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Paleoenvironments and Human Occupation in Late-Glacial Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dolores R. Piperno ,
Mark B. Bush  and
Paul A. Colinvaux
Dolores R. Piperno
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072 Balboa, Republic of Panama
Mark B. Bush
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA
Paul A. Colinvaux
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA
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Abstract

The first pollen and phytolith data covering the entire Pleistocene/Holocene transition from the lowlands of the Central American isthmus indicate that the forests of late-glacial Panama at an altitude of 650 m resembled those currently found at ca. 1500–1800 m. A temperature depression of ca. 5°C and reduced precipitation/evaporation ratios in the late-glacial period are suggested. Forest composition from ca. 14,000 to 10,500 yr B.P., although primarily montane in character, contained a low biomass of species today segregated in lowland forests and, hence, a floral assemblage with no modern analog. The sudden appearance of carbon and burnt, weedy plant material at ca. 11,000 yr B.P. is attributed to the earliest human impact yet recorded from tropical America and may perhaps have been associated with the first human occupation of the region.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 108 - 116
Copyright
University of Washington

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