Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Human-made fires and forest clearance as evidence for late Holocene landscape domestication in the Orinoco Llanos (Venezuela)

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the Orinoco Llanos, archaeological studies indicate a continuous late Holocene human occupation, including the development of ranked societies, from about 1,500 year bp (ad 500) However, until now palaeoecological studies dealing with the impact of anthropogenic activities in the region have been scarce. Here we present a palynological analysis carried out in the El Cedral archaeological region, Western Venezuelan Llanos. The 145 cm sedimentary record obtained comprises the last ca. 4,200 cal bp (2245 cal bc). Between 4,200–3,800 cal bp (2250–1850 cal bc), wet savannas interspersed with gallery forests dominated in the study area. A wet climate, similar to the present, is suggested by pollen of aquatics and by non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP). Frequent/intense local fires were inferred from charcoal concentrations. Between 3,800–2,100 cal bp (1850–150 cal bc), rapid alternation between forest and savanna-dominated phases occurred. The low diversity of NPP and the low values of pollen from aquatics suggest drier climate conditions than the present. Low charcoal concentrations point to low fire frequencies. Two events of forest expansion at 3,400–3,200 and 2,800–2,100 cal bp were recorded, alternating with savanna-dominated phases (at 3,800–3,600 and 3,200–3,000 cal bp). From 2,100 cal bp (150 cal bc) to the present the expansion of savannas is recorded. Zea mays occurred at 1,880 cal bp (ca. ad 70), accompanied by the increase in charcoal concentration, supporting the hypothesis of intensification of human activities and anthropogenic forest clearance. Different climatic phases recorded in El Cedral match with those described from the Cariaco Basin, indicating that El Niño Southern Oscillation variability was the main climatic forcing. However, the intensification of anthropogenic activities limited the forest expansion expected during the last two millennia, yielding evidence of landscape domestication in this region.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

(after Haugh et al. 2001). Original data was downloaded from: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.81965. The smoothed curve is a moving average with a cycle of 20 points

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ames K (2008) The archaeology of rank. In: Bentley RA, Maschner HDG, Chippindale C (eds) Handbook of archaeological theories. Altamira Press, Lanham, pp 487–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Aymard G (2015) Bosques de los Llanos de Venezuela: estructura, composición florística, diversidad y estado actual de conservación. In: López-Falcón R, Hétier JM, López Hernández D, Schargel R, Zinck A (eds) Tierras llaneras de Venezuela. IRD-CIDIAT, Mérida, pp 241–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Aymard G, González V (2007) Consideraciones generales sobre la composición florística y diversidad de los bosques de los Llanos de Venezuela. In: Duno de Stefano R, Aymard G, Huber O (eds) Catalogo anotado e ilustrado de la flora vascular de los Llanos de Venezuela. FUDENA-Fundación Empresas Polar-FIBV, Caracas, pp 59–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Aymard G, Farreras J, Schargel R (2011) Bosques secos macrotérmicos de Venezuela. BioLlania (Special Edition) 10:155–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Behling H, Hooghiemstra H (1998) Late Quaternary palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology from pollen records of the savannas of the Llanos Orientales in Colombia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 139:251–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behling H, Hooghiemstra H (1999) Environmental history of the Colombian savannas of the Llanos Orientales since the Last Glacial Maximum from lake records El Pinal and Carimagua. J Paleolimnol 22:461–476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behling H, Hooghiemstra H (2000) Holocene Amazon rainforest-savanna dynamics and climatic implications: high resolution pollen record from Laguna Loma Linda in eastern Colombia. J Quat Sci 15:687–695

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behling H, Hooghiemstra H (2001) Neotropical savanna environments in space and time: late Quaternary interhemispheric comparisons. In: Markgraf V (ed) Interhemispheric climate linkages, Chap 18. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 307–323

