Natural and cultural landscape evolution during the Late Holocene in North Central Guatemalan Lowlands and Highlands Carlos Enrique Avendaño Mendoza A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Geography University of Toronto © Copyright by Carlos Enrique Avendaño Mendoza, 2012 Natural and cultural landscape evolution during the Late Holocene in North Central Guatemalan Lowlands and Highlands Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Carlos Enrique Avendaño Mendoza Graduate Department of Geography University of Toronto Abstract Paleoecology has been only in recent decades applied to Mesoamerica; this thesis provides new records of paleoenvironmental changes in Guatemala. Paleoecological reconstructions are developed based mainly on pollen in the Lachuá lowlands and Purulhá highlands of the Las Verapaces Region. For the first time, quantitative vegetation and climate analyses are developed, and plant indicator taxa from vegetation belts are identified. Changes in vegetation are explained partially by elevation and climatic parameters, topography, drainage divides, and biogeography. Pollen rain and indicator plant taxa from vegetation belts were linked through a first modern pollen rain analysis based on bryophyte polsters and surface sediments. The latter contain fewer forest- interior plant taxa in both locations, and in the highlands, they contain higher local pollen content than in the lowlands. These calibrations aided vegetation reconstructions based on fossil pollen in sediment records from the Lachuá and Purulhá regions. Reconstructions for the last ~2000 years before present (BP) were developed based on fossil pollen from cores P-4 on a floodplain in Purulhá, and L-3, a wetland in Lachuá. ii Core P-4 suggests that Mayan populations developed a system of agricultural terraces in a former paleolake-swamp environment, which was abandoned at the time of the Spanish Conquest (~400 BP). Core L-3 indicates the abandonment of Mayan “Forest Gardens” at the time of the early Postclassic. These gardens likely prevailed during the Classic period (~300-1100 yrs BP) at the outskirts of the ancient city of Salinas de los Nueve Cerros. Following abandonment, forest recovery took place for about 800 yrs. Cultural factors are found to be more important in determining vegetation dynamics in this region, since no clear evidence of climate forcing was found. The P-4 and L-3 cores provide likely evidence that Mayan populations were, contrary to other evidence, innovative landscape managers. Scenarios in the Las Verapaces Region have been drastically modified in recent times (e.g. after the European Conquest), as suggested by pollen evidence in the top of both P-4 and L-3 cores, possibly due mostly to modern large scale natural resources exploitation, which represent environmental threats greater than any seen in the last ca. 2000 years. iii Acknowledgments I deeply thank my supervisor Sharon Cowling for her sincere and wonderful support during the development of my Ph.D since the very first day I arrived to Canada. She was there waiting for me in the Toronto International Pearson Airport with a sign that had my name on, I can only say “Muchas gracias eternas”. Thanked is my co-supervisor Sarah Finkelstein for her marvellous support at the Paleoecology Laboratory of the Department of Geography. I had the honor to be at the start of her Laboratory and see the evolution to what today is: An excellent place to learn and grow. I thank Prof. Tenley Conway and Prof. Anthony Davis for their helpful comments as part of my Ph.D. Academic Committee. Prof. Juan Carlos Berrio is greatly thanked for his valuable training in tropical paleoecology during field campaign in Guatemala and during my visits to his laboratory at the Department of Geography, Leicester University, England. I thank his wife Natalia de Berrio for her support too. I thank too the “Los Juanetes”, a Latin American rock band in the middle of England, for making my visit a nice one. I thank the Guatemalan team, “los COMPAI” and more, that supported me during my field campaign in Guatemala in 2006 and many many more things. Lachuá National Park and Biotopo del Quetzal Administrations and staff are thanked for supporting my research. I am greatly thankful to forest guards at Lachuá National Park for their support in bryophyte polster and core sampling. I thank Santa Lucia Lachuá Municipality for support in collecting sediments from Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, especially to Major Pedro Oxom and Family Tun. San Cristobal Verapaz Municipality iv Administration and staff are thanked