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The Spanish conquest of the Cuchumatanes Highlands (1524–1541 ce) led to dramatic land use changes adhering to colonial practices and values, which included the rearing of livestock, agriculture, timber extraction, mining, and the relocation of indigenous populations to new settlements. These changes are often recorded in historical accounts and official records; however, these are sparse, incomplete, and have been lost over the passage of time. Here, we present a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstruction for Cenote Kail (Guatemala) since the Spanish Conquest, to provide additional evidence of land use changes from an integrated multi-proxy perspective. We analysed: (i) fossil pollen; (ii) macroscopic and microscopic charcoal; and (iii) dung fungal spores (Sporormiella) from a lake sediment core extracted from Cenote Kail in the Cuchumatanes highlands, combining these analyses with remotely sensed satellite data. We reconstructed: (i) forest composition and dynamics; (ii) burning, (iii) fauna abundance, and (iv) agricultural activities. High resolution age-depth modelling was conducted using a combination of 210Pb and 14C dates. The high temporal resolution enabled a novel integrated validation of the charcoal data sets with remotely sensed satellite data and the historical record. Three stages of floral compositional change were discerned from the palynological assemblage data encompassing: (i) the decline of mixed hard wood forests (MHWF), associated with the building of new settlements, agriculture and timber extraction for fuel (1550–1675 ce); (ii) pastoral expansions involving the rearing of livestock (1700–1800 ce); and (iii) the expansions of urban settlements and increasing management of the land (1821–2015 ce). Seed predation is suggested as the dominant factor preventing MHWF from re-establishing in the Cuchumatanes Highlands over the past 500 years. Burning is limited locally and regionally and in line with the modern regime, which suggests that fire has been managed and controlled since European contact.

Fossil spores of coprophilous fungi preserved in lake and bog sediments are well-established palaeoecological tracers for the local history of pastoralism and other animal husbandry. However, applications in Africa are limited by the lack of information on the exact relationship between human activity and fungi growing on large-herbivore dung. Here we use 25 small crater-lake basins in western Uganda, which cover the complete regional gradient of natural vegetation and human impact intensity, as a natural laboratory to assess the relationship between coprophilous fungal spores recovered from recently deposited bottom sediments and the presence and abundance of large domestic herbivores in the surrounding crater basins. We find that the summed abundances of Sporormiella, Sordaria, Podospora and Delitschia, or of these four types plus Cercophora, are the most useful and robust fungal-spore indicators for the presence of domestic large herbivores in an East African context. Chaetomium could