Work

Late-Holocene maize cultivation, fire, and forest change at Lake Ayauch i , Amazonian Ecuador

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: A high-resolution paleoecological record provides a 2690 year-long fossil pollen and charcoal history from Lake Ayauch i , Ecuador, in lowland Amazonia. The record begins with a landscape that is already partially deforested and in which maize is being grown. Dated charcoal fragments from local soils coincide with fire events and peaks of land clearance seen in the lake sediment record. After c. AD 550 grass pollen becomes less abundant, as a broad array of forest types show small increases in abundance. Between c. AD 750 and 1280, Zea mays pollen was at its most abundant. Although maize cultivation continued until the AD 1700s, forest pollen abundance showed a significant increase at c. AD 1260. Another transition at c. AD 1420, which saw a transition from dominance by early successional taxa and an increase in mid-successional elements, suggests the onset of reduced human activity at the site. Fossil maize is found in a lower proportion of samples, disappearing altogether for a century in the late 1700s. Forest taxa increase in abundance and charcoal disappears from the record at c. AD 1790. These data suggest a complex social history prior to and following European arrival with phases of forest clearing and episodes of apparent regrowth at c. AD 500, 950, and 1260. Increased forest pollen after c. AD 1260 and a reduction in maize pollen abundance suggests some abandonment, with a second, relatively late, depopulation following European Conquest (c. AD 1790). Evidence is not found supporting reforestation associated with European arrival.

Source: The Holocene

DOI: 10.1177/09596836231151833

Authors: Christine M Åkesson, Crystal NH McMichael, Susana León-Yánez, Mark B Bush

Institutions: Florida Institute of Technology, University of Amsterdam, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

Language: English

Topic: Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Life on land

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek