INTEGRATING PALEOLIMNOLOGICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL DATASETS IN THE PANTANAL WETLANDS (BRAZIL)

Studies of lake sediments are valuable for evaluating ancient climatic changes and anthropogenic disturbances on tropical ecosystems. The combination of paleolimnological and archeological datasets from a common timeframe can reveal the complex relationships among climate, vegetation, and human history. Little is known about human activities and their responses to major climatic changes in the late Quaternary, due to the lack of integrative studies of archaeological, paleoecological, and paleoclimatological data from the tropics. Here, we present a holistic meta-analysis of paleo-data on the form, function, and history of the Pantanal wetlands in central South America. The Pantanal is the backdrop for the intersection of different Amerindian cultures, serving as a zone of contact between Chaco and Amazonian people. Our study identified major periods of human occupation in the Pantanal lowlands and allows us to build hypotheses on how changes in the paleoenvironment, particularly precipitation and river dynamics, affected human history in the wetlands.