Trajectories of Disturbance in Island SE Asia: A Hypothesis of Anthropogenic Forest Management and Food Production

Abstract:

This paper synthesises evidence from Late Quaternary pollen diagrams from across Island SE Asia to show that what appears to be anthopogenic forest modification started more than 50,000 years ago. Initially disturbance of forests was by fire, during interstadials when successional processes would otherwise have led to closed canopy forest. It is hypothesised that the resultant habitats would have provided accessible broad-spectrum resources to mobile foraging populations. During the Holocene, there is some evidence for the early interchange and propagation of economically-important plants, notably between New Guinea and Borneo. I use GIS to chart patterns of floral disturbance through the Holocene, most probably linked to diverse land management and food production strategies. We need a new wave of pollen and charcoal-based studies plus plant macrofossil work on many archaeological sites across the region to test and substantiate this hypothesis.