Frank K. Lake Ph.D. 2007, OSU USFS PSW Research Ecologist Tribal Ethno-ecology

1. Archaeological evidence for climate change impacts on people and natural resources of the PNW [and Calif.!] • Frank K. Lake • Ph.D. 2007, OSU • USFS PSW Research Ecologist • Tribal Ethno-ecology • Fuels, Fire, and Fisheries Management *Program on Climate Change: University of Washington/Friday Harbor Laboratory- Thanks!

2. Evidence: Sources of data used • Archaeological • Lithic: Hunting and food processing artifacts • Human, animal, and plant remains: AMS 14 C ages • Establishment and occupation site chronologies • Climate and natural resources conditions Prentiss et al. 2006: Archaeology of NW North America

3. Historical Reconstruction Marine Fossil/Isotopic Record Tree Rings, Climate and Fire Regimes Neotoma (Pack Rat) Nests Pollen and Microfossil Records Tribal Culture Reconstruction Archaeological data sources Linguistic divergence DNA/genetic traits Cultural traits, technologies, and socio-economic systems Climatic Processes and Pattern Impacts on Tribal Cultures of the PNW

4. Subsistence Intensification: • A process of change in subsistence behavior whereby and increase in energetic return to land area or labor input required to acquire resources to meet socio-economic [survival] needs • Intensification can be adaptive or maladaptive • Labor correlated with technological innovations or socio-economic organization • TI: Methods to extend intra-annual utility of subsistence resources- “Get more per time of year or season” with labor available

5. Cultural Complexity Resource specialization Bio-physical Productivity Climate influenced resource availability Tribal Cultures, Natural Resources and Climate

6. Scale of Major Climate Change Periods Affecting Tribal Cultures • Last Glacial Maximum • Younger Dryas • (Middle) Holocene Maximum • Medieval Climatic Anomaly • Little Ice Age • PNA/PDO, La Nina/El Nino West et al. 2007 of Woolfenden 1996

7. Demographic shifts/migrations to more productive environments Changes in cultural technologies and socio-economic systems Cross-cultural conflicts and/or diversification Environmental changes and subsequent human responses “…it was not climate that prehistoric populations were interacting with per se, but the effects of climate on the biophysical environment” (West et. a. 2007). PNW-Calif. Climate Change and Tribal Cultural Adaptive Responses

8. Factors limiting the evidence of first peoples and development of tribal cultures in the PNW and Calif. • Glaciation [Open coast?] • Sea level [When and where?] • Marine and precipitation erosional forces • Landscape/Vegetation change • Site/area conditions at time of settlement and occupation • Site preservation (acidic soils and organic material decomposition)

9. Palaeocoastal Settlement: 13,00-11,500 cal BP • Evidence for each major region of the Pacific coast • Northwest Coast • Alta California • Baja California Erlandson et al. 2008: Life on the edge…

10. Mid-Holocene: 5800 cal yr BP • Major changes in PNW cultures observed • Sea level stabilization • Southern PNW/Calif. • Increased subsistence specialization and technologies • Increased abundance of “critical” natural resources: Fisheries • Cultural transition circa 4850 cal yr BP Moss et al. 2008: Mid Holocene Culture and Climate on the Northwest Coast of North America

11. Mid-Holocene Adaptive Responses and Specialization: Kennett et al. 2007 Southern Calif-Channel Islands: Increased resource utilization, cultural technologies, and intensive resources exploitation

12. Kennett et al. 2007 Mid-Holocene Adaptive Responses and Specialization: Southern Calif. (continued). • Sea temperatures affected ocean and coastal vegetation productivity • Different species of shellfish exploited [or affected by SST??] • Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of human bones support diversified marine and terrestrial adaptation and resource utilization • Data allow for a comparison of prehistoric human island and mainland adaptive strategies • DNA-human genetics distinguish two cultural/linguistic groups for northern, southern islands, and main land

13. Late Holocene: PNW Plateau [to/from Coast] Glacial advance, expanded forest cover, greater salmon Bow/Arrows To Calif.? Medieval C.A. Prentiss et al. 2006: Archaeology of NW North America

14. Mid to Late Holocene Climate change impacts to southern PNW hydrology and fisheries resources • Sea level stabilization • Estuaries and river access • Precipitation regimes and basin hydrology • Changes in sea surface temperatures and productivity • Salmonid, other fish species distribution and run times • Tribal harvest technologies • Tidal and in-river weirs • Specialization of capture/harvest techniques Byram 2002: Oregon Coast Fish Weirs

15. Columbia River: Paleo-hydrology and Salmon Resource Availability [Specialization or Climate?] Fluctuations of salmon abundance correlate with regional precipitation and hydrology phases.

16. Medieval Climatic Anomaly: AD 800-1350 • Drought conditions in the Pacific West/Great Basin • Abrupt declines in productivity caused by repeated and prolonged droughts • Shortages of food and water-reduced productivity • Increased warfare/stress among groups • Forced migration to more productive habitats by small groups Jones et al. 199: Settlement disruption-Big Sur Cal coastal village/sites

17. Central Calif.: Late Holocene with Medieval Climatic Anomaly Droughts with periods of cool/wet: Cool ocean temperatures and arid inland environments AD 450-1350 [Jones and Schwitall 2008]

18. Linguistic Prehistory and Evidence: Cultural Demographic Shifts in Response to Climate Change • Penutian language family and related tribal groups the most widely established in the PNW and Calif. circa 1850 AD. • Penutian dialects on the Columbia Plateau/Northern Great Basin having a series of coastward migrations west of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountains • Medieval Climatic Anomaly • Interior warming and drying • Loss of productive wetlands • Forced movement westward to more productive maritime influenced resources. Golla 2007

19. Linguistic and Archeological of PNW-Calif. Culture Migrations • Circa 1,300 BP Algic groups moving from Columbia Plateau west to Puget Sound and NW Calif. (A.D. 100 and 700) • Athabaskans soon followed from SW Alaska south in to PNW/NW Calif. (A.D. 800-900) • North Cal. Penutian migration and establishment A.D. 500-600 (beginning circa 1,200 BP) Whitaker et. al. 2000: Obsidian sources and trade

20. Human DNA: Evidence of Cultural Migrations and Settlement Patterns in Response to Climate • Genetic data indicates similarities and differences among tribes which appeared otherwise similar based on cultural traits at the Late Holocene/Little Ice Age • DNA is compared with linguistic data provide insights to migration and establishment chronologies Consensus tree of western NA populations based on genetic distances constructed with mtDNA haplogroup frequencies

21. AD 1400-1700-Little Ice Age: Cultural Establishment and Specialization California • Similar cultural subsistence practices and socio-economies • Diversification of labor based on classes or status • Shared (formerly borrowed) cultural traits, but different languages and genetic origins Plateau PNW Coast

22. Climate influences bio-physical processes at various scales Productivity, Hydrology and Fire Regimes Humans adapted to and were influenced by climate’s influence on natural resources Archaeological evidence integrated with paleo-science data provides spatial and temporal phases in which to understand human-environment relationships Overview of Evidence