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Berrío JC, Hooghiemstra H, Behling H, van der Borg K (2000) Late Holocene history of savanna gallery forest from Carimagua area. Colombia Rev Palaeobot Palynol 111:295–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berrío JC, Hooghiemstra H, Behling H, Botero P, van der Borg K (2002) Late Quaternary savanna history of the Colombian Llanos Orientales from lagunas Chenevo and Mozambique; a transect synthesis. Holocene 12:35–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush M, Weng C (2007) Introducing a new (freeware) tool for palynology. J Biogeogr 34:377–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carr A, Armitage S, Berrío JC, Bilbao B, Boom A (2016) An optical luminescence chronology for late Pleistocene aeolian activity in the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos. Quat Res 85:299–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clement CR, Denevan WM, Heckenberger MJ, Junqueira AB, Neves EG, Texeira WG, Woods WI (2016) The domestication of Amazonia before European conquest. Proc R Soc B 282:20150813. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colinvaux P, De Oliveira PE, Moreno JE (1999) Amazon pollen manual and atlas. Harwood, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Colinvaux P, De Oliveira PE, Bush M (2000) Amazonian and Neotropical plant communities on glacial time scales: the failure of the aridity and refuge hypothesis. Quat Sci Rev 19:141–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruxent JM, Rouse I (1958–1959) An archaeological chronology of Venezuela. Pan American Union, Washington

  • Cugny C (2011) Apports des microfossiles non-polliniques à l’histoire du pastoralisme sur le versant nord Pyrénéen. Entre référentiels actuels et reconstitution du passé. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Toulouse, Toulouse

    Google Scholar 

  • Duno R, Aymard G, Huber O (2006) Flora vascular de los Llanos de Venezuela. FUDENA-Fundación Empresas Polar-FIBV, Caracas

    Google Scholar 

  • Earle T (1997) How chiefs come to power. The political economy in prehistory. Stanford University Press, Standford

    Google Scholar 

  • Fægri K, Iversen J (1981) Textbook of pollen analysis, 3rd edn. Hafner Publishing, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Finsinger W, Tinner W (2005) Minimum counts sums for charcoal-concentration estimates in pollen slides: accuracy and potential errors. Holocene 15:293–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fried MH (1967) The evolution of political society: an essay in political anthropology. Random House, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RD, Vuille M, Compagnucci R, Marengo J (2009) Present-day South American climate. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 281:180–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garson A (1980) Prehistory, settlement and food production in the savanna región of La Calzada de Paez, Venezuela. Ph.D. Dissertation. Yale University, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Gassón R (1998) Prehispanic intensive agriculture, settlement patterns, and political economy in the Western Venezuelan Llanos. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Pittsburgh, Department of Anthropology, Pittsburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Gassón R (2002) Orinoquia: The archaeology of the Orinoco River Basin. J World Prehist 16:237–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gassón R (2003) Ceremonial feasting in the Colombian and Venezuelan Llanos. Some remarks on its sociopolitical and historical significance. In: Whitehead NL (ed) Histories and historicities in Amazonia. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp 179–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Gassón R (2014) Blind men and an elephant: exchange systems and sociopolitical organizations in the Orinoco Basin and neighboring areas in pre-Hispanic times. In: Gnecco C, Langebaek C (eds) Against typological tyranny in archaeology. Springer, New York, pp 25–42

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gassón R, Rey JC (2006) Cacicazgos Cíclicos e Intensificación Agrícola en los Llanos Occidentales de Venezuela. In: Valdéz F (ed) Agricultura Anestral, Camellones y Albarradas. Ediciones Abya-Yala, Quito, pp 141–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelorini V (2011) Diversity and palaeoecological significance of non-pollen palynomorph assemblages in East African lake sediments. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Ghent, Belgium

    Google Scholar 

  • González O, Bezada M, Millán Z, Carrera J (2013) Cambios paleoambientales durante el pleistoceno tardío-holoceno de la cuenca del río Portuguesa, llanos centro-occidentales, Venezuela. Interciencia 38:696–704

    Google Scholar 

  • Guevara JR (2015) Propuesta de clasificación biogeográfica para los Llanos de Venezuela. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universitat de València, Facultad de Farmacia, Departamento de Botánica, Valencia

