Pollen and sediment evidence for late-Holocene human impact at the Seonam-dong archeological site, Gwangju, Korea

Abstract

We present pollen and sediment evidence for late-Holocene human impact from the Seonam-dong archeological site in Gwangju in southwest Korea. Due to the lack of undisturbed profiles with high sedimentation rates, the relationship between the environment and agricultural activities has not been properly investigated in Korea using a paleoenvironmental approach. This study shows possible climate-induced changes in chestnut production, which was contemporaneously recognized by the Chinese as an important and unique local food source in southwestern Korea. Our results also show that human adaptation to climate change may have resulted in both the degradation and recovery of the local forest ecosystem in the study area. The data from the Seonam-dong archeological site provided evidence supporting the following hypotheses. 1) Chestnut cultivation declined from 400 BC to AD 200 (2350–1750cal BP), as herbaceous crop production may have sufficiently expanded to sustain the population, possibly due to agricultural improvements and/or climatic amelioration. 2) Chestnut cultivation was enhanced from AD 200 to AD 800 (1750–1150cal BP), probably to compensate for decreased herbaceous crop yields due to climatic deterioration. 3) The increase in chestnut cultivation led to forest disturbance and increased flooding, with intermittent forest recovery during periods of decreased cultivation.