Evidence of prehistoric human activity in the Falkland Islands - PubMed (original) (raw)

Evidence of prehistoric human activity in the Falkland Islands

Kit M Hamley et al. Sci Adv. 2021.

Abstract

When Darwin visited the Falkland Islands in 1833, he noted the puzzling occurrence of the islands’ sole terrestrial mammal, Dusicyon australis (or “warrah”). The warrah’s origins have been debated, and prehistoric human transport was previously rejected because of a lack of evidence of pre-European human activity in the Falkland Islands. We report several lines of evidence indicating that humans were present in the Falkland Islands centuries before Europeans, including (i) an abrupt increase in fire activity, (ii) deposits of mixed marine vertebrates that predate European exploration by centuries, and (iii) a surface-find projectile point made of local quartzite. Dietary evidence from D. australis remains further supports a potential mutualism with humans. The findings from our study are consistent with the culture of the Yaghan (Yámana) people from Tierra del Fuego. If people reached the Falkland Islands centuries before European colonization, this reopens the possibility of human introduction of the warrah.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.. Map of the study areas in the Falkland Islands and important resource locations on New Island.

(A) Position of the Falkland Islands in relation to southern South America and the Falklands Current (inset). (B) Map of the Falkland Islands with peat core locations indicated by red stars, including New Island, Mount Usborne, and Bleaker Island. (C) Map of New Island with locations of key resources relative to the location of the New Island core.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2.. New Island site map and images.

(A) New Island site map depicting bone pile and stone point locations; NEWIBP6 and NEWIBP7 were fully excavated in 2018 and analyzed for this project. (B) A three-dimensional model of the New Island lithic point found in 1976. (C) Image of NEWIBP6 before excavation. The bone pile was primarily preserved under a dark layer of peat (red arrow). The area has undergone considerable surface erosion resulting in downslope scatter and exposure of bone elements. Photo credit: Kit Hamley, University of Maine. Map data: 2015 Google.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.. CHAR for New Island (red), Bleaker Island (gray), and Mount Usborne (black), with significant fire events indicated (+).

CHAR data are plotted on a log axis due to a three orders of magnitude difference in CHAR values among locations. Years are reported in calibrated years before present (cal BP).

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.. New Island CHAR (black bars) and significant fire events (+), showing an increase in fire activity beginning in 1000 BP, with clusters of high-magnitude peaks occurring at 550 to 400 BP and 180 BP to 2016 CE present.

Probability distribution curves for calibrated radiocarbon dated O. flavescens samples from NEWIBP6 and NEWIBP7 (gray curves), 95% confidence ranges (gray brackets), and median values of the resulting calibrated likelihoods (black circles) for each sample. Sum distribution (top blue curve) of calibrated radiocarbon likelihood distributions for all O. flavescens bone pile samples (n = 10). Colored bars mark the highest probability range (dark blue; 95% probability range) of bone pile deposition, likelihood age range (light blue; 62% probability range) of human habitation as determined by bone pile deposition and fire events, and the period of European arrival and colonization of New Island specifically (gray). Sample IDs are noted at the left edge of the figure and correspond with the adjacent probability distribution curves.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for reference and studied terrestrial and marine taxa.

D. australis (black canid silhouette) exhibits δ15N and δ13C values (gray bars; table S1) consistent with marine-based diets from high trophic levels. Pre- and postcontact hunter-gatherer remains from Tierra del Fuego (black human silhouette) had a similar trophic signature (38). Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherer bone samples from the Pampas region in northern Argentina (gray human silhouette) suggest a more mixed terrestrial diet (40).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Clutton-Brock J., Man-made dogs. Science 197, 1340–1342 (1977). - PubMed
    1. C. Darwin, Journal of Researches During the Voyage of HMS "Beagle" (Collins, 1860).
    1. Prevosti F. J., Ramírez M. A., Schiaffini M., Martin F., Sauthier D. E. U., Carrera M., Sillero-Zubiri C., Pardinas U. F. J., Extinctions in near time: New radiocarbon dates point to a very recent disappearance of the South American fox Dusicyon avus (Carnivora: Canidae ). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 116, 704–720 (2015).
    1. Austin J. J., Soubrier J., Prevosti F. J., Prates L., Trejo V., Mena F., Cooper A., The origins of the enigmatic Falkland Islands wolf. Nat. Commun. 4, 1552 (2013). - PubMed
    1. Chiessi C. M., Ulrich S., Mulitza S., Pätzold J., Wefer G., Signature of the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence (Argentine Basin) in the isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera from surface sediments. Mar. Micropaleontol. 64, 52–66 (2007).

LinkOut - more resources