TY - JOUR
T1 - Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times
AU - Raposeiro, Pedro M.
AU - Hernández, Armand
AU - Pla-Rabes, Sergi
AU - Gonçalves, Vítor
AU - Bao, Roberto
AU - Sáez, Alberto
AU - Shanahan, Timothy
AU - Benavente, Mario
AU - de Boer, Erik J.
AU - Richter, Nora
AU - Gordon, Verónica
AU - Marques, Helena
AU - Sousa, Pedro M.
AU - Souto, Martín
AU - Matias, Miguel G.
AU - Aguiar, Nicole
AU - Pereira, Cátia
AU - Ritter, Catarina
AU - Rubio, María Jesús
AU - Salcedo, Marina
AU - Vázquez-Loureiro, David
AU - Margalef, Olga
AU - Amaral-Zettler, Linda A.
AU - Costa, Ana Cristina
AU - Huang, Yongsong
AU - van Leeuwen, Jacqueline F.N.
AU - Masqué, Pere
AU - Prego, Ricardo
AU - Ruiz-Fernández, Ana Carolina
AU - Sanchez-Cabeza, Joan Albert
AU - Trigo, Ricardo
AU - Giralt, Santiago
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/10/12
Y1 - 2021/10/12
N2 - Humans have made such dramatic and permanent changes to Earth’s landscapes that much of it is now substantially and irreversibly altered from its preanthropogenic state. Remote islands, until recently isolated from humans, offer insights into how these landscapes evolved in response to human-induced perturbations. However, little is known about when and how remote systems were colonized because archaeological data and historical records are scarce and incomplete. Here, we use a multiproxy approach to reconstruct the initial colonization and subsequent environmental impacts on the Azores Archipelago. Our reconstructions provide unambiguous evidence for widespread human disturbance of this archipelago starting between 700-60+50 and 850-60+60 Common Era (CE), ca. 700 y earlier than historical records suggest the onset of Portuguese settlement of the islands. Settlement proceeded in three phases, during which human pressure on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems grew steadily (i.e., through livestock introductions, logging, and fire), resulting in irreversible changes. Our climate models suggest that the initial colonization at the end of the early Middle Ages (500 to 900 CE) occurred in conjunction with anomalous northeasterly winds and warmer Northern Hemisphere temperatures. These climate conditions likely inhibited exploration from southern Europe and facilitated human settlers from the northeast Atlantic. These results are consistent with recent archaeological and genetic data suggesting that the Norse were most likely the earliest settlers on the islands.
AB - Humans have made such dramatic and permanent changes to Earth’s landscapes that much of it is now substantially and irreversibly altered from its preanthropogenic state. Remote islands, until recently isolated from humans, offer insights into how these landscapes evolved in response to human-induced perturbations. However, little is known about when and how remote systems were colonized because archaeological data and historical records are scarce and incomplete. Here, we use a multiproxy approach to reconstruct the initial colonization and subsequent environmental impacts on the Azores Archipelago. Our reconstructions provide unambiguous evidence for widespread human disturbance of this archipelago starting between 700-60+50 and 850-60+60 Common Era (CE), ca. 700 y earlier than historical records suggest the onset of Portuguese settlement of the islands. Settlement proceeded in three phases, during which human pressure on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems grew steadily (i.e., through livestock introductions, logging, and fire), resulting in irreversible changes. Our climate models suggest that the initial colonization at the end of the early Middle Ages (500 to 900 CE) occurred in conjunction with anomalous northeasterly winds and warmer Northern Hemisphere temperatures. These climate conditions likely inhibited exploration from southern Europe and facilitated human settlers from the northeast Atlantic. These results are consistent with recent archaeological and genetic data suggesting that the Norse were most likely the earliest settlers on the islands.
KW - Biomarkers
KW - Climate simulations
KW - Ecosystem disruption
KW - Island colonization
KW - Paleolimnology
KW - Biomarkers
KW - Climate simulations
KW - Ecosystem disruption
KW - Island colonization
KW - Paleolimnology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116559572&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2108236118
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2108236118
M3 - Article
C2 - 34607952
AN - SCOPUS:85116559572
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 118
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 41
M1 - e2108236118
ER -