Holocene paleoecology, climate history and human influence in the southwestern Yucatan Peninsula

• We reconstructed paleoenvironmental history from southwestern Yucatan Peninsula.
• We contributed with new evidence about early establishment of Maya culture.
• Fossil pollen revealed several protracted droughts during the Late Holocene.
• Human establishment at Lake Silvituc is supported with Zea mays at 4100 cal yr BP.

Centennial resolution pollen analysis of a record from Lake Silvituc, Yucatan Peninsula, provides a 7900 cal yr BP record of vegetation history and climate change in the Maya lowlands. Several droughts occurred during this interval, some of which are evident in other paleoclimatic records from the Caribbean region. We identified taxa that are characteristic of paleoecological change, such as Moraceae, Ficus and Asteraceae, among others. Zea mays and other taxa reflect the Maya occupation and its impact on the landscape. Droughts, as inferred from vegetational and sedimentary changes, occurred during the intervals of 4700–3600 cal yr BP, 3400–2500 cal yr BP, 2300–2100 cal yr BP, 1900–1700 cal yr BP, 1400–1300 cal yr BP, 730 cal yr BP and 560 cal yr BP. During these periods, tropical forest taxa elements declined (Moraceae, Brosimum alicastrum, Ficus and Fabaceae) and secondary elements increased (Asteraceae, Mimosoidae-Acacia, Chenopodiaceae Vent. and Poaceae), as did local aquatic elements (Botryococcus). Zea mays appeared 4100 cal yr BP, and other secondary elements, such as Asteraceae, Mimosoideae-Acacia, and Chenopodiaceae Vent, increased. The Preclassic abandonment is represented in the record as a shift to drier conditions and a strong decrease in forest taxa.