Climate Change and Human Responses

Climate forcing has been suggested as a possible explanation for dispersal/extinction of hominins in the Southern Levant during the Middle Paleolithic (MP). Evidence from fauna has produced ambiguous results, suggesting that inter-site variation in Last Glacial faunas reflect spatial differences within the region. This study presents a multivariate approach to test the effect of climate change on mammalian communities during the Last Glacial in the Levant and analyzes the distribution of micro and macromammals from the site in the Levant spanning Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6-2 using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMMDS). Results indicate that inter-site differences in faunal composition of Middle Paleolithic sites in the Levant do not reflect an abrupt climate change but are consistent with a spatial environmental mosaic within the Levant. This suggests that although hominin taxa show evidence of turnover during the Late Pleistocene in the Levant, we need to be more cautious about the role of climate forcing in the process.

The Pleistocene and modern mammal faunas of southern North America strongly differ in taxonomic makeup, distribution, and physiognomy. The former faunal complexes are part of the ancient landscape in which early peoples may have interacted. Customarily, differences between the Pleistocene and modern faunas have been attributed to climate change or human-impact driven extinctions. Mexico’s Pleistocene mammal record is analyzed in time and space, emphasizing the study of the Rancholabrean Chronofauna, which is the most recent North American Land Mammal Age fauna. Palynological and paleosol records are reviewed as an independent check of the interpretation derived from mammals. The integration of the information provides the basis for a proposal regarding Late Pleistocene climate change trends across the country, and whether people were involved in the mammalian community response to climate change in terms of extinction or biogeographic shifting within and outside the country. This approach supports an explanation of the differences between southern North America’s Pleistocene and modern mammal faunas.

Zooarchaeological assemblages from northern Palawan, Philippines document the changing composition of the island’s mammal fauna during the Late Quaternary. Ille Cave site has a well-dated archaeological sequence dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Holocene that includes identifications of tiger, two species of deer and a canid. This faunal record is compared with that of Pasimbahan Cave, which has an assemblage of Middle to Late Holocene age based on artifact associations, biostratigraphic correlation and preliminary radiocarbon dates. At least three large mammals were extirpated in the Holocene. The asynchronous timing of the extinctions signals different trajectories and dynamics of extinction, likely resulting from a combination of climatic, geographic and anthropogenic factors. These records also chronicle human response to these environmental changes. As deer populations on the island diminish by the Middle Holocene, human foragers in the Dewil Valley switch to the Palawan bearded pig as their main large mammal resource.

Climate and sea level constrain the abundance of primary producers (plants) and habitat size. These directly affect the seasonal density and distribution of animal species, which inevitably have implications for human decisions regarding what to eat, where to live, how long to stay there, and when to move. Are diversification strategies such as the inclusion of low-ranked terrestrial resources and marine species in the diet effective coping mechanisms for climate-driven environmental change and habitat loss due to sea level rise? Is intensification of resource exploitation indicative of dietary stress? How might these adaptations affect the seasonal round? Our paper discusses these questions, spanning the transition from post-glacial foraging lifestyles at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (12,000 BP) to the introduction of pastoralism during the early Neolithic (7,000 BP), using zooarchaeological material from the upland cave site of Vela Špilja on the island of Lošinj in the Kvarner Gulf of Croatia.

The goal of this paper is to study the relationship between the use of animal resources by hunter-gatherers and the environmental modification that occurred with the onset of Middle Holocene aridity in the southern Altiplano of the Andes. This objective will be pursued taking into account both regional and local spatial scales. In the regional analysis, our purpose is to study relevant changes in animal species’ patterns represented in the archaeological record from both sides of the Andean range. For these reasons some theoretical issues regarding habitat fragmentation and loss are addressed. In order to reach our objective in the local scale we discuss isotopic values (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) obtained from archaeofaunas recovered in a rock-shelter, located in the Argentinean slope which presents Early and Middle Holocene human occupations.

The impact of climate change on wild game populations in South Scandinavia is evaluated based on analysis of faunal remains of red deer, roe deer, moose, aurochs and wild boar to trace variations in the abundance and body size before and during the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). The abundance of aurochs and moose decreases before the HTM. In Scania the red deer, roe deer and wild boar populations are stable before and during HTM, but on Zealand an increase in red deer is noticed while the abundance of wild boar decreases. A decrease in body size of red deer correlates with the HTM, while wild boar seems to increase in size. No change in size of roe deer could be observed. The change of the wild game populations during the HTM and its relevance to wild game biology are also discussed.

Marsh clams (Polymesoda sp.) were an important dietary item for pre-Columbian people living along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Their intensive exploitation is synchronous with major cultural changes associated with the emergence of socio-political complexity in Central America. In this paper we present the results of an oxygen isotope seasonality study on archaeological shells retrieved from Karoline, a shell midden site dated to ~2 cal kBP and located along the southern margin of Pearl Lagoon (Caribbean coast of Nicaragua). Modern shells (Polymesoda arctata) were also analysed for stable isotopes. The results indicate that archaeological specimens from Karoline may have experienced different hydrological conditions or nutrient supply within the lagoon compared to present day. The seasonal analysis reveals that there were no preferential seasons for the collection of marsh clams during the distinct phases of site formation; instead, exploitation occurred throughout the year.

Zooarchaeological data from Canada’s west coast are presented which show a shift from a greater abundance of rockfish (genus Sebastes) during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly to a greater abundance of salmon (genus Oncorhynchus) during the Little Ice Age. Measurements of rockfish hyomandibulars and δ¹⁸O analysis of Saxidomus gigantea shells are used within an optimal foraging framework as proxy measures to evaluate the hypothesis that human subsistence strategies changed in association with climate-driven environmental change. As well, suites of other marine resources that were preferred during each climatic period are presented and the cultural implications of the data are discussed. These data suggest that there was a change in subsistence strategy associated with this climatic transition, but a causal link is not demonstrated.

This paper examines the climatic deterioration occurring in the 14^th and 15^th Centuries towards the end of the Norse Settlement in Greenland and its possible effects on the size and shape of domestic mammal (sheep and goat) bones. A review of biogeographical and nutritional factors affecting the size and shape of mammal bones is presented and used as a framework to predict potential changes in sheep bone size and shape at two sites from Norse Greenland; Gården under Sandet in the Western Settlement and Ø34 in the Eastern Settlement. The results are tentatively interpreted as indicating that bone growth was influenced both as a direct result of decreased temperature and as a result of a reduction in the vegetation productivity and hence animal nutrition. The negative effect of this on the human population is discussed.

In this chapter, I comment on all the papers in this volume. My discussion is organized around cross-cutting themes that appear in different chapters: collation, correlation, and causation; temporal, spatial, and analytic scale, new data on extinctions, the response to climatic change, archaeological data as climate proxies, and gaps in the record. Though recognizing areas that require reorientation and reconsideration, I conclude that the papers make important contributions to understanding human-climate-environment interaction as seen through the lens of zooarchaeology.