Zooarchaeological samples. From left to right: ancient duck bones, shells of marine snails and charred plant remains. Photo by Kristen Grace, Florida Museum of Natural History.
The Humanization of the Caribbean Sea—Prehistoric Settlers Significantly Changed Their Ocean Environment Over Thousands of Years. Did This Mark the Start of the Anthropocene in the Caribbean Sea?
In my previous blog post I noted that the prehistoric settlers of the Caribbean Islands constituted an invasion of the pristine Caribbean seascape by an intelligent, highly adaptable, and predatory alien species. I asked to what extent did their engagement with a pristine ocean change that environment? Were their numbers too low and their hunting and fishing technologies too primitive for them to have had any significant impacts on the ocean environment? Or were they natural conservationists who managed their ocean resources sustainably? Or did they assume the role of a novel keystone species and modify the ocean environment in significant ways? In this post I begin to examine these questions.
