Using Stochastically Downscaled Climate Models and Multiproxy Lake Sediment Data to Connect Climatic Variations Over the Past 1000 Years and the History of Prehistoric Maize Farming in Utah

Abstract:

We are investigating the relationship between climatic variations over the past 1000 years and the history of prehistoric maize farming expansion and decline in the American Southwest, with a focus on Utah. We are examining both the downscaled climate models and high resolution analyses of lake cores and dendrochronological data matched with occupation information. We are testing the specific utility of stochastically downscaled general circulation models (viz. ECHO-G) to reconstruct local conditions for sites with documented prehistoric dryland farming through the so-called Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and transition to the Little Ice Age (LIA). We are testing our model-based reconstructions with proxies of temperature and aridity from three subalpine lake sediment cores transecting Utah. We compare the patterns of climate change from the downscaled models and the paleoclimate records to a database of 837 radiocarbon dates over 169 locations of archaeological Native American maize-farmer site occupations in Utah.