Columbus’ arrival in the New World in AD 1492 on the northern coast of Hispaniola was followed by a suite of changes in land-use. We reconstruct environmental change from a 225-cm-long sediment core from site Los Indios from an abandoned and sediment-filled meander of the Yaque River, Cibao Valley, northeastern Dominican Republic. The sediment record starts ca. AD 195 (ca. 1755 cal. yr BP) and the history of the meander infill was monitored by changing grain size distributions, organic matter concentration and pollen from wetland plants. From ca. AD 200 to ca. AD 1525, the pollen record indicates a diverse forest assemblage; however, the presence of pollen from potential crop plants suggest nearby small-scale subsistence crop cultivation. More abundant charcoal after ca. AD 1410 shows Amerindians increasingly used fire. The record of grain size distributions shows that the meander was temporarily part of a low energetic drainage system in which bedload and suspended sediments accumulated. After European colonization of Hispaniola increasing spores of coprophilous fungi evidence that Europeans had introduced during the first decades of colonization cattle in the Cibao Valley which gradually resulted in more open forest. The charcoal record around ca. AD 1650 reflects intensive forest clearing, suggesting that small-scale Pre-Colonial practice of crop cultivation became replaced by large-scale agriculture on the moist and nutrient rich soils along the Yaque River. Further deforestation and signals of erosion suggest that the population of colonists and introduced enslaved labour force must have increased rapidly. After ca. AD 1740 charcoal influx decreased suggesting that last deforestation activities used selective cutting to produce fire wood and timber for construction, rather than burning forest in situ. Two centuries after European colonization, by the 18th century, land-use within the Cibao Valley had become a balance between substantial livestock and crop cultivation (pollen grains have evidenced cereals, maize, and potentially also sugar cane, amaranthaceous crops and tobacco). After ca. AD 1950, swamp vegetation of Typha and Cyperaceae decreased, pointing to an almost fully terrestrialized meander with only few bodies of standing water, reflecting the present-day setting. This multiproxy reconstruction of anthropogenic environmental change shows a clear differentiation between an immediate introduction of livestock and after some 150 years the development of a European style agriculture, providing a context for archaeological investigations.

中文翻译：

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哥伦布对新大陆的环境影响：多米尼加共和国雅克河流域的土地利用变化

哥伦布于公元 1492 年抵达伊斯帕尼奥拉岛北部海岸的新大陆，随后土地利用发生了一系列变化。我们从 Los Indios 站点的 225 厘米长的沉积物核心重建环境变化，该沉积物核心来自多米尼加共和国东北部茨堡河谷雅克河的一条废弃且充满沉积物的河道。沉积物记录开始于约。AD 195 (ca. 1755 cal. yr BP) 和曲折填充的历史通过改变颗粒大小分布、有机物质浓度和湿地植物的花粉来监测。从约。公元 200 年至约 公元 1525 年，花粉记录表明森林组合多样化；然而，来自潜在作物植物的花粉的存在表明附近有小规模的自给作物种植。约后更丰富的木炭。公元 1410 年显示美洲印第安人越来越多地使用火。粒度分布的记录表明，曲流暂时是低能量排水系统的一部分，在该系统中堆积了沉积物和悬浮沉积物。在欧洲殖民伊斯帕尼奥拉岛后，越来越多的嗜粪真菌孢子证明欧洲人在最初几十年在磁宝河谷引入了牛，这逐渐导致了更开阔的森林。大约木炭记录。公元 1650 年反映了密集的森林砍伐，这表明在雅克河沿岸潮湿和营养丰富的土壤上，小规模的前殖民时期作物种植实践已被大规模农业所取代。进一步的森林砍伐和侵蚀的迹象表明，殖民者的人口和引入的奴役劳动力一定迅速增加。在大约之后。公元 1740 年木炭流入减少，表明上次森林砍伐活动使用选择性砍伐来生产用于建筑的木柴和木材，而不是就地燃烧森林。欧洲殖民两个世纪后，到 18 世纪，磁宝河谷内的土地利用已成为大量牲畜和作物种植之间的平衡（花粉已证明是谷物、玉米，可能还有甘蔗、苋菜作物和烟草）。在大约之后。公元 1950 年，香蒲和莎草科的沼泽植被减少，指向几乎完全陆地化的曲流，只有很少的静水体，反映了当今的环境。