Pollen-stratigraphic evidence of human activity at Dieng, Central Java

Abstract

The pollen stratigraphy of a small lake at 2000 m elevation in the Dieng Highlands of Central Java, where a large Hindu-Javanese religious center flourished from about 1250 to 700 B.P., indicates substantial and nearly continuous clearance of the montane forest since about 1350 B.P. A core to the base of organic sediments is 14 m long and has a basal date of 1340 B.P. A zone of abundant pollen of the weedy herb Plantago major corresponds well in time with the occupation of the religious center. After about 700 B.P., the pollen of secondary forest species shifted in composition, suggesting a different pattern of vegetation use in the highlands. In the mid-19th century, European observers reported that the forest on the mountains at Dieng was closed and mature, but evidence in the pollen is lacking. By the 1920s, the expanding human population had stripped the landscape of trees, and the first pollen of cultivated plants appears in the stratigraphy. Because of local protection and forest replanting, trees have again increased on the steepest slopes, and the pollen assemblage today differs in composition from the previous zones.