A Younger Dryas signature in bison bone stable isotopes from the southern Plains of North America

Abstract Stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope ratios from bison bone collagen recovered from Paleoindian bison kill sites provide a record of the B/A, YD, and EH climates in the North American southern Plains. This record is compared to the stable C isotopes derived from previously published, dated paleosols from the region. Together these data sources define a local response of the southern Plains grassland structure to the changing climatic conditions, specifically temperature and precipitation, during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, including a Clovis drought and late Folsom warmup and drying.