Carpenter’s Gap 1 is a large rockshelter located within the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. The site provides valuable archives of late Quaternary palaeoecological information within an area known for a lack of deposits preserving long-term continuous botanical records. Previous studies of the macrobotanic, phytolith and wood charcoal records from Carpenter’s Gap 1 are in general agreement about changes in broad vegetation patterns over time but differ in the time scales used, in the representation of some species, and in the interpretation of changes – particularly on the degree to which the variations in the record represent cultural activities. An examination of palynology (the transport, deposition and preservation of pollen within the rockshelter environment) provides more detail to the vegetation patterns identified in these previous studies. In addition, because the pollen most likely reflects the vegetation of the site’s surrounds over time rather than plants introduced into the shelter by people, interpretation can be more confidently linked to environmental change, and by inference climatic conditions. The pollen data reveal pre-glacial mixed wooded vegetation. From the beginning of the Holocene, tree loss occurred in a transition from monsoonal forest to thicket and eucalypt forest to woodland. Vegetation transition around the mid Holocene suggests a shift in climate, becoming drier and more variable towards and into the late Holocene. The role of fire in the establishment of vegetation communities remains under investigation.

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岩石庇护所孢粉学检查：Carpenter's Gap 1，澳大利亚西北部

Carpenter's Gap 1 是位于澳大利亚西北部金伯利地区的一个大型岩石避难所。该站点在一个以缺乏保存长期连续植物记录的沉积物而闻名的地区内提供了有关晚第四纪古生态信息的宝贵档案。先前对来自 Carpenter's Gap 1 的大型植物、植硅体和木炭记录的研究大体上同意广泛植被模式随时间的变化，但在使用的时间尺度、某些物种的表示和变化的解释方面存在差异——尤其是记录中的变化代表文化活动的程度。孢粉学检查（运输，岩石庇护所环境中花粉的沉积和保存）为这些先前研究中确定的植被模式提供了更多细节。此外，由于花粉最有可能随着时间的推移反映场地周围的植被，而不是人们引入庇护所的植物，因此可以更自信地将解释与环境变化和推断气候条件联系起来。花粉数据揭示了冰川前混合树木繁茂的植被。从全新世开始，在从季风林向灌丛和桉树林向林地过渡的过程中发生了树木消失。全新世中期附近的植被过渡表明气候发生了变化，在全新世晚期和进入全新世晚期变得更加干燥和更加多变。