Pollen-inferred late Holocene agricultural developments in the vicinity of Woljeong-ri, southwestern Korea

The pollen record from Woljeong-ri in southwestern Korea reveals a vegetation history with high temporal resolution over the period from ca. 1950 BC to AD 310. The pollen profile is divided into four phases: zone 1 (ca. 1950–1220 BC), zone 2a (ca. 1220 BC–AD 200), zone 2b (ca. AD 200–290) and zone 2c (ca. AD 290–310). The abundance of Quercus (Lepidobalanus) and Carpinus, and the paucity of Artemisia, Cyperaceae and Poaceae in the initial stage suggest the dominance of deciduous broadleaved forest with little evidence of human interference. The reduction of deciduous broadleaved trees, particularly of Quercus and Alnus, and the abundance of herbaceous plants and cultivated Poaceae indicate increasing anthropogenic disturbance in the surrounding vegetation after ca. 1220 BC, which is probably attributable to agricultural expansion and the construction of rice paddy fields. This change temporally corresponds to the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age across the region. The dominance of cultivated Poaceae continues in the subsequent period, and its amount increases markedly after ca. AD 200, along with the increase of Pinus. This implies that rice agriculture and anthropogenic disturbance on vegetation may have intensified at least a century earlier than the presumed emergence of state-level societies. The decline in rice agriculture, which is possibly related to the advent of drier climatic conditions, is suggested in the current pollen record after ca. AD 290.