164 Advances and Applications of Geochemistry in Archaeology

Geochemistry has broad applications in archaeology. This session’s goal is to stimulate collaborations between archaeologists and technical experts. Techniques and applications of interest include, but are not limited to, provenance, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, site formation, diet, subsistence, and age-dating.

Tuesday, 21 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 214D

Molecular Geoarchaeology: Efficacy and Utility of Biomarker Analysis of Late Quaternary Sediments from Spirit Eye Cave, Far West Texas

Paper number: 164-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:55 AM – 9:10 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Chihuahuan Desert region of far west Texas remains understudied in terms of its cultural, climatic, and environmental past. Current paleoclimatological and environmental proxy datasets are few and inconsistent in time, resolution, and scope. Using sedimentary archives from cave deposits, we apply molecular geoarchaeological techniques paired with radiocarbon summed probability distributions to reconstruct human demographics, hydroclimate, and paleoecology of this region while generating new proxy datasets. This work focuses on recovery of molecular fossil lipids, or biomarkers, preserved in sediments. These biomarkers help to contextualize the environment and record information that may not be preserved in other records across the Chihuahuan Desert. From the sediments, the preserved leaf wax, fecal stanols, and other non-polar and polar lipids were extracted in a lab, characterized by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, and then, select total lipid extracts were submitted for bulk lipid radiocarbon dating and bulk lipid δ13C. These data are paired with complimentary datasets such as major and trace elements from pXRF, total organic carbon and nitrogen, bulk sediment δ13C and δ15N, and computerized tomography measured density values. Together, these data are used to generate additional climatology and ecology proxy records, setting the stage for contextualizing human demographic variability from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene to better understand how the earliest occupants of far west Texas responded to long-term climatological and ecological change. Here, we present the progress made, lessons learned, and direction of ongoing work while sharing the applicability of biomarker analysis in archaeological practice.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412012

© Copyright 2025 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.