Search results for "Seasonality"
showing 10 items of 229 documents
Inter-site variability in the season of shellfish collection on the central coast of British Columbia
2013
High-resolution stable oxygen isotope analysis of the bivalve Saxidomus gigantea from shell midden sites was applied to identify seasonal patterns of resource procurement on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. A total of 90 archaeological shells were examined from eight distinct sites spanning a 4500-year period. Combining micro-growth pattern analysis with high-resolution stable oxygen isotope sampling allows for a precise season of collection to be determined in estuarine bivalves recovered from archaeological sites. The results of the stable oxygen isotope analysis provide insights into seasonally structured harvest of S. gigantea (butter clam), which is associated with differ…
Seasonality and Intensity of Shellfish Harvesting on the North Coast of British Columbia
2013
ABSTRACT Biogeochemical and growth increment analyses show contrasting seasonal patterns of butter clam collection and rates of harvest intensity between archaeological shell midden sites from the Dundas Islands archipelago and the mainland coast in Prince Rupert Harbour, northern British Columbia. Growth increment analysis shows more intensive clam harvest in the Dundas Islands in comparison to the residential sites in Prince Rupert Harbour. Stable oxygen isotope analysis shows multi-seasonal collection of clams in the Dundas Islands and a more seasonally specific emphasis in Prince Rupert Harbour. Comparison of these results to those of similar studies in the Namu region on the central co…
REFINING ESTIMATES FOR THE SEASON OF SHELLFISH COLLECTION ON THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST: APPLYING HIGH-RESOLUTION STABLE OXYGEN ISOTOPE ANALYSIS AND…
2012
Stable oxygen isotopes from estuarine bivalve carbonate from Saxidomus gigantea were analysed combined with high-resolution sclerochronology from modern and archaeological shells from British Columbia, Canada, to determine the seasonality of shellfish collection from the archaeological site of Namu. The combination of high-resolution sclerochronology and a micro-milled sampling strategy for δ18O analysis permits a precise estimate of archaeological seasonality, because seasonal freshwater influxes and changes in temperature have dual effects on the δ18O value of the shell. Sclerochronological analysis identifies the timing and duration of growth that is temporally aligned to stable oxygen i…
High-resolution sclerochronological analysis of the bivalve mollusk Saxidomus gigantea from Alaska and British Columbia: techniques for revealing env…
2009
Abstract The butter clam, Saxidomus gigantea , is one of the most commonly recovered bivalves from archaeological shell middens on the Pacific Coast of North America. This study presents the results of the sclerochronology of modern specimens of S. gigantea , collected monthly from Pender Island (British Columbia), and additional modern specimens from the Dundas Islands (BC) and Mink and Little Takli Islands (Alaska). The methods presented can be used as a template to interpret local environmental conditions and increase the precision of seasonality estimates in shellfish using sclerochronology and oxygen isotope analysis. This method can also identify, with a high degree of accuracy, the d…
Climatic fluctuations and seasonality during the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian–Early Kimmeridgian) inferred from delta18O of Paris Basin oyster shells.
2008
10 pages; International audience; Oxygen isotope data from biostratigraphically well-dated oyster shells from the Late Jurassic of the eastern Paris Basin are used to reconstruct the thermal evolution of western Tethyan surface waters during the Early Oxfordian–Early Kimmeridgian interval. Seventy eight oyster shells were carefully screened for potential diagenetic alteration using cathodoluminescence microscopy. Isotope analyses were performed on nonluminescent parts of shells (n=264). Intra-shell δ18O variability was estimated by microsampling along a transect perpendicular to the growth lines of the largest oyster shell. The sinusoidal distribution of the δ18O values along this transect …
Reconstructing early Holocene seasonal bottom-water temperatures in the northern North Sea using stable oxygen isotope records of Arctica islandica s…
2021
The knowledge of seasonal temperature variability in the ocean is essential for understanding climate and its response to forcing factors. Time intervals with highly dynamic climate and increased seasonal forcing such as the early Holocene are of particular interest. Yet, the temporal resolution of most existing climate records is not sufficient to reconstruct temperature seasonality. Here, we present the first seasonally resolved, early Holocene, bottom-water temperature record from the Viking Bank in the northern North Sea. The reconstruction is based on the stable oxygen isotope data (δ18Oshell) of two crossdated, radiocarbon-dated subfossil shells of Arctica islandica (Bivalvia). Oxygen…
Growth-increment characteristics and isotopic (delta O-18) temperature record of sub- thermocline Aequipecten opercularis (Mollusca: Bivalvia): evide…
2021
Abstract The shell δ18O of young modern Aequipecten opercularis from the southern North Sea provides an essentially faithful record of seasonal variation in seafloor temperature. In this well-mixed setting, A. opercularis shell δ18O also serves as a proxy for seasonal variation in surface temperature. Individuals from less agitated (e.g. deeper) settings in a warm climate would not be expected to record the full seasonal range in surface temperature because of thermal stratification in summer. Such circumstances have been invoked to explain cool isotopic summer temperatures from early Pliocene A. opercularis of eastern England. Support for a sub-thermocline setting derives from high-amplitu…
A review of climate reconstructions from terrestrial climate archives covering the first millennium AD in northwestern Europe
2018
AbstractLarge changes in landscape, vegetation, and culture in northwestern (NW) Europe during the first millennium AD seem concurrent with climatic shifts. Understanding of this relation requires high-resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions. Therefore, we compiled available climate reconstructions from sites across NW Europe (extent research area: 10°W–20°E, 45°–60°N) through review of literature and the underlying data, to identify supraregional climatic changes in this region. All reconstructions cover the period from AD 1 to 1000 and have a temporal resolution of ≤50 yr. This resulted in 22 climate reconstructions/proxy records based on different palaeoclimate archives: chironomids (1)…
Reprint of "Shell oxygen isotope values and sclerochronology of the limpet "Patella vulgata" Linnaeus 1758 from northern Iberia: Implications for the…
2017
Abstract: Understanding environmental conditions faced by hunter-fisher-gatherers during the Pleistocene and Holocene, and interpretation of subsistence strategies, social organisation and settlement patterns, are key topics for the study of past human societies. In this respect, oxygen isotope values (?18O) of mollusc shell calcium carbonate can provide important information on palaeoclimate and the seasonality of shell collection at archaeological sites. In this paper, we tested P. vulgata shells from northern Iberia as a paleoclimate archive through the study of shell oxygen isotope values and sclerochronology of modern samples. Results showed that limpets formed their shells close to is…
Variability in δ13C values between individual Daphnia ephippia: Implications for palaeo-studies
2018
The stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13 C value) of Daphnia spp. resting egg shells (ephippia) provides information on past changes in Daphnia diet. Measurements are typically performed on samples of _20 ephippia, which obscures the range of values associated with individual ephippia. Using a recently developed laser ablation-based technique, we perform multiple δ13 C analyses on individual ephippia, which show a high degree of reproducibility (standard deviations 0.1e0.5‰). We further measured δ13 C values of 13 ephippia from surface sediments of three Swiss lakes. In the well-oxygenated lake with low methane concentrations, δ13 C values are close to values typical for algae (_31.4‰) and the …