EXPANDED APPLICATIONS FOR DENDROCHRONOLOGY IN

ARCHAEOLOGY: AN ECOLOGICAL INTERFACE

James H. Speer and Karla Hansen-Speer

Indiana State University

Washington University in St. Louis

Anthropogenic Ecology

Extent to which people have affected their local landscape

Examples include check dams, canals, rock mulching

Minnis 2000; Wagner 2003

Resource Availability

How the environment provides resources for human populations

A logical extension of anthropogenic ecology is the feedback of how humans affect resource availability

Dendroarchaeology

Construction DatesCulturally Modifies Trees

Vegas and LatillasPueblo Bonito

VegaPueblo Bonito

Dendroclimatology

Temperature Precipitation Palmer Drought Severity Index

Dean 1988; Grissino-Mayer 1995, Ahlstrom et al. 1995, Stahle et al. 1998; van West and Dean 2000

Grissino-Mayer et al. 1997

Dendroecological Records

Fire History Insect Outbreak ReconstructionStand-Age StructureMast History

Fire History

Swetnam et al. 1999

Fire HistoryMany chronologies in the American

Southwest extending back to A.D. 1600Chronologies in the Eastern US extending

back to A.D. 1800Examine Native American and historical fire

usePyne 1982; Swetnam 1990; Agee 1993;

Vale 2002

Pandora Moth Reconstruction

Pandora Moth Reconstruction

Speer et al. 2001

Insect Outbreak Reconstructions

Insects as a known food source Ethnographic studies of pandora moth consumption Bearing on settlement patterns Aldrich 1912; Blake and Wagner 1987;

Fitzgerald 1992

Stand-Age Structure at the Alscheid Rock Shelter

Located in Illinois approximately 20 kilometers from the Mississippi River

Repeated and intensive use by Native Americans as a campsite from ca. 4700 B.C. to A.D. 1400

Vegetation type is Temperate Deciduous Forest

Transect 2: West Facing

02468

1012141618202224

CA

SP

AM

AR

OS

VI

QU

RU

QU

AL

CO

DR

FR

SP

SA

AL

UL

SP

AC

SA

QU

IM

QU

MA

JUV

I

CE

OC

RH

CO

Species

Num

ber

of T

rees

Species/Groups = 15 Trees = 110

Transect 3: Roof of Rock Shelter

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UL

SP

CA

SP

OS

VI

QU

MA

QU

RU

FR

SP

CE

OC

AM

AR

JUV

I

TIA

M

CA

CA

QU

IM

CO

DR

Species

Num

ber

of T

rees

Species/Groups = 13 Trees = 87

Transect 1: East Facing

02468

1012141618202224

CA

SP

UL

SP

SAA

L

QU

AL

CO

DR

AC

SA

QU

RU

CE

OC

VIS

P

FRSP

DIV

I

OSV

I

Species

Num

ber

of T

rees

Species/Groups = 12 Trees = 76

CASP Hickory species 21%ULSP Elm species 16%QUAL White Oak 12%OSVI HopHornbeam 9%QURU Northern Red Oak 7%AMAR Downy Serviceberry 6%SAAL Sassafras 5%CODR Roughleaf Dogwood 5%FRSP Ash species 5%QUMA Blackjack Oak 3%ACSA Sugar Maple 3%QUIM Laurel Oak 2%CEOC Hackberry 2%JUVI Eastern Red Cedar 2%TIAM American Basswood 1%CACA American Hornbeam 1%DIVI Persimmon 0%RHCO Dwarf Sumac 0%Speer and Arntzen, unpublished data

Mast Reconstructions

Reconstruction of the periodic fruiting of plants Currently mast records are short and sparse

White Oak Regional Chronology

-3.0

-2.0

-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

1895

1900

1905

1910

1915

1920

1925

1930

1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

Year

Z-S

core

Speer 2001

Conclusions

Dendroecology can provide a variety of useful records to examine anthropogenic ecology and resource availability

These records can contribute to archaeological interpretation

Historic as well as prehistoric archaeology may benefit from these records

More collaboration between dendrochronologists and archaeologists is encouraged

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following funding

agenciesNational Science FoundationWenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological

ResearchUSDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest

Research Station