Tropical limestone forest resilience and late Pleistocene foragingduring MIS-2 in the Trng An massif, Vietnam

Rabett, R. (2017). Tropical limestone forest resilience and late Pleistocene foraging during MIS-2 in the TrngAn massif, Vietnam. Quaternary International, 448, 62-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.010

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https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/tropical-limestone-forest-resilience-and-late-pleistocene-foraging-during-mis2-in-the-trang-an-massif-vietnam(2344c60d-2f13-486a-bb64-a547ac582c53).html

TROPICALLIMESTONEFORESTRESILIENCEANDLATEPLEISTOCENEFORAGINGDURINGMIS2INTHETRNGAN

MASSIF,VIETNAM

1Rabett,R.,2Ludgate,N.,3Stimpson,C.,1Hill,E.,4Hunt,C.,5Ceron,J.,6Farr,L.,7Morley,M.,8Reynolds, T., 6Zukswert, H., 1Simpson, D., 10Nyiri, B., 11Verhoeven, M., 10Appleby, J.,1Meneely,J.,6Phan,L.,6Dong,NN.,10LloydSmith,L.,13Hawkes,J.14Blyth,A.,15NguyCaoT1School ofGeography,Archaeology&Palaeoecology,QueensUniversityBelfast,ElmwoodAvenue,BelfastBT71NN,UK2SchoolofGeography,QueenMaryUniversityofLondon,MileEndRoad,LondonE14NS3PalaeontologyResearchLaboratoryforArchaeologyandtheHistoryofArt,UniversityofOxford,SouthParksRoad,OxfordOX13QY,UK4SchoolofNaturalSciences&Psychology,LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity,ByromStreet,LiverpoolL33AF,UK5DepartmentofAnthropology&Archaeology,UniversityofOtago,POBox56,Dunedin9054,NewZealand6DivisionofArchaeology,UniversityofCambridge,DowningStreet,CambridgeCB23DZ,UK7Centre forArchaeologicalScience,UniversityofWollongong,NorthfieldsAvenue,WollongongNSW2522Australia8BirkbeckCollege,FacultyofContinuingEducation,26RussellSquare,LondonWC1B5DQ,UK10SchoolofArchaeologyandAncientHistory,UniversityofLeicester,UniversityRoad,Leicester,LE17RH,UK11RAAPArchaeologicalConsultancy,DeSavorninLohmanstraat11,6004AMWeert,TheNetherlands13DepartmentofAsia,TheBritishMuseum,GreatRussellStreet,London,WC1B3DG,UK14DepartmentofChemistry,Organicand IsotopeGeochemistryCentre,BentleyCampus,CurtinUniversity,GPOBoxU1987Perth,WesternAustralia6845,Australia15TrngAnLandscapeComplexManagementBoard,NinhBnh,NinhBnhprovince,VietnamCorrespondingauthor:r.rabett@qub.ac.ukABSTRACTInthispaperwepresentamultiproxystudyoftropicallimestoneforestanditsutilizationbyhumangroupsduringthemajorclimaticandenvironmentalupheavalsofMIS2(2911.7kBP).OurdataaredrawnfromnewfieldresearchwithintheTrngAnWorldHeritagepropertyontheedgeoftheRedRiver Delta, northern Vietnam. Key findings from this study include 1) that limestone forestformationswere resilient to the largescale landscape transformationof theSunda continentat theend of the last glaciation; 2) that prehistoric human groupswere probably present in this habitatthroughoutMIS2;and3)thattheforested,insular,karstofTrngAnprovidedforagerswithastableresourcebaseinawiderchanginglandscape.Theseresultshaveimplicationsforourunderstandingoftheprehistoricutilizationofkarstenvironments,andresonancefortheirconservationinthefaceofclimateandenvironmentalchangetoday.Keywords:limestoneforest,resilience,MIS2,tropicalforagers,refugium,conservationQuaternaryInternational(inpress)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.010

1. INTRODUCTIONProfound climate and landscape changeswerewitnessedat aglobal scaleduringMarineIsotope Stage 2 (MIS2) 2911.7 cal. kBP.As conditionsdeteriorated into theLastGlacialMaximum (LGM)2619 cal.kBP (Clark et al.2009)heightenedariditywasexperienced inmanypartsofthedrytropics(e.g.Weyhenmeyeretal.2000;Bartonetal.2005;Cook2009).Bothhereandathigherlatitudes(thatweremoredirectlyundertheinfluenceofLGMicesheet expansion)bioticandhuman communities tended to contract into refugial enclaves(seee.g.Palaetal.2012;Roseetal.2013;Williamsetal.2013;Husemannetal.2014).

While theeffectsof theLGMweremoremuted in thehumid tropicsofSoutheastAsia(e.g.Huangetal.1997;Pelejeroetal.1999;Visseretal.2003;Shintanietal.2011) localmarine,terrestrialandlacustrinearchivesindicatethatchangesinregionalprecipitationandvegetationcoverdid,nonetheless,occur(Huangetal.1997;Sun&Li1999;Sunetal.2000).InthepostLGMlateglacialespecially,climaticvariabilityandenvironmentalchangeshadfarreaching and transformative effects on Pleistocene landscapes. The increased aridityassociatedwithHeinrichEvent1(H1)(c.17.514.7cal.kBP)broughttangibleclimaticimpact(Wangetal.2001;Huangetal.2011;Marwick&Gagan2011;Standfordetal.2011;Partinetal.2015).ThefinalresurgenceofnearfullyglacialconditionsduringGS1(YoungerDryas)12.711.7 cal. kBP in the circumAtlantic does not seem to have impacted on equatoriallatitudes inSoutheastAsia (Partin et al.2007), though itseffectatmorenortherly tropicallatitudesistenable(Huangetal.2011).

The process of deglaciation also initiated sustained sealevel rise and flooding ofregionalcoasts.Withratesofinundationrangingfromc.0.4mtoasmuchas5.0mper100years, the effect onhuman and biological communitieswouldhave been considerable inSoutheastAsia(Hanebuthetal.2000;2009;Kienastetal.2003;Schimanski&Stattegger2005;Verleyehnetal.2005;Soaresetal.2008;Kopp2012;Hunt&Gilbertson2014).Ultimately,c.75 per cent of the regions lowlying Pleistocene landmass, Sunda Land (Molengraaf&Weber1921)incorporatingtheGreaterSundaIslands(Borneo,SumatraandJava)togetherwithnumerous smaller islandsand island chains,whichextendedAsia into theSouthernHemisphere was submergedby themidHolocene.Across this continent and latterdayarchipelago, limestone karst environments haveplayed aprominent role in early humanandarchaichomininoccupationforalmostahundredmillennia(e.g.Brownetal.2004;Yietal.2008;vandenBergh et al.2009;Mijares et al.2010;Rabett2012;Stimpson2012;Barker2013).

Investigation of karstic habitats in northernVietnam has been closely tied to oneparticular palaeocultural entity: the Hoabinhian. Variously described as, a Mesolithicculture (e.g.Matthews 1966), a technocomplex (e.g.Gorman 1970; Forestier et al. 2015)reflectingacommonecologicaladaptation,oranindustry(seeShoocongdej1996),itisnowarguedthattheHoabinhianrepresentsthemostimportantpointofculturalreferenceforthelateglacialoccupationoftheseasonaltropics(Jietal.inpress).Itiscertainlythecasethatithas featured conspicuously in our understanding of early human adaptation to theseenvironmentsthroughalmostacenturyofresearch(Gorman1970,1971;Reynolds1989;HaVan Tan 1997; Shoocongdej 1996; Rabett 2012). Despite this attention, the significanttechnologicalandsubsistencevariabilitythatexistswithintheHoabinhiancontinuestobeapointofdebate and reinterpretation (e.g.Rabett et al. 2011;Marwick 2013;Forestier et al.2013, 2015). Although generally considered to have emerged as a distinct technologicalsystem during, or soon after, the LGM, lasting into the Holocene, the duration of theHoabinhiananditsgeographicextent(e.g.Shoocongdej1996;Jietal.inpress)arealsoyetto

be formallyagreedupon. Itsheartland, though,continues tobesituated today,muchas itwasfollowing initialdiscoveriesbyPatte in1923andColaniandMansuy(192631): intheforestcladkarstichillsofnorthernVietnam;anditsemergencecomingthroughtheprocessoflivinginthatenvironment.

Tropical limestone forestsdiffer significantly in structure and species compositionfromothertropicalforestformations(Sterlingetal.2006).Theinsularandrefugialcharactertheyexhibitreflectshighlevelsofbiodiversityandspeciesendemism(e.g.Adam&Mamat2005;Clementsetal.2006,2008;Sodhietal.2007;Fureyetal.2010;Gaoetal.2015).Soilsaregenerally thin, poor in most minerals and nutrients, and derived directly from theunderlying limestone.Modernprecipitation levels in thenorthernsubtropics,close to theSongHongRiverdeltaofVietnam,areconcentrated(c.80%)duringthesouthwestmonsoonbetweenMay andOctober,where receipt of rainfall ranges from 13001800mm (Li et al.2006b).ThecolderanddriernortheastmonsoonbetweenNovemberandAprilbringsmuchlowerlevelsofannualrainfall:200250mm(DoCongThung2014).Surfacewaterrunoffisoftenrapidinkarstlandscapes.Thishastheeffectofheighteninglocalaridity.Surfacewateraccumulation inpoorlydrained locales, though, can lead to the formation of acidicpeat,leading to the creation of variedmicrohabitats and the ability of limestone areas to hostvegetativecomponentsadaptedtoarangeofdifferentconditions(Sterlingetal.2006).Whileprecipitation arriveswithmarkedmonsoon seasonality and is often poorly retained forplantlife at subtropical latitudes, compared to their southern lowland rainforestcounterparts (Changetal.,2005)summer insolation levelsareroutinelymore intense thanthose experienced closer to theEquator (Paillard et al. 1996;Wang&Enfield 2001).Thiscombinationhasaprofoundeffectontheproductionofplantnalkanesandnalkanoicacidsthatcanbe trackedand through thempastenvironmentalconditionscanbereconstructed(Rommerskirchenetal.2003).

Theparticular