Paleolakes, archaeology, and late Quaternary paleoenvironments in northwestern Mongolia

The climatic, hydrographic, and environmental regimes of terminal Pleistocene and Holocene northwestern Mongolia are reconstructed using archaeological and pedological data sets at Bayan Nuur, a lake on the northwestern perimeter of the Altan Els dune field in eastern Uvs Province, Mongolia. The archaeological data consist of land-use patterns controlled for time via time-sensitive, diagnostic artifacts. The pedological data consist of soil classifications and radiocarbon dating of paleosols that track lake levels and water table. These data are combined using a geographic information system (GIS) to ascertain site and paleosol geographic relationships to modern lake levels at Bayan Nuur. They point to a more xeric Younger Dryas than previously recognized, significant Holocene lake regressions, and to Mid- to Late Holocene lake standstills/transgressions, the scale of which had previously been unrecognized. Combined, these data point to a complex late Quaternary picture of paleoclimate and paleoenvironment across the region and the importance of using multiple proxies, including archaeological data, in paleoecological reconstructions.