The Curaçao Cultural Landscape Project (CCLP) is delving into the island’s long-term history of human-environment interactions through paleoecological coring. By extracting sediment cores from key locations across Curaçao, our team is piecing together how changes in climate, vegetation, and human activities have shaped the island’s landscapes over the past 5700 years. These cores act as time capsules, preserving a detailed record of environmental changes and offering insights into sustainable resource management today.
2022 Field Season: Cores from Jan Thiel Bay and Saliña Sint Marie
In 2022, our team collected sediment cores from two important sites: Jan Thiel Bay and Saliña Sint Marie. The cores from Jan Thiel Bay, reaching depths of up to 87 cm, and those from Saliña Sint Marie, extending 212 cm, capture thousands of years of environmental history. These sites were chosen for their potential to provide a continuous record of past climate, vegetation, and human impacts. By analyzing these sediment layers, we can reconstruct a detailed chronology of environmental changes.
Initial analyses, including radiocarbon dating and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), have helped us establish a timeline for the cores. At Saliña Sint Marie, the cores reveal a chronological sequence that spans approximately 88 to 1541 calibrated years BP, allowing us to trace changes from Indigenous occupation through the colonial era. At Jan Thiel Bay, the radiocarbon dates range from around 710 to 910 calibrated years BP, offering a clear record of past conditions during key phases of human settlement.
2024 Field Season: Expanding the Paleoecological Record and Pollen Reference Collection
Building on our earlier findings, the 2024 field season expanded our research to include new coring sites at Sint Jorisbaai, Saliña Sint Marie, and the lagoon of Santa Cruz. By including these new locations, we aim to create a more comprehensive picture of Curaçao’s paleoenvironmental history. These additional cores, currently under analysis, promise to reveal how different parts of the island have responded to climatic shifts and human activities over time.
A key focus of our 2024 efforts has been improving our understanding of past vegetation changes. To support this, we collected 40 new specimens for our pollen reference collection. This collection is essential for accurately identifying plant species in sediment samples, allowing us to reconstruct ancient vegetation patterns with greater precision. These reference specimens will enable us to better understand the shifts in plant communities over time and their relationship to changes in climate and land use.
Reconstructing Curaçao’s Environmental History
The paleoecological cores from Curaçao’s coastal lagoons offer a window into the dynamic relationship between people and nature. Our analyses of geochemical proxies, pollen, and charcoal help us understand shifts in vegetation, occurrences of fires, and the effects of both Indigenous and colonial land use on the island. For example, changes in organic content and elemental composition in the Saliña Sint Marie cores suggest periods of increased fire activity, while pollen data reveal shifts in vegetation types likely influenced by human settlement and climate changes.
By linking past and present, the CCLP’s paleoecological research provides a deeper understanding of how Curaçao’s landscapes have evolved over millennia. These findings are not only relevant for reconstructing the island’s past but also for informing current conservation and restoration efforts. Understanding the historical conditions that supported healthy ecosystems can help establish baselines for sustainable management today, ensuring the protection of Curaçao’s natural heritage for future generations.
Stay tuned as we continue to unravel the history of Curaçao’s landscapes through the stories hidden in the sediments, bridging the island’s ancient past with the challenges and opportunities of the present.
Yoshi Maezumi October 10, 2024
This text is based on the presentation by dr. Yoshi Maezumi for the Curacao Cultural Landscape Project Open House on October 19, 2024
Pictures:
1: Hand coring on the platform in the bay (picture by Mike Ordemann)
2: Preparing the gear (picture by Yoshi Maezumi)
3: A core (picture by Rebecca Lellau)
4: Another core (picture by Mike Ordemann)
