A middle to late Holocene paleo-environmental study of L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Newfoundland, Canada

Abstract

Paleoecological reconstructions offer insight into environmental and climatic conditions of the past, allowing us to understand how changing climate conditions have shaped Canada’s landscapes over millennia. While instrumental data only reaches back a few centuries, paleo-reconstructions allow us to understand past environmental variability over much longer periods of time as well as predict future changes. They also contextualize archaeological sites within the broader context of ecological conditions of the period. Using high-resolution, multi-proxy analysis, this study reconstructs the past 6,000 years of vegetation and fire history around the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site of L’Anse aux Meadows and provides new understanding into long-term ecological changes and their relationship with regional climate variations and human activity. While many previous analyses have studied samples from directly within the archaeological remains, my research offers the first regional combined charcoal and pollen record, with a well-dated chronology based on a larger suite of AMS radiocarbon dates than previously used, for the area directly downwind of the site. First, I situate this site within the human history of the North Atlantic as well as review previous paleo-ecological work done within the region, including the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland and that of southern Labrador. Then, I present a reconstruction of pollen, macrocharcoal, and loss-on-ignition analysis based on a 2 m peat core located 300 m east of the archaeological site. The core sequence was dated using 14C dating methods with the bottommost core-section dating to ~4055 BCE (6000 cal BP). The analysis shows transitions from fen- to bog-like environments, punctuated by fire events and shifts in vegetation composition. Early fen conditions (4055–1740 BCE) transitioned to a more bog-like environment, following a significant fire disturbance. The early fen conditions were followed by a prolonged period of low peat accumulation (1095 BCE–50 CE), potentially due drier conditions. Fire frequency increased during the first millennium CE, peaking during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (920–1280 CE), suggesting warmer conditions preceding the onset of the Little Ice Age. The long-term decline in pollen influx aligns with regional cooling trends documented in the other paleo-ecological studies in the North Atlantic, driven by decreasing solar radiation and sea-surface temperature changes. This research contributes to our understanding of Holocene environmental dynamics in northern Newfoundland, situating L’Anse aux Meadows within a broader climatic and ecological context, and explores potential anthropogenic impacts on fire regimes and landscape changes