GEOCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS FOR GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE LOWER SALMON RIVER CANYON, IDAHO

DAVIS, Loren, Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, 238 Waldo Hall, Corvalis, OR 97331, NYERS, Alex, Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, 238 Waldo Hall, 238 Waldo Hall, Corvalis, OR 97331, HENRICKSON, Celeste, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 232 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-37 and MACFARLAN, Shane, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, College Hall 150, PO Box 644910, Pullman, WA 99164-4910, loren.davis@oregonstate.edu

Geochemical methods are an integral part of an ecological and evolutionary based study of hunter-gatherer prehistory in the lower Salmon River canyon of western Idaho. Thematically, geochemistry is used here to study issues related to paleoclimate, paleovegetation, lithic toolstone provenance, and landscape evolution. Stable isotope geochemical signatures of oxygen and carbon derived from pedogenic and invertebrate carbonates and soil organic matter show relative paleoclimatic proxy measures of precipitation, humidity, and temperature and paleovegetation measures from C3/C4 plant biomass variance during the late Quaternary period. Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of canyon lithostratigraphic and pedostratigraphic units forms the basis for building a landscape-scale library of sediment geochemistry, which can be used to develop a framework of chemostratigraphic correlation and an approach to relative dating. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and EDXRF are applied to the study of cryptocrystalline silicate toolstone provenance in the Salmon River basin, which help reveal patterns of prehistory mobility and logistical organization. Together, these geochemical methods generate perspectives on the prehistory of the lower Salmon River canyon that would be otherwise unavailable.

Session No. 167

T155. Geochemical Geoarchaeology: Artifacts and Contexts

Tuesday, 20 October 2009: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM

E146 (Oregon Convention Center)

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 41, No. 7, p.437

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2009 Portland GSA Annual Meeting (18-21 October 2009)

GEOCHEMICAL SOLUTIONS FOR GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE LOWER SALMON RIVER CANYON, IDAHO