This is pretty interesting. In particular, the methods of proof:
To see just how tight the connections between prehistoric climate and culture might be, a team at the University of Ottawa in Canada, led by geographer Samuel Munoz, analyzed the best available data from the northeastern United States. The study area covered archaeological sites from Maine to Pennsylvania and included 1887 radiocarbon dates from more than 500 sites, 63 pollen and 40 charcoal records (which indicate what kinds of plants were present), as well as isotope records from lake sediments and lake-level measurements (which give indications of temperature and soil moisture).
I should look this up.
Bryan Shuman, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and a co-author on the fluted-point study, says the correlations in the new study are "striking," adding that "the major cultural transitions happen right when the major climate and ecological transitions take place." He agrees with Munoz that further work is needed to investigate just how prehistoric humans adapted to those transitions.
Our species is durable.
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