Date of Award

Summer 8-16-2024

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Advisor

Jacquelyn Gill

Second Committee Member

Daniel Sandweiss

Third Committee Member

Bonnie Newsom

Additional Committee Members

Kathryn Krasinski

Nancy Bigelow

Brenda Hall

Abstract

Humans and the environment have and always will be inextricably intertwined. As we move into a period of unprecedented climate and global change, it is critical that we learn from past coupled cultural-environmental systems. Paleoenvironmental science is equipped with a powerful toolkit and broad set of methodologies for examining the past and can provide important insight into complex ecosystem dynamics during periods of past change. Indigenous science/knowledge is similarly equipped with a set of methodologies (often rooted in relationships, reciprocity and responsibility) for understanding the past and making sense of the present and future. Paleoenvironmental science can also provide information about past Indigenous peoples and their connections to the land, which is knowledge that may have been lost or disrupted by centuries of colonialism. When braided together, paleoenvironmental science and Indigenous expertise can provide powerful information about past Indigenous land stewardship, management and lifeways that may have important implications for contemporary cultural and ecological issues. This dissertation examines 1) how paleoenvironmental science can use traditional and novel methodologies as a means of supporting descendant Indigenous communities and their interests and 2) the current state of collaborative Western and Indigenous paleoenvironmental science, ultimately calling for enhanced Indigenous engagement across the discipline.

Using a suite of paleoenvironmental proxies including charcoal, fecal lipid biomarkers, pollen, d15N, we examine the timing of human arrival to the Falkland Islands, the cultural and environmental context of the Sebasticook Fish Weir Complex (SFWC), and drivers of Holocene fire in Maine. In the Falkland Islands, pre-European human activity has long been speculated about, but not systematically tested. Large increases in fire frequency and severity tend to accompany Initial human arrival to island systems. Charcoal from a peat core taken from New Island, Falkland Islands, and the synchronous deposition of numerous marine animal bone piles, indicate people were likely active within the Falklands prior to European arrival. This research highlights the sea-faring capabilities of the Yaghan people who are Indigenous to the southern cone of South America and rewrites the human history of the Falkland Islands.

In Maine, where centuries of colonialism and land use change have decimated Wabanaki populations and lifeways, we introduced an emergent sedimentary proxy, fecal lipid biomarkers, to directly assess the timing and nature of human activity at the SFWC. Lipid biomarkers, along with other proxies, demonstrate people were actively and nearly continuously using the Sebasticook watershed throughout the 7500-year record. Importantly, human fecal lipid biomarkers from Sebasticook Lake track known periods of cultural change with remarkable accuracy, highlighting the usefulness of this novel proxy for understanding past Indigenous (and European) activity in the Northeast. This has the potential to be an incredibly informative proxy as there are ongoing debates about past Indigenous land management in the Northeast, particularly regarding past cultural burning practices and periods of cultural change.

Cultural burning has been an important Wabanaki practice for centuries and likely millennia. However, the scale at which people were influencing landscapes with fire in Maine is unclear. Here we used charcoal, fecal lipid biomarkers, pollen data from four sedimentary lake cores, along with external climate records and Indigenous expertise to identify drivers of Holocene fire at both regional and local scales. Holocene fire in Maine was primarily driven by regional climate and changes in vegetation patterns through time, shifting from high-frequency high-charcoal accumulation in the early Holocene to low-frequency low-charcoal accumulation in the late Holocene. Careful examination of proxies from of each individual record enabled identification of small-scale burning events, demonstrating that people were likely influencing the landscape at the local scale for many millennia prior to European colonization.

Overall, the diverse collection of chapters within this dissertation are tied together with the desire to advance how paleoenvironmental science can better work with and for Indigenous communities.

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