Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:58:49.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoecological and archaeological implications of a Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene record of vegetation and climate from the Pacific coastal plain of Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dolores R. Piperno  and
John G. Jones
Dolores R. Piperno*
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948, APO AA 34002-0948, USA
John G. Jones
Affiliation:
Palynology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D.R. Piperno).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A phytolith record from Monte Oscuro, a crater lake located 10 m above sea level on the Pacific coastal plain of Panama, shows that during the Late Pleistocene the lake bed was dry and savanna-like vegetation expanded at the expense of tropical deciduous forest, the modern potential vegetation. A significant reduction of precipitation below current levels was almost certainly required to effect the changes observed. Core sediment characteristics indicate that permanent inundation of the Monte Oscuro basin with water occurred at about 10,500 14C yr B.P. Pollen and phytolith records show that deciduous tropical forest expanded into the lake’s watershed during the early Holocene. Significant burning of the vegetation and increases of weedy plants at ca. 7500 to 7000 14C yr B.P. indicate disturbance, which most likely resulted from early human occupation of the seasonal tropical forest near Monte Oscuro and the development of slash-and-burn methods of cultivation.

Keywords

PleistoceneEarly HoloceneClimate and vegetationPrehistoric agriculture
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 79 - 87
Copyright
Elsevier Science (USA)

