Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium
Over the past millennium, the tropical Pacific Islands of Remote Oceania have experienced significant transformations caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, many sites remain to be explored for their archeological potential, and the complex climatic setting...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1613262/full |
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| author | Giorgia Camperio Giorgia Camperio S. Nemiah Ladd Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Cindy De Jonge Tobias Schneider Elena Argiriadis Elena Argiriadis Ronald Lloren Ronald Lloren Daniel B. Nelson Amicie A. Delahaie Amicie A. Delahaie Christiane Krentscher Nathalie Dubois Nathalie Dubois |
| author_facet | Giorgia Camperio Giorgia Camperio S. Nemiah Ladd Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Cindy De Jonge Tobias Schneider Elena Argiriadis Elena Argiriadis Ronald Lloren Ronald Lloren Daniel B. Nelson Amicie A. Delahaie Amicie A. Delahaie Christiane Krentscher Nathalie Dubois Nathalie Dubois |
| author_sort | Giorgia Camperio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the past millennium, the tropical Pacific Islands of Remote Oceania have experienced significant transformations caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, many sites remain to be explored for their archeological potential, and the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific further complicates our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we applied a multi-proxy approach to sediment cores extracted from ponds on the west coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu to investigate past human-climate-environment dynamics. Through the analysis of human-associated proxies including fecal markers, palmitone (a specific lipid biomarker for taro), crop pollen and sedimentary charcoal, we inferred changes in human presence and activities. We reconstructed past hydroclimate from leaf wax hydrogen isotopes (δ2HLW) and past temperatures from branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). Changes in pollen reveal major shifts in local and regional vegetation. In our record, the period from 1000 to 1300 CE was characterized by warm/wet conditions concomitant with demographic expansion inland. Around 1400 CE, pollen, leaf wax distributions, and δ2HLW data indicated a drier period. The coincident decrease in palmitone, despite high charcoal and fecal marker concentrations, suggested that drier conditions might have rapidly restricted taro cultivation, but not the overall population, which declined more than a century later. We hypothesize that the establishment of one of the earliest European settlements in Oceania in 1606 CE further disrupted local demographics with the introduction of epidemic diseases. This study contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between human activities, climatic fluctuations, and landscape modifications in Remote Oceania over the past millennium. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7ef0bbd56916496783d661c955ebd131 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2296-6463 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-7ef0bbd56916496783d661c955ebd1312025-08-20T03:40:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632025-08-011310.3389/feart.2025.16132621613262Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millenniumGiorgia Camperio0Giorgia Camperio1S. Nemiah Ladd2Matiu Prebble3Matiu Prebble4Matiu Prebble5Cindy De Jonge6Tobias Schneider7Elena Argiriadis8Elena Argiriadis9Ronald Lloren10Ronald Lloren11Daniel B. Nelson12Amicie A. Delahaie13Amicie A. Delahaie14Christiane Krentscher15Nathalie Dubois16Nathalie Dubois17Department of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandGeological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandSchool of Earth and Environment, College of Science, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New ZealandArchaeology and Natural History, Culture History and Languages, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaTe Punaha Matatini, University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandGeological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandInstitute of Polar Sciences, CNR-ISP, Venice, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, ItalyDepartment of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandGeological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Environmental Sciences – Botany, University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland0Laboratory of Geology, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, PSL University, IPSL, Paris, FranceDepartment of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandDepartment of Surface Waters Research and Management, Eawag, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandGeological Institute, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, SwitzerlandOver the past millennium, the tropical Pacific Islands of Remote Oceania have experienced significant transformations caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, many sites remain to be explored for their archeological potential, and the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific further complicates our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we applied a multi-proxy approach to sediment cores extracted from ponds on the west coast of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu to investigate past human-climate-environment dynamics. Through the analysis of human-associated proxies including fecal markers, palmitone (a specific lipid biomarker for taro), crop pollen and sedimentary charcoal, we inferred changes in human presence and activities. We reconstructed past hydroclimate from leaf wax hydrogen isotopes (δ2HLW) and past temperatures from branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). Changes in pollen reveal major shifts in local and regional vegetation. In our record, the period from 1000 to 1300 CE was characterized by warm/wet conditions concomitant with demographic expansion inland. Around 1400 CE, pollen, leaf wax distributions, and δ2HLW data indicated a drier period. The coincident decrease in palmitone, despite high charcoal and fecal marker concentrations, suggested that drier conditions might have rapidly restricted taro cultivation, but not the overall population, which declined more than a century later. We hypothesize that the establishment of one of the earliest European settlements in Oceania in 1606 CE further disrupted local demographics with the introduction of epidemic diseases. This study contributes to our understanding of the intricate relationship between human activities, climatic fluctuations, and landscape modifications in Remote Oceania over the past millennium.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1613262/fulllake sedimentsbiomarkertropical Pacificpaleoclimatepaleoecologyhuman traces |
| spellingShingle | Giorgia Camperio Giorgia Camperio S. Nemiah Ladd Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Matiu Prebble Cindy De Jonge Tobias Schneider Elena Argiriadis Elena Argiriadis Ronald Lloren Ronald Lloren Daniel B. Nelson Amicie A. Delahaie Amicie A. Delahaie Christiane Krentscher Nathalie Dubois Nathalie Dubois Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium Frontiers in Earth Science lake sediments biomarker tropical Pacific paleoclimate paleoecology human traces |
| title | Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium |
| title_full | Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium |
| title_fullStr | Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium |
| title_short | Human–climate–environment interactions in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu during the past millennium |
| title_sort | human climate environment interactions in espiritu santo vanuatu during the past millennium |
| topic | lake sediments biomarker tropical Pacific paleoclimate paleoecology human traces |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1613262/full |
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