THE HOLOCENE LAKE LEVEL HISTORY OF TULARE LAKE, CALIFORNIA

The stratigraphy associated with a highstand, wave-cut shoreline and with sites farther out into the lake plain constrain the Holocene lake level history of Tulare Lake as follows: 7-8 fluctuations in lake level occurred during the past 11,500 yr. Lake level was generally higher during the early Holocene (prior to ~6,200 cal yr B.P.) peaking in two highstands (65-70 masl) at 9,500 to 8,000 cal yr B.P. and 6,900 to 6,200 cal yr. After that, it fluctuated at lower amplitude until reaching a major highstand during the most recent millennium from ~750 to 150 cal yr B.P. At least three, probably brief, lowstands (<58 masl) occurred at the following times: ~9,700, 6,100, and 2,750 cal yr B.P. None of the trenches studied penetrated materials as old as the Clovis era, suggesting that the prolific, near surface Clovis shoreline sites found at the southern margin of Tulare Lake are absent at the western margin. An archaeological midden of middle to late Holocene age was found near the top of the shoreline feature. This site was probably occupied for much of the Holocene after 5,000 cal yr B.P., a time interval when the lake would have been much lower in elevation and several hundreds of meters distant from the site.