block ablation. Thereafter, the kettle lake became a reliable repository of Holocene- age fossils, documenting a mature boreal forest that existed until 10,640 cal yr BP, followed by a pine-dominated mixed forest, an early variant of the mixed conifer- hardwood forest that persists to the present day. Our study demonstrates that researchers investigating kettle lakes, a common depositional archive for plant fossils in deglaciated landscapes, should exercise caution in interpreting the basal (late Pleistocene/early Holocene- age) part of lake sediment cores.
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2019
Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European Amer... more Land survey records (LSRs) describing forest species composition prior to extensive European American settlement are critical sources of information on past environmental controls of forest dynamics in eastern North America. Embedded within these historical data sources is evidence of prior Native American land use. This study expands on previous LSR-based analyses of Seneca and Iroquoian populations’ impacts on the temperate forests of west central New York State. We use an enhanced array of geospatial LSR vegetation data beyond conventional bearing tree data and implement, for the first time, combined indirect ordination of vegetation data along major environmental gradients and numerical classification of discrete
upland vegetation communities. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling revealed three main drivers of vegetation dynamics in the study area: (1) fire frequency (53.7 percent of total variance); (2) soil productivity (22.6 percent variance); and (3) Native American land use (15.9 percent variance).
Agglomerative hierarchical clustering reinforced the primacy of these gradients by delineating two major forest types differentiated primarily by fire frequency and secondarily by soil productivity. Seneca and
Iroquoian agricultural villages were preferentially concentrated within fire-tolerant dry upland forests on high-productivity soils within the interior portion of the Lake Ontario Lowland. Fire-tolerant, dry upland
forests on low-productivity soils were situated on the adjacent Appalachian Plateau, which was likely used by indigenous populations for silvicultural land-use activities. Native American disturbance of
temperate forested ecosystems likely varied across the diverse culture areas of eastern North America, with the Seneca and Iroquois representing an extreme end-member within a broad continuum of
anthropogenic disturbance.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2019
Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetati... more Historic land survey records (LSRs) offer important details on local-and landscape-scale vegetation patterns related to Native American land-use practices prior to widespread Euro-American settlement. This study's use of an expanded range of vegetation related variables derived from LSR sources, combined with archaeological site distribution data, and analysed using complementary multivariate statistical methods, has provided new insights on the spatial and compositional dynamics of the vegetation of central New York State, USA, an area historically occupied by the Cayuga and Onondaga nations. The upland vegetation of the study area was modulated primarily by fire, followed by soil fertility, and canopy disturbance. Clear signals of Native American agriculture and silviculture were associated with a number of fire-tolerant vegetation communities that were geographically concentrated within an area most conducive to maize cultivation. Numerical classification partitioned the LSR vegetation data into distinct community types: mesophytic upland forest and xerophytic upland forest. This latter type was secondarily differentiated into an unequivocally anthropogenic landscape (Iroquoian agricultural mosaic) and a series of fire-tolerant forest and savanna communities with possible connections to silvicultural land-use practices. Distance analysis of ordination scores indicated statistically-significant spatial trends associated with the distribution of archaeological sites, with disturbance most heavily concentrated within 6 km of most sites. Given the success of this methodology, we recommend that this integrated approach become the standard for LSR-based research of Native American vegetation disturbance.