    Google Scholar 

  • Haugh GH, Hughen KA, Sigman DM, Peterson LC, Röhl U (2001) Southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone through the Holocene. Science 293:1,304–1,308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laland K (2017) Darwin’s unfinished symphony: How culture made the human mind. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leal A, Bilbao B (2011) Cambios de vegetacion durante el Holoceno tardio en un morichal de los Llanos del Orinoco, Venezuela. Acta Bot Venez 34:237–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Leal A, Pérez T, Bilbao B (2011) Contribution to early Holocene vegetation and climate history of Eastern Orinoco Llanos, Venezuela, from a palaecological record of a Mauritia L.f. swamp. Acta Amaz 41:513–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal A, Bilbao B, Berrio JC, Behling H, Montoya JV, Mendez C (2016) Late-Holocene gallery forest retrogression in the Venezuelan Guayana: New data and implications for the conservation of a cultural landscape. Holocene 26:1,049–1,063. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683616632892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, New Jersey

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Maher L (1981) Statistics for microfossil concentration measurements employing samples spiked with marker grains. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 32:153–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchant R, Almeida L, Behling H et al (2002) Distribution and ecology of parent taxa of pollen lodged within the Latin American Pollen Database. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 120:1–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin L, Bertaux J, Corrége T et al (1997) Astronomical forcing of contrasting rainfall changes in tropical South America between 12,400 and 8800 cal yr B.P. Quat Res 47:117–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayle F, Power M (2008) Impact of a drier Early-Mid-Holocene climate upon Amazonian forests. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 363:1,829–1,838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montoya E, Rull V, Vegas-Vilarrubia T (2012) Non-pollen palynomorph studies in the Neotropics: the case of Venezuela. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 186:102–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pluciennik M, Zvelebil M (2008) The origins and spread of agriculture. In: Bentley RA, Maschner HDG, Christopher C (eds) Handbook of archaeological theories. Altamira Press, Lanham, pp 467–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Power MJ, Bush MB, Behling H, Horn SP, Mayle FE, Urrego DH (2010) Paleofire activity in tropical America during the last 21 ka: a regional synthesis based on sedimentary charcoal. Pages Newsletter 18:73–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redmond E, Spencer C (1990) Investigaciones Arqueológicas en el Piedemonte y los Llanos Altos de Barinas, Venezuela. Boletín de la Asociación Venezolana de Arqueología 5:4–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Redmond E, Gassón R, Spencer C (1999) A macroregional view of cycling chiefdoms in the western Venezuelan Llanos. In: Bacus E, Lucero L (eds) Complex polities in the ancient tropical world. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, pp 109–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Roosevelt A (1980) Parmana: prehispanic maize and manioc subsistence along the Amazon and Orinoco. Academic Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rull V, Vegas-Villarubia T, Montoya E (2016) The neotropical Gran Sabana region: palaeoecology and conservation. Holocene 26:1,162–1,167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez F (2017) Reconstrucción paleoambiental del Holoceno en El Cedral, Estado Barinas, Venezuela. Master Thesis. Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL), Caracas

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez F, Fernández J, Gassón R, Bezada M, Leal A (2017) Paleoecología y ocupacion humana durante el Holoceno en los Llanos del Orinoco: una revisión y nuevos datos. BioLlania (Special Edition) 15:297–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarmiento G (1990) Ecología comparada de ecosistemas de sabanas en América del Sur. In: Sarmiento G (ed) Las sabanas americanas, aspectos de su biogeografía, ecología y manejo. Fondo Editorial Acta Científica Venezolana, Caracas

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarmiento G, Monasterio M, Silva J (1971) Reconocimiento ecológico de los Llanos Occidentales. I: Las unidades ecológicas regionales. Acta Cient Venez 22:52–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Schargel R (2007) Geomorfología y suelos. In: Duno de Stefano R, Aymard G, Huber O (eds) Catálogo anotado e ilustrado de la flora vascular de los Llanos de Venezuela. FUDENA-Fundación Polar-FIBV, Caracas, pp 15–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Schargel R (2015) Suelos llaneros: geomorfología, distribución geográfica y caracterización. In: López-Falcón R, Hétier JM, López Hernández D, Schargel R, Zinck A (eds) Tierras Llaneras de Venezuela. IRD-CIDIAT, Mérida, pp 63–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer C, Redmond E (1983) Archaeological investigations in the Andean piedmont and high Llanos of Western Venezuela: a preliminary report. In: Kvietok DP, Sandweiss DH (eds) Recent studies in Andean prehistory and protohistory. Cornell Latin American Studies Program, Ithaca, pp 137–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer C, Redmond E (1992) Prehispanic chiefdoms of the Western Venezuelan Llanos. World Archaeol 24:134–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer C, Redmond E (2014) A prehispanic chiefdom in Barinas, Venezuela: Excavations at Gaván-Complex sites, vols I and II. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 100. American Museum of Natural History, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer C, Redmond EM, Rinaldi M (1994) Drained fields at La Tigra, Venezuelan Llanos: a regional perspective. Lat Am Antiq 5:119–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Reimer RW (2018) CALIB 7.1. http://calib.org. Accessed 27 March 2018

  • Traverse A (2007) Paleopalynology, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel B (1978) A palaeoecological study of Holocene peat bog sections in Germany and The Netherlands, based on the analysis of pollen, spores and macro- and microremains of fungi, algae, cormophytes and animals. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 25:1–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel B (1979) Preliminary report on the history of Zygnemataceae and the use of their spores as ecological markers. Proc IVth Int Palynol Conf Lucknow (1976–1977) 1:467–469

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel B (1998) A Study of non-pollen objects in pollen slides. Published. In: by van Hoeve ML, Hendrikse M (eds) A study of non-pollen objects in pollen slides: the types as described by Dr. Bas Van Geel and Colleagues. University of Utrech, Utrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel B (2001) Non-pollen palynomorphs. In: Smol JP, Birks HJB, Last WM (eds) Tracking environmental change using lake sediments, vol 3. Terrestrial, algal, and siliceous indicators. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 99–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel B, Aptroot A (2006) Fossil ascomycetes in Quaternary deposits. Nova Hedwig 82:313–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Hammen T, Hooghiemstra H (2000) Neogene and Quaternary history of vegetation, climate and plant diversity in Amazonia. Quat Sci Rev 19:725–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wille M, Hooghiemstra H, van Geel B, Behling H, Jong A, van der Borg K (2003) Submillenium-scale migrations of the rainforest-savanna boundary in Colombia: 14C wiggle-matching and pollen analysis of core Las Margaritas. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 193:201–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucchi A (1967) La Betania: Un yacimiento arqueologico del occidente de Venezuela. Ph.D. Thesis. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucchi A (1968) Algunas hipótesis sobre la población aborigen de los Llanos Occidentales de Venezuela. Acta Cient Venez 19:135–139

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Fund for Science and Technology of Venezuela (FONACIT) for the financial support given through Grant 2011000404 to the project “Impacto del cambio climático y de la ocupación humana en los mosaicos sabana-bosque de la Cuenca del Orinoco: un enfoque transdisciplinario”. We truly appreciate the willingness of the family Briceño in Barinas to allow sampling in their property. Finally, we would like to show our gratitude to Abelardo Márquez for his friendship and guidance in the field.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, 1086, Miranda, Venezuela

    Alejandra Leal & Fernando Sánchez

  2. Departamento de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia

    Rafael Gassón

  3. Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics, University of Göttingen, Wilhelm-Weber-Str. 2a, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Hermann Behling

Authors
  1. Alejandra Leal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rafael Gassón
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hermann Behling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fernando Sánchez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alejandra Leal.

Additional information

Communicated by W. D. Gosling.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leal, A., Gassón, R., Behling, H. et al. Human-made fires and forest clearance as evidence for late Holocene landscape domestication in the Orinoco Llanos (Venezuela). Veget Hist Archaeobot 28, 545–557 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00713-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00713-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation