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Late Holocene Lacustrine Chronology and Archaeology of Ancient Lake Cahuilla, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael R. Waters*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA

Abstract

Freshwater lakes existed intermittently in the Salton Trough of southern California during the late Holocene. The lakes formed north of the subaerial Colorado River Delta whenever the Colorado River flowed west into the trough instead of south to the Gulf of California. Water filled the trough to a maximum altitude of 12 m. Stratigraphy, radiocarbon dates, and supplementary evidence document four lacustral intervals of Lake Cahuilla between A.D. 700 and 1580. Archaeological sites are associated with the 12-m shoreline and their occupation correlates with these lacustral intervals.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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