The Rise and Fall of the Forest Canopy: An Application of Compound-Specific Stable Isotopic Analysis to a Holocene Sequence of Soils as a Record of Human Impacts in Southern Belize

Summary

Derived from lipid-rich plant tissues (primarily leaf waxes), long chain n-alkanes are a durable organic biomarker whose relative abundance is used in paeloecological studies as a proxy marker of plant species composition, and as an indicator of biomass burning. Isotopic composition of individual n-alkane components preserves signals that reflect both hydroclimate and canopy height. These properties can be employed to examine spatially integrated signals of anthropogenic land clearance in lake cores and buried soils. Presented here, are preliminary results of analysis of leaf-waxes recovered from soil profiles collected by the Uxbenká Archaeological Project near the site of Tzib'te Yux Rockshelter in southern Belize. Our research indicates these profiles include a Holocene-length sequence of deposition including the transition to agriculture, as reflected in a rapid shift in δ13C of bulk soil organic matter, as well as the subsequent return of broadleaf forest following the Classic Period Maya occupation. Combined with geomorphic indicators of erosion, and a high precision climate record derived from a local speleothem, the profile presents an ideal test case for the application of plant-wax data in the SE tropics of Mesoamerica.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22115