Should greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked, the global abundance of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) could drop by as much as 58% by 2100, according to new modeling-based research – far surpassing declines seen during Earth’s last cycle of natural warming and deglaciation that ended more than 11,000 years ago. The results predict that this trend would be most severe in North America, where the reindeer population could drop by as much as 84% in a business-as-usual emissions scenario. Even under a middle-of-the-road emissions scenario, North America’s reindeer population could still decrease by as much as 42%. Due to human-caused climate change, reindeer (also known as caribou) have lost almost two thirds of their global population in the last 30 years. Yet, these massive Arctic herbivores have weathered similar warming events in the past, including the last deglaciation that spanned roughly 20,000 to 11,000 years ago. Here, Elisabetta Canteri and colleagues investigated whether reindeer’s historic climatic resilience could help them endure anthropogenic global warming. Using radiocarbon dating of fossils and ancient DNA analysis, they reconstructed 21,000 years of reindeer population dynamics and included the effects of internal climate variability and human activity. Models showed that the global reindeer population collectively contracted poleward between 21,000 and 5,000 years ago and experienced the sharpest declines in Asia. The analysis also revealed that ecological versality and other life-history traits were key to reindeer survival. The team then used high-resolution modeling to forecast how the global population of reindeer could decline from the effects of human-caused climate change. By 2100, reindeer populations could contract across the Holarctic Northern Hemisphere. Both in a business-as-usual emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5) and in a middle-of-the-road emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5), reindeer abundance could decline far beyond the safe boundaries of survival. “Absolute temperatures in the Arctic are predicted to soon exceed levels not seen for at least 6000 years, with potentially severe consequences for the functioning of Arctic ecosystems and for the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples, who rely on Rangifer for food security, cultural identity, and community integrity,” Canteri et al. write. “Our results flag an immediate need to increase investments in the management and conservation of populations.”

Many Spanish colonial-era documents record that only male Inka elites were allowed to make khipus – cord systems made of intricate knots strategically placed to convey information. Now, an analysis of human hair woven into a khipu by its creator suggests that low-ranking Inkans also wove khipus. Results show that the person who made the khipu ate a commoner’s diet of tubers and greens, rather than a bureaucrat’s diet of meat and maize. Recent research has shown that women also made these recording systems – corroborating reports by a contemporary Indigenous Andean chronicler. Moreover, evidence that hacienda laborers produced and used khipus in the 19^th and 20^th centuries has further challenged the idea that khipu literacy was the sole domain of elites. Now, Sabine Hyland and colleagues provide more proof that low-ranking Inka commoners were also khipu specialists (or khipukamayuqs). These chroniclers often incorporated their own hair in khipus as a signature. The researchers performed isotopic carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur mass spectrometry on a strand of human hair woven into the primary cord of a khipu (KH0631) from around 1498 CE with unknown provenance. By doing so, Hyland et al. found that the khipukamayuq who created KH0631 ate a diet of tubers and greens. Commoners mainly consumed these foods, unlike Inka elites who feasted on maize (primarily via beer) and meat. Further spectrometry to measure oxygen and hydrogen isotope values determined that this low-ranking khipukamayuq likely lived in present-day southern Peru or northern Chile.

In a new study, archaeologists analyzed iron artifacts spanning more than 400 years of American colonial history using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Their results show that differences in the purity of iron and the trace elements it contains can be reliably used as a diagnostic feature to identify iron artifacts from different time periods.

An art installation, featuring interactive 3D virtual panels that share Syilx teachings about human and water relationships and values, continues to be used as a teaching tool years after it was first inspired.

Dr. Aleksandra Dulic, Visual Arts Professor in UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, is the artistic director behind Waterways—Past, Present and Future.

Researchers report evidence of Indigenous fire management practices in Arizona pine forests.