Late Holocene Paleoecology and Archaeology in the Central African Rain Forest

中非热带雨林是世界上第二大毗连的热带雨林，目前支持着一系列高度多样化的生物群落，包括一些特有和濒危动物，以及当地和区域经济，在全球气候中发挥着重要作用。保护和管理这些生态系统的新努力有赖于准确重建该区域的史前生态轨迹。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Karen Lupo博士将领导一个多机构和跨学科的研究项目，以建立跨越过去4500年的中非北部热带雨林的纵向古生态记录。该项目是一个合作项目，有来自华盛顿州立大学(美国)、CURDHACA(历史与考古文献中心)、班吉大学和中非共和国博甘达博物馆的考古学家、人类学家、民族考古学家和孢粉学家参与。这项研究的目的是为调查刚果盆地北部向粮食生产过渡的时机、自然和文化发展奠定基础。向粮食生产的过渡对热带雨林栖息地产生了最早的重大人为影响之一，并对占据森林的人类人口产生了深远的影响(和相互作用)。通过结合来自化石花粉和植物遗骸的成对考古和替代古环境信息，该团队将重建刚果盆地北部的历史生态。这项研究很重要，因为它代表了该地区的第一次历史生态学研究。西非部分地区的环境重建表明，在大约4500年到2000年前的干旱时期，热带雨林的边界发生了剧烈的波动和退化。这一干旱时期常常被认为是说班图语的农民从喀麦隆西北部核心区迁徙到非洲其他地区的催化剂。到目前为止，对中非热带雨林历史生态的研究很少。有限的证据表明，中部非洲热带雨林对晚全新世干旱的植被反应存在高度的区域差异。此外，农民到达这一地区的时间和性质以及园艺随后的影响是未知的，也是有争议的。语言证据表明，农民在2300至2500年前迁徙到这一地区，但稀少的考古证据支持更晚的到达日期。这项研究建立了中非共和国和美国的科学家与学生之间的合作研究伙伴关系，为交流思想和培训提供了机会。这项研究还将对热带雨林社区的管理产生更广泛的影响和实际应用。与这项研究相关的外联活动包括与当地社区的教育活动，以促进遗产和环境资源的管理和保护。

The Central African rain forest is the second largest contiguous tract of rain forest in the world and currently supports a suite of highly diverse biological communities, including a number endemic and endangered animals, as well as local and regional economies and plays an important role in global climates. Renewed efforts to protect and manage these ecosystems depend on accurate reconstructions of the prehistoric ecological trajectory of this region. With the support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Karen Lupo will lead a multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research project to build a longitudinal paleoecological record for the northern Central African rain forest spanning the last 4,500 years. This project is a collaborative effort that includes archeologists, anthropologists, ethnoarchaeologists and palynologists from Washington State University (USA), CURDHACA (Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centrafricaines), University of Bangui, and the Boganda Museum, Central African Republic. The goal of this research is to lay the groundwork for investigating the timing, nature and cultural developments associated with the transition to food production in the northern Congo Basin. The transition to food production generated one of the earliest significant anthropogenic impacts on rain forest habitats and had far reaching effects (and interactions) on the human populations that occupied the forest. By combining paired archaeological and proxy paleoenvironmental information from fossil pollen and plant remains, the team will reconstruct the historical ecology of the northern Congo Basin.This research is important because it represents the first historical ecology study in this region. Environmental reconstructions from parts of West Africa suggest that the rain forest boundaries fluctuated and regressed dramatically during an arid period spanning from about 4,500 to 2,000 years ago. This arid period is often identified as a catalyst to the migration of Bantu-speaking farmers from a core area in northwestern Cameroun to other portions of Africa. Thus far, very little research on the historical ecology of the central African rainforest has been conducted. Limited evidence suggests a high degree of regional variation in vegetational response to Late Holocene aridity in the central African rainforest. Furthermore, the timing and nature of the arrival of farmers in this area and the subsequent impacts of horticulture are unknown and controversial. Linguistic evidence suggests that farmers migrated to this area between 2,300 and 2,500 years ago, but sparse archeological evidence support a much later date of arrival.The collaborative research partnership between scientists and students in the Central African Republic and United States created by this research presents an opportunity to exchange ideas and training. This study will also have broader impacts and practical applications to the management of rain forest communities. Outreach activities associated with this research include educational activities with local communities to promote stewardship and protection of heritage and environmental resources.