Columbus’ footprint in Hispaniola: A paleoenvironmental record of indigenous and colonial impacts on the landscape of the central Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic

Abstract

The 1100-year sedimentary record of Laguna Biajaca reveals human-driven landscape changes in the central Cibao Valley, Dominican Republic, Hispaniola. This sediment-filled cutoff meander is located in close proximity to pre-Colonial archaeological sites and a Colonial urban hub. It provided a nutrient-rich floodable locus for agricultural activities for indigenous communities and for the first introduction of Old World crops and cattle in the Americas. Integration of paleoecological proxies revealed the formation of a clear-water body surrounded by a palm-rich forested landscape around 1100 cal yr BP. Changes in the drainage system were linked to human-driven deforestation, which also changed the composition of the vegetation and fungal communities around the site between AD 1150 and 1500 (800 and 700 cal yr BP). Pre-Colonial modifications of the landscape were primarily the result of fire-use and small-scale clearings. Crop cultivation developed between AD 1250 and 1450 (700-500 cal yr BP). Within decades after Columbus' arrival in Hispaniola in AD 1492, the first impacts of European colonization included the abandonment of indigenous sites and the introduction of Old World domesticated animals. During the 15th and 16th centuries the area underwent intensive land-clearing that allowed for larger scale crop cultivation. An increase of aquatic vegetation points to sediment-filling around AD 1700 (250 cal yr BP). At that time, cattle breeding expanded and rapidly provoked eutrophication while, concurrently, monocultures became regionally established. This paper provides a framework of past environmental dynamics and offers an opportunity to place archaeological findings in a context of natural and anthropogenic change.

Late Precolonial Culinary Practices: Starch Analysis on Griddles from the Northern Caribbean

“…More recently, other plant microfossils have been studied in the Caribbean (Castilla-Beltrán et al 2018) and particularly starch analyses of these plant remains have been profitably utilized to reconstruct the archaeobotanical record and culinary practices (Ciofalo et al 2018;Pagán-Jiménez 2016;Pagán-Jiménez et al 2015;van den Bel et al 2018). For the first time, we are now systematically applying microbotanical analyses in the northern Caribbean with comparisons amongst sites and between islands.…”

Columbus’ environmental impact in the New World: Land use change in the Yaque River valley, Dominican Republic

“…However, results mainly pre-date our 1800 yr record and peaks of charcoal that may be interpreted as anthropogene occur during the last 500 years which coincides with increased human activities in the Cibao Valley. Although our reconstruction from Los Indios, and also from site Biajaca at c. 40 km distance ( Castilla-Beltrán et al, 2018 ), includes different interrelated stories, including the regional vegetation, local aquatic and wetland vegetation, crop cultivation, animal husbandery (based on coprophilous fungi), fire history (based on charcoal), and OM production and GSDs both reflecting the evolution of the meander, we have no information about climate change.…”

“…At Columbus’ arrival indigenous people, commonly known as Taíno people, lived in the Cibao Valley ( Castilla-Beltrán et al, 2018 ). We hypothesize that early settlements with small-scale crop cultivation left a mosaic of small clearings in the mainly forested valley.…”

Two Thousand Years of Land-Use and Vegetation Evolution in the Andean Highlands of Northern Chile Inferred from Pollen and Charcoal Analyses

“…Thus, it is likely that burning and grazing simultaneously shaped vegetation structure and plant cover in the semi-arid highlands over millennial scales [89]. Unlike Cosapilla, other paleorecords have shown a marked increase in fire intensity associated with land-use intensification after the European conquest [5][6][7]. For example, in Huila (Ecuador) and Chachapoal Valley (Chile), an intensification of burning took place during the Spanish settlement, probably in relation to land-clearing and land-use intensification [103,104].…”

“…Paleo-ecological reconstructions have shown an intensification of land use following European settlements in some regions. For example, intense deforestation and land clearing allowed large-scale farming during post-colonial times in the Dominican Republic [5,6], and large forests were burned and logged for pastures for livestock raising in northern and southern Patagonia [7,8].…”