Is there solid evidence of widespread landscape disturbance in the Azores before the arrival of the Portuguese?

Raposeiro et al. conclude that human occupation of the Azores islands began between 700 and 850 CE, causing widespread landscape disturbance and raising doubts about the islands’ presumed pristine nature when the Portuguese arrived. However, previous paleoecological studies from Flores, Pico, and Sao Miguel Islands (Table 1) show that permanent changes in the vegetation occurred only after the early 15th century. The authors’ work also shows the permanent decline, to the lowest levels, in arboreal pollen on Corvo and Flores occurring during Portuguese occupation, not before. […].

Keywords

Human Occupation Vegetation Azores

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6441

Citation

Elias, R.B., Connor, S.E., Góis-Marques, C.A., Schaefer, H., Silva, L., Sequeira, M.M., Moura, M., Borges, P.A.V. & Gabriel, R. (2022) Is there solid evidence of widespread landscape disturbance in the Azores before the arrival of the Portuguese? PNAS - Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, 119(4), e2119218119. DOI:10.1073/pnas.2119218119