DOI: 10.5061/dryad.51c59zw4j
title: Data from: Human occupation and ecosystem change on Upolu (Samoa) during the Holocene

description: Aim To track the peopling of the South Pacific and assess their impact on
 terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Location Upolu, Samoa. Taxon Ancient
 charcoal, pollen, sprores, algae and cyanobacteria types are recorded.
 Methods A sedimentary record covering the last c.
 10,500 years was recovered from the volcanic crater that contains
 Lake Lanoto'o near the centre of Upolu Island. Information on past
 ecological change was obtained from microscopic and macroscopic remains
 extracted from the sediments: charcoal (fire history), pollen/spores and
 plant remains (vegetation history), and lake status (algae/cyanobacteria).
 Information on the depositional environment and climate was obtained from
 geochemical and sedimentary analysis: loss‐on‐ignition (sediment
 composition), cryptotephras (volcanic eruptions) and precipitation regime
 (Ti/inc). The environmental history developed was compared with the
 archaeological record from the region. Results Charcoal material was found
 in the Lake Lanoto'o sediments at higher abundances and more
 frequently in samples from the period after the first archaeological
 evidence of people on Upolu (c. 2900–2700 years ago). No abrupt
 shift is recognized in the vegetation or aquatic ecosystem assemblages
 coincident with the arrival of people on the island. Main conclusions
 Macrocharcoal is demonstrated to be an effective proxy for detecting human
 occupation of Upolu around 2,800 years ago. The immediate impact
 of these settlers on the vegetation seems to have been minimal; however, a
 subsequent opening up of the landscape is suggested through the gradual
 increase in ferns. The absence of any significant change in the aquatic
 community associated with, or after, the arrival of people on the islands
 suggests that humans rarely visited the lake. We suggest that on Upolu a
 simple model of decreasing human impact away from coastal areas is
 applicable.
description: The timing and ecological impact of the peopling of the South
 Pacific island of Upolu (Samoa) was explored through a multi-proxy
 palaeoecological investigation of sediments obatined from Lake
 Lanoto'o. Charcoal, pollen, spores, plant remains, algae and
 cyanobacteria we analysed from a sediment record spanning c. 10,500 years.
 These data are presented here and were used in the associated manuscript
 to reconstruct the fire, vegetation and lake history on Upolu. We intepret
 these data as indicating that macrocharcoal is an effective proxy for
 detecting human occupation, that initial human populations had a minimal
 impact on the islands ecosystems, and that human impacts decreased with
 increasing distance from the coast.
description: All data related to the palaeoecological investigation of Lake
 Lanoto'o (Upolu, Samoa) is provided in .xls and .c2 format. The data
 contained within the two files is identical, however, the .c2 file loads
 directly into the stratigraphic plotting program C2
 (https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/stephen.juggins/software/C2Home.htm) and
 contains the interactive versions of the figures presented in the
 associated manuscript. The datasets within the .xls
 file are organised into tabs based on the data type: 
 Metadata - manuscript title, authors, and data
 location Lead210Dates - link to reference containing
 Lead210 chronological control data RadiocarbonDates -
 list of radiocarbon dates obtained from the study site
 Chronology - details of how the relationship between the depth
 and age of sediments was established TOC+CN - Total
 Organic Carbon and Carbon/Nitrogen datasets Magnetic
 - Magnetic susceptibility data Ti - Titanium
 data Microcharcoal - Charcoal fragments &lt; 160
 microns (identified on pollen slides) Macrocharcoal -
 Charcoal fragments &gt; 160 microns PollenCounts
 - Pollen and spore data PollenPercentages - Pollen
 and spore data converted to percentage abundance relative to the
 terrestrial pollen sum MacroscopicRemains - Seed and
 fern sporangia data (identified in macrocharcoal samples)
 AlgalCounts - Algal and cyanobacterial data (identified on
 pollen slides) AlgalPercentage - Algal and
 cyanobacterial data converted to percentage abundance relative to the
 total abundance of algae and cyanobacteria