An estimated 90 to 95% of Indigenous people in Amazonia died after European contact. This population collapse is postulated to have caused decreases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at around 1610 CE, as a result of a wave of land abandonment in the wake of disease, slavery, and warfare, whereby the attendant reversion to forest substantially increased terrestrial carbon sequestration. On the basis of 39 Amazonian fossil pollen records, we show that there was no synchronous reforestation event associated with such an atmospheric carbon dioxide response after European arrival in Amazonia. Instead, we find that, at most sites, land abandonment and forest regrowth began about 300 to 600 years before European arrival. Pre-European pandemics, social strife, or environmental change may have contributed to these early site abandonments and ecological shifts.

与欧洲接触后，估计约有90％到95％的亚马逊地区土著人死亡。据推测，由于疾病，奴隶制和战争而导致的土地遗弃浪潮，这种人口崩溃导致大气二氧化碳浓度在公元1610年左右下降，从而伴随着森林的复垦大大增加了陆地碳固存。根据39个亚马孙化石花粉记录，我们表明，欧洲人抵达亚马孙后，没有与这种大气二氧化碳反应相关的同步造林事件。取而代之的是，我们发现，在大多数地点，在欧洲到来之前大约300至600年就开始了土地遗弃和森林再生。欧洲前大流行，社会冲突，