I am Rebecca Lellau, a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (MPI-GEA) supervised by Dr. S. Yoshi Maezumi (https://www.shh.mpg.de/person/123125/2164017) and Professor Will D. Gosling. For my work I will use geochemical, palynological and charcoal proxy data from sediment cores from Curaçao to examine the long-term human-environment interactions.
In this blog post, I would like to share with you my first trip to a conference abroad – the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology (IACA) congress, which was also my first stay in the Caribbean in general.
During the seminar afternoon (17 October) we heard four talks. The first from Harm Smeenge and Ariët Kieskamp (both Bosgroep) introduced the sites we were to visit on the excursion the next day. This focused on the landscape ecology and ecological history of the bogs on the eastern slopes of the Veluwe. The second talk, by Roy van Beek (Wageningen University & Research), focused on the Celtic field systems around the Veluwe. He explained the latest archaeological and archaeobotaincal work investigating the age and origins of these field systems. The third presentation was by Jasper Candel (Wageningen University & Research) and focused on the geomorphological features from glacial activity in the Veluwe region and how this has effected the development of mire ecosystems. I (William Gosling) gave the final talk, presenting the outputs of the research theses of Sanna Wessel, Chiara Raino and Roos Dik who all completed projects at the University of Amsterdam and worked together to investigate how different mega-herbivore populations in the Dutch landscape were represented by the dung fungal spores preserved in the soil.
INQUA fellow Alfred Hougnon continues his research into past environmental change in the Dahomey Gap (Benin). In the fourth video documenting his progress a short background to the project, and insights into field work, are given. Field work took place near the Ewe-Adakplame forest in the south east of Benin and involved the recovery of sediments using a Russian corer. The video also shows how interactions and engagement with the local community was developed during the research expedition.
To find out more above Alfreds project read posts on:
After visiting the SASQUA conference and presenting my work there (see SASQUA Conference post), we travelled to the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg (UKZN), where I would be staying for three weeks. During this period, my goal was to meet with local experts and to visit my site of study in the Drakensberg mountains. This would help me gain more insight into the environment I’m studying and provide me with an opportunity to collect more samples.
Pietermaritzburg
After the SASQUA congress finished, we flew from Port-Elisabeth to Durban. This would be my first time in one of the highly urbanised parts of South-Africa. We drove about an hour from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, better known locally as PMB, and I immediately noticed the stark difference between the countryside of the Western cape and the urbanised areas of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The city was rough around the edges and felt generally less safe than the laid-back countryside. Luckily, my accommodation was located in one of the better neighbourhoods close to campus. Macho the adorable dog of the AirBnB owners further assured my feeling of safety.
During the Mapping Ancient Africa writing workshop in Kenya (3-6 June 2024) Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr conducted a series of short interviews with the scientists attending. Below you can find part 2 (of 2) of the interviews with the participants in the workshop. Watch the videos to find out their scientific stories and top tips for academic writing. Watch all the Mapping Ancient Africa videos on the Mapping Ancient Africa YouTube Playlist.
The participants (part 2 of 2)
Ruth Kiely (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Husna Mashaka (Arizona State University, USA & National Museums of Kenya, Kenya)
During the Mapping Ancient Africa writing workshop in Kenya (3-6 June 2024) Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr conducted a series of short interviews with the scientists attending. During the interviews she asked the participants and instructors to describe their scientific background, what had motivated them to take part in the writing workshop, and what they thought the most important thing they had gained from it. You can now meet the first four of these scientists now by watching the videos below, or catch up with all the latest videos on the Mapping Ancient Africa YouTube Playlist.
The participants (part 1 of 2)
Olugbenga Boboye (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
Angela Effiom (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
In this article I summarize and describe the scientific research that was performed near Botopasi in Suriname, which was published in Ecology as ‘Pre-contact and post-colonial ecological legacies shape Surinamese rainforests’ (https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4272).
Figure 1: Our research team in the field
Background
In October 2021, between COVID-19 restrictions, I joined archaeologist dr. Cheryl White and her team to excavate the remnants of a ‘lost village’ of Saamaka Maroons in the Surinamese rainforest. Maroons are the descendants of enslaved Africans, who, in the late 1600s, fled plantations to live in freedom in the Surinamese rainforests. Dr. White has been investigating the first villages and the movements of Suriname’s Maroon communities for decades and is an expert in this topic.
Our wonderful research team consisted of Farisha Kartosemito B.Sc., Sushmeeta Ganesh B.Sc., Jõvan Samson B.Sc., Agir Axwijk B.Sc., Santosh Singh M.A., Thanya Fonkel MPA, Harrold Sijlbing, Dombi Lö, Gerno Eduards & Farik Eduards. We were welcomed in the village Botopasi, and after a day of hard work in the field, we enjoyed delicious Surinamese food and played troefcall!
As an ecologist, I was interested in the ecological effects of past human activities on the forest ecosystem. In these rainforests, Maroon and Indigenous communities often burn and remove trees near their homes to grow a variety of crops like cassava, tayer, maize and banana. After some years, the cultivation site is abandoned and forests can grow back. But do those forests recover back to their original state?
What did the forest look like before people arrived and settled in the landscape of Boven Suriname?
To study how Maroon communities have shaped Surinamese forests over time, I made a reconstruction of the landscape of the past (going back thousands of years). The landscape was near an archaeological sites called ‘Beng Tau’, where Maroons lived in the 17th century. We used plant fossils and charcoal remains to reconstruct the forest from the past, to research if people were using fire and growing crops, and how the forests recovered from that.
Results and implications
Figure 2: Phytoliths from the banana plant
The charcoal remains and plant fossils, particularly from maize and banana, confirmed Saamaka Maroons settled in the area since ca. 1700 and practiced slash-and-burn agriculture was near the archaeological site called ‘Beng Tapu’ (Figure 2). The site may have been a cooking area, because remnants of pottery with maize, rice and banana were found. Within 1 km of Beng Tapu, we found large fragments of charcoal, and plant fossils from maize and banana. Smaller charcoal fragments and banana were found within 5 km of the archaeological site. Nowadays, agriculture is practiced within 8 km of the archaeological site and Suriname river. The area used for agriculture likely expanded over time.
How did the forest recover from these activities?
Within 1 km of the archaeological site, forests were burnt and used multiple times. Here, forests have a lower biomass than further away from Beng Tapu, meaning fewer or smaller trees have grown back. Also, Attalea and Oenocarpus palm trees increased. Still today, the Saamaka Maroon community uses the maripa palm to make oil. Therefore, the number of maripa palms may have increased due to human activities like cooking and oil production! Attalea and Oenocarpus palms are also adapted to open conditions and fire, showing the influence people had on the environment and how the forest responded to fires.
Further (2-7 km) away from the archaeological site, where disturbances were fewer, the forests recovered much better but Astrocaryum palms grew back in higher numbers in the understory of the forests. What makes these palms so resilient? We are still uncertain. The forests furthest away (>8km) from Beng Tapu showed little signs of disturbances.
Figure 3: View from the Suriname River
A long human history, and an Indigenous archaeological site?
The Saamaka Maroons were not the first people to have inhabited the forests near Botopasi. Charcoal fragments show that people were in region (the ca. 20 km radius we studied) already 2000 years ago, and fire events occurred ca. 2000, 1700,1500, 1300, 1200 and 800 years ago. We don’t know which Indigenous Cultures may have inhabited this region, because of limited archaeological and historical research here. Large charcoal fragments were found ca. 7 km away from Beng Tapu, across the Suriname River. Could this be an Indigenous archaeological site?
Conclusion
Our results show the timing, intensity and frequency of past disturbances are very important for good forest recovery and some disturbances from the past can still impact the modern vegetation.
Unravelling the past not only tells us about the ancestors of Maroons and the lives of Indigenous communities before the 1500s. The past also helps us to understand how forests respond to human impacts. To better guide conservation strategies, we need to do more archaeological and ecological research in Surinamese rainforests.
Next to the Suriname River, past human activities shaped the forest andincreased local palm abundances. The broader forested region showed a healthy recovery. These results indicate that the Saamaka Maroon community preserved most of the forests they inhabited since the 1700s. We can learn from traditional knowledge about which management practices are sustainable to keep forests healthy.
If you want to know more about the “hows” of this research…dive with me into the methodology!
The University of Amsterdam MSc Earth Sciences “Geoecological Systems” field course took place this year in Miraflores (Peruvian Andes) during June and July. Eighteen students, including three from Peruvian institutions, spent four weeks exploring the high Andes. During this time the students developed scientific projects to address interests of the local population related to soil quality, environmental pollution, water resources and cultural heritage. Access to the area and embedding within the community was enabled by The Mountain Institute Peru. During the course the students gained extensive ‘hands on’ field experience, developed teamworking skills and discovered the benefits of a participatory approach to research.
This course runs once every two years (to find out about the 2022 expedition click here). Want to join us on a future expedition? Check out our degree program here to enroll.
Images from the University of Amsterdam Peru field course 2024
As part of my MSc Biological Sciences (University of Amsterdam) research project entitled “Assessing the effect of human induced fire regime changes on vegetation in the Drakensberg mountains” (for further details click to see previous post). I’ve travelled to Africa, where I’ll be staying a month. During this mini blogpost series I’ll take you with me on my travels!
During the first poster session, I presented my poster which went into detail on how we are developing a proxy to reconstruct past fire using micro-Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (µFTIR). These reconstructed fire temperatures can then be compared with phytolith or pollen data to assess the effects of different fire temperatures on local vegetation over time. The presentation and poster were well received!
After my poster presentation there were two more congress days which were filled with interesting talks and beautiful posters.
Ecology of the past 