for supporting our research. Fincas Villa Trinidad, Patal, Chisiguan, and Lesbia Mus and Yolanda Barahona are thanked for their support in collecting sediments. I thank CONAP, Franklin Herrera, Escuela de Biología –at the Faculty of CCQQ and Pharmacy –USAC- for the support in acquiring collection and research licenses. As well I thank staff and members of Escuela de Biología, Faculty of CCQQ and Pharmacy, and USAC for their support during my Ph.D. I thank Dr. Gerald Islebe for his support in pollen identification and feedback during my thesis development. Enric Aguilar and Melissa Gervais are thanked for obtaining Guatemalan climatic information. Joan Bunbury is greatly thanked for the support in creating maps and using CANOCO ©. Dr. Arnoud Boom is thanked for his support during my visit to Leicester University, England (as well, thanks for introducing me more into Asian Cinema). Grace Jeon is thanked for her support in developing Loss-on-ignition measurements for my core samples in the Paleoecology Lab, Department of Geography – UofT-. The Centre for Global Change Science and their staff, especially Ana Sousa, at the University of Toronto is greatly thanked for enhancing my Ph.D. experience. I thank Prof. Jock McAndrews and Charlie Turton for their support during my Ph.D. I thank everybody at the Department of Geography who supported me during my Ph.D. years as a student, especially from the main office at Sidney Smith (esp. Marianne Ishibashi, Marika Maslej, and Jessica Finlayson). I am very grateful to the Physical v Geography Building (PGB) community who supported and helped me, especially members of Cowling and Finkelstein’s research laboratories. Members of Chen’s, Diamond’s and Desloge’s laboratories are greatly thanked for their company and support. I am greatly grateful to Mircea Pilaf for his support since the first day I arrived to PGB and for the conversations in Romanian. I thank the “Geography soccer” community whom I shared many summer, fall, winter, and spring games. Thanked are Maria Johnson and Family for being my Guatemalan-“Chapina”-Canadian Family. I am grateful to Claudia Avendaño and Knutt Eissermann for providing help and time in finding the source vegetation literature for this study. I am grateful to Maria Elena Hidalgo “mi Ague”, Carlos Avendaño E., Yolanda Mendoza de Avendaño, Gary Avendaño, and Hector Bol for providing help during field work. I thank my Family in Guatemala for their spiritual and moral support: Papa, Mama, Clada, Gary, Abue, Hector, Ti Lili, Dn. Enrique, Kennes ... This thesis is dedicated to my Family, which has supported me in my entire life in any possible path that I have taken … forever and ever. Special dedication for Mateo and Belinda, who now have become my triangle of life, joy, and motivation to become a better being. Mateo: “No llegó la gota carmín, Llegó en su lugar la noticia de su visita, Certidumbres y rumbos no aleatorios, A esta edad, en este lugar, en esta vida… Semilla liberando indicios de luz, Transformando auras, metamorfosis interna, Milagro de la multiplicación de tu rostro en cada rostro, en el niño de la calle, en el abuelo de la esquina, en el rostro del espejo, Bien leí que en tradiciones ancestrales se entiende como la llegada de un maestro, En silencio quiero aprender de ti… Después de años de ser profecía, la epifanía llego esta mañana: reconocer al prójimo como a mi propio hijo… Traes polvo cósmico celestial, soplas tu aliento en mi oído y me revelas el universo”. vi Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments...................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................. ix List of Figures............................................................................................................. x List of Appendices .................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Background Information ................................................................................... 1 1.1 Pollen as a Paleoecological Proxy ........................................................................ 1 1.2 Climate Variability Over the Holocene ................................................................ 4 1.3 Reconstructing vegetation and landscapes............................................................ 8 1.4 Reconstructing Cultural Landscapes................................................................... 10 1.5 Thesis Objectives and Research Questions......................................................... 13 1.6 Geomorphological and Vegetational Setting of Study Region........................... 15 1.7 Cultural History of