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We present eight new radiocarbon dates for endemic and invasive rodents from Trouing Jérémie #5, a paleontologically-rich sink hole on the Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti. This includes new dates for two species that have been previously directly dated ( Isolobodon portoricensis and Brotomys voratus) as well as three endemic rodents which have no previous direct radiometric dates ( Plagiodontia velozi, Hexolobodon phenax, and Rhizoplagiodontia lemkei). The radiocarbon date for P. velozi, the largest of these species, is from the very early Holocene (10,995 ± 190 calendar years before present; Cal BP). Specimens of medium-bodied species, H. phenax and R. lemkei date to the mid-Holocene, while specimens of smaller-bodied I. portoricencis and B. voratus have dates falling in the Late-Holocene. These dates confirm that several of the extinct rodent species coexisted with the first humans, who arrived on the island ca. 6000 years ago. In contrast, murid Rattus specimens date to the last few centuries. Rats arrived with Europeans in the late 15th or early 16th Century and a radiocarbon date of ca. 500 Cal BP for one individual suggests that they likely spread quickly across the island. Collectively, these dates establish that vertebrate accumulations at Trouing Jérémie #5 span the Holocene. Remains from this site may provide a useful time sequence for future work examining ecological change across the Holocene as well as regional extirpation patterns.
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Zooarchaeological assemblages contextualize the historical ecology and harvest of fur-bearing mammals in Vermont
Shifting baselines can skew species harvest guidelines and lead to potentially inaccurate assessments of population status and range. The North American Fur Trade (~1600–1900 CE) profoundly impacted the continent’s socio-ecological systems, but its legacies are often not incorporated in management discussions. We apply a conservation paleobiology lens to address shifting baselines of nine species of fur-bearing mammals in Vermont, including seven mesocarnivores and two semi-aquatic rodents. Using a database maintained by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, we identified 25 existing radiocarbon dates of fur-bearer associated features from 16 archaeological localities spanning the Early-Late Holocene. We also generated 7 new radiocarbon dates on beaver and muskrat bones from the Ewing (VT-CH-005), Bohannon (VT-GI-026), and Chimney Point (VT-AD-329) localities. Our new radiocarbon dates cluster within the Late Holocene, immediately prior to and throughout the European contact period, and overlap with The Beaver Wars. We recover a ~8,000 year record of beaver harvest, affirming the millennial scale importance of beavers, a species that is often the focus of human-wildlife conflict research. Comparison of zooarchaeological occurrences with digitized natural history specimens and community science observations reveals geographic range continuity for most species except for the American marten, which was historically extirpated, and confirms the native status of the red fox. While taphonomic constraints make our dataset a conservative assessment, our case studies demonstrate how wildlife managers can employ zooarchaeological data to better understand long-term properties of coupled socio-ecological systems and highlight the cultural importance of these species to Indigenous trade networks prior to the Fur Trade in Vermont.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2109168
- PAR ID:
- 10457327
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2296-701X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1065567