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartlett, A.S., and Barghoorn, E.S. Phytogeographic history of the Isthmus of Panama during the past 12,000 years. Grohem, A. Vegetation and Vegetational History in Northern Latin America. (1973). Elsevier, Amsterdam. 203 299.Google Scholar
Behling, H., and Negrelle, R.R.B. Tropical rain forest and climate dynamics of the Atlantic, lowland, southern Brazil, during the Late Quaternary. Quaternary Research 56, (2001). 383 389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullock, S.H., Mooney, H.A., and Medina, E. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. (1995). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, M.B., and Colinvaux, P.C. A pollen record of a complete glacial cycle from lowland Panama. Journal of Vegetation Science 1, (1990). 105 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, M., Piperno, D.R., Colinvaux, P.A., De Oliveira, P., Krissek, L., Miller, M., and Rowe, W. A 14,300 year paleoecological profile of a lowland tropical lake in Panama. Ecological Monographs 62, (1992). 251 275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A., De Oliveira, P.E., Moreno, P.E., Miller, M.C., and Bush, M.B. A long pollen record from lowland Amazonia. forest and cooling in glacial times. Science 274, (1996). 85 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A., De Oliveira, P.E., and Bush, M.B. Amazonian and neotropical plant communities on glacial time-scales. the failure of the aridity and refuge hypotheses. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 141 169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, R.G. Human settlement of Central America and northern South America. Quaternary International 49/50, (1998). 177 190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowling, S.A., and Sykes, M.T. Physiological significance of low atmospheric CO2 for plant–climate interactions. Quaternary Research 52, (1999). 237 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowling, S.A., Maslin, M.A., and Sykes, M.T. Paleovegetation simulations of lowland Amazonia and implications for Neotropical allopatry and speciation. Quaternary Research 55, (2001). 140 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, J.H., Brenner, M., and Hodell, D.A. Climate change in the Lake Valencia Basin, Venezuela, ∼12600 yr BP to present. The Holocene 9, (1999). 609 619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estadistica Panameña, (1995). Contraloria General de la Republica, Dirección de Estadistica y Censo. Panama City, Panama.Google Scholar
Faegri, K., and Iverson, J. A Textbook of Pollen Analysis. third ed. (1975). Haffer, New York.Google Scholar
Grimm, E. (1992). TILIA Software, Version 1.12. Illinois State University, Google Scholar
Guilderson, T.P., Fairbanks, R.G., and Rubenstone, J.L. Tropical temperature variations since 20,000 years ago. modeling interhemispheric climate change. Science 263, (1994). 663 665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, G.C. New evidence of Lateglacial cereal cultivation at Abu Hureyra on the Euphrates. The Holocene 11, (2001). 383 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodell, D.A., Curtis, J.H., Jones, G.A., Higuera-Gundy, A., Brenner, M., Binford, M.W., and Dorsey, K.T. Reconstruction of Caribbean climate change over the past 10,500 years. Nature 352, (1991). 790 792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y., Street-Perrott, F.A., Metcalfe, S.E., Brenner, M., Moreland, M., and Freeman, K.H. Climate change as the dominant control on glacial–interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance. Science 293, (2001). 1647 1651.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellogg, E.A. The grasses. a case study in macroevolution. Annual Review Ecology and Systematics 31, (2000). 217 238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, E.F., Amundson, R.G., Marino, B.D., and Deniro, M.J. Stable isotope ratios of carbon in phytoliths as a quantitative method of monitoring vegetation and climate change. Quaternary Research 35, (1991). 222 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledru, M.P., Bertaux, J., Sifeddine, A., and Suguio, K. Absence of Last Glacial Maximum records in lowland tropical forests. Quaternary Research 49, (1998). 233 237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leyden, B. Guatemalan forest synthesis after Pleistocene aridity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 81, (1984). 4856 4859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leyden, B. Late Quaternary aridity and Holocene moisture fluctuations in the Lake Valencia Basin, Venezuela. Ecology 66, (1985). 1279 1295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leyden, B., Brenner, M., Hodell, D.A., and Curtis, J.H. Late Pleistocene climate in the Central American lowlands. Swart, P.K., Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., and Savin, S. Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records, Geophysical Monograph 78. (1993). American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC. 165 178.Google Scholar
Marchant, R., Boom, A., and Hooghiemstra, H. Pollen-based biome reconstructions for the past 450 000 yr from the Funza-2 core, Colombia. comparisons with model-based vegetation reconstructions. Paleogeography Paleoclimatology Paleoecology 2711, (2001). 1 17.Google Scholar
Meave, J., and Kellman, M. Maintenance of rain forest diversity in riparian forests of tropical savannas. implications for species conservation during the Pleistocene drought. Journal of Biogeography 21, (1994). 121 153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulholland, S.C., and Prior, C. AMS radiocarbon dating of phytoliths. Pearsall, D.M., and Piperno, D.R. Current Research in Phytolith Analysis: Applications in Archeology and Paleoecology, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology. 10 (1993). MASCA, The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. 21 23.Google Scholar
Pennington, R.T., Prado, D.E., and Pendry, C.A. Neotropical seasonally dry forests and Quaternary vegetation changes. Journal of Biogeography 27, (2000). 261 273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D.R. Phytolith Analysis. An Archaeological and Geological Perspective. (1988). Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Piperno, D.R. Phytolith and charcoal records from deep lake cores in the American tropics. Pearsall, D.M., and Piperno, D.R. Current Research in Phytolith Analysis: Applications in Archaeology and Paleoecology, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology. 10 (1993). MASCA, The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. 58 71.Google Scholar
Piperno, D.R., and Pearsall, D.M. The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics. (1998). Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Piperno, D.R., and Pearsall, D.M. The Silica Bodies of Tropical American Grasses: Morphology, Taxonomy, and Implications for Grass Systematics and Fossil Phytolith Identification. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany. 85 (1998). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D.R., Bush, M.B., and Colinvaux, P.A. Paleoenvironments and human occupation in Late-Glacial Panama. Quaternary Research 33, (1990). 108 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D.R., Bush, M.B., and Colinvaux, P.A. Paleoecological perspectives on human adaptation in Central Panama. II. The Holocene. Geoarchaeology 6, (1991). 227 250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D.R., Ranere, A.J., Holst, I., and Hansell, P. Phytoliths in Cucurbita and other Neotropical Cucurbitaceae and their occurrence in early archaeological sites from the lowland American tropics. Journal of Archaeological Science 27, (2000). 193 208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D.R., Holst, I., Andres, T.C., and Stothert, K.E. Starch grains reveal early root crop horticulture in the Panamanian tropical forest. Nature 407, (2000). 894 897.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prance, G.T. Vegetation. Whitmore, T.C., and Prance, G.T. Biogeography and Quaternary History in Tropical America. (1987). Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. 28 45.Google Scholar
Ranere, A.J., Cooke, R.G., (2002). Late glacial and early Holocene occupation of Central American tropical forests. In: Mercader, J. (Ed.), Under the Canopy: The Archaeology of Tropical Rainforests. Rutgers Univ. Press, Rutgers, NJ., pp. 211–248.Google Scholar
Smith, E.A., and Winterhalder, B. Natural selection and decision making. some fundamental principles. Smith, E.A., and Winterhalder, B. Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior. (1992). Aldine de Gruyter, New York. 25 60.Google Scholar
Stute, M., Forster, M., Frischkorn, H., Serejo, A., Clark, J.F., Schlosser, P., Broecker, W.S., and Bonani, G. Cooling of tropical Brazil (5°C) during the Last Glacial Maximum. Science 269, (1995). 379 383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Davis, M.E., Lin, P.N., Henderson, K.A., Cole-Dai, J., Bolzan, J.F., and Liu, K.B. Late glacial stage and Holocene tropical ice core records from Huascarán, Peru. Science 269, (1995). 46 50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van der Hammen, T., and Absy, M.L. Amazonia during the last glacial. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 109, (1994). 247 261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Hammen, T., and Hooghiemstra, H. Neogene and Quaternary history of vegetation, climate, and plant diversity in Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 725 742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, R.S., Rind, D.H., Lehman, S.J., Healy, R.J., and Sigman, D. Influence of ocean heat transport on the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 385, (1997). 695 699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilding, L.P. Radiocarbon dating of biogenetic opal. Science 156, (1967). 66 67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, Z., and Piperno, D.R. Late Pleistocene/Holocene environments in the Middle Yangtze River Valley, China and rice (Oryza sativa L.) domestication. the phytolith evidence. Geoarchaeology 15, (2000). 203 222.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar