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| Title |
A 10,000 Year Record of Pre-Columbian Environmental Change From Highland Guatemala
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| Author(s) |
Caffrey, Maria A.
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| School/Department |
Department of Geography
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| Institution |
University of Denver
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| Degree Type |
Master's
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| Degree Name |
M.A.
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| Type of Resource |
text
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| Degree Date |
2007 June
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| Digital Origin |
reformatted digital
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| Rights Statement |
All Rights Reserved
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| Reason for Restrictions |
No restrictions
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| Type of Restriction |
No restrictions
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| Keyword(s) |
Geography
Geology
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| Genre |
Dissertations, Academic
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| Abstract |
The Huehuetenango region of the Guatemalan Sierra de Los Cuchumantanes is a landscape characterized by extensive human modification surrounded by mountainous terrain that has been significantly deforested in recent centuries for agriculture. The paleoclimatic history of the Guatemalan lowlands has been extensively studied along with the impacts that the Maya had on their environment. This research looks at the impact of climatic change on the highlands environment and how naturally occurring changes agree or differ from lowland records that include potential influences humans. A partial sediment core was taken from a high elevation site in the Huehuetenango region. Radiocarbon dates show that the record extends for most of the Holocene period from 10,240 14C BP until 2850 14C BP. Pollen and macroscopic charcoal analyses in addition to standard geochemical analyses were carried out at close intervals throughout the core in order to determine how vegetation and fire frequencies within the region have changed over time. Data shows that the area underwent a number of periods alternating between warm, dry and cold, wet conditions through the early Holocene until the Middle Preclassic. The outcomes of this research are a record of the impacts of climate change on a landscape that was unmodified by humans that can be used to distinguish between natural and human signals in the lowland data.
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| Handle |
http://hdl.handle.net/10176/codu:55678
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