Spatiotemporal distribution of Holocene populations in North America.

ABSTRACT: As the Cordilleran and Laurentide Ice Sheets retreated, North America was colonized by human populations; however, the spatial patterns of subsequent population growth are unclear. Temporal frequency distributions of aggregated radiocarbon ((14)C) dates are used as a proxy of population size and can be used to track this expansion. The Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database contains more than 35,000 (14)C dates and is used in this study to map the spatiotemporal demographic changes of Holocene populations in North America at a continental scale for the past 13,000 y. We use the kernel method, which converts the spatial distribution of (14)C dates into estimates of population density at 500-y intervals. The resulting maps reveal temporally distinct, dynamic patterns associated with pa

SUBMITTER: Chaput MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4593098 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature