.2018 Jun 20;5(6):180145.

doi: 10.1098/rsos.180145. eCollection 2018 Jun.

A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

Matthew J Wooller^{1 2}, Émilie Saulnier-Talbot^{1 2}, Ben A Potter³, Soumaya Belmecheri⁴, Nancy Bigelow⁵, Kyungcheol Choy^{1 2}, Les C Cwynar⁶, Kimberley Davies^{7 8}, Russell W Graham⁹, Joshua Kurek¹⁰, Peter Langdon⁷, Andrew Medeiros¹¹, Ruth Rawcliffe^{1 2}, Yue Wang¹², John W Williams^{12 13}

Affiliations

¹ Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
² Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
³ Department of Anthropology, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
⁴ Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁵ Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
⁷ Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
⁸ School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
⁹ Department of Geosciences and Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
¹¹ York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹² Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
¹³ Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.

PMID:30110451
PMCID: PMC6030284
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180145

A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

Matthew J Wooller et al. R Soc Open Sci.2018.

.2018 Jun 20;5(6):180145.

doi: 10.1098/rsos.180145. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
² Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
³ Department of Anthropology, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
⁴ Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁵ Alaska Quaternary Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
⁷ Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
⁸ School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
⁹ Department of Geosciences and Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
¹¹ York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹² Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
¹³ Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.

PMID:30110451
PMCID: PMC6030284
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180145

Abstract

Palaeoenvironmental records from the now-submerged Bering Land Bridge (BLB) covering the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present are needed to document changing environments and connections with the dispersal of humans into North America. Moreover, terrestrially based records of environmental changes are needed in close proximity to the re-establishment of circulation between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans following the end of the last glaciation to test palaeo-climate models for the high latitudes. We present the first terrestrial temperature and hydrologic reconstructions from the LGM to the present from the BLB's south-central margin. We find that the timing of the earliest unequivocal human dispersals into Alaska, based on archaeological evidence, corresponds with a shift to warmer/wetter conditions on the BLB between 14 700 and 13 500 years ago associated with the early Bølling/Allerød interstadial (BA). These environmental changes could have provided the impetus for eastward human dispersal at that time, from Western or central Beringia after a protracted human population standstill. Our data indicate substantial climate-induced environmental changes on the BLB since the LGM, which would potentially have had significant influences on megafaunal and human biogeography in the region.

Keywords: Beringia; chironomids; cladocerans; diatoms; environmental change; stable isotopes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
Locations of St. Paul Island, Alaska and other datasets referred to in the text [–7].

**Figure 2.**
Palaeoenvironmental proxy data from St. Paul Island, Alaska and the vicinity referred to in the main text (sea ice presence = [5,6], Bering Strait opens = [8,39], (a) change in BLB surface area [40]; (b) archaeological dates for Alaska between 16 000 and 9000 years ago; (c) frequency of calibrated radiocarbon ages moose (+, break in frequency scale up to 17 at this point) and horse for interior Alaska (see electronic supplementary material,); (d) magnetic susceptibility of Lake Hill sediments; (e) alkenone temperature in the N. Pacific; (f–j) from Lake Hill, respectively = chironomid-inferred July temperature, planktonic diatoms % of assemblage, cladoceran data, oxygen isotope analyses of chironomid head capsules,*Equisetum* spore accumulation rates. No cladocerans or chironomids were evident during the YD in the St. Paul core and only trace amounts of freshwater diatoms (see main text for explanation). (Note the reversed scale for δ¹⁸O values.)

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

Affiliations

A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Associated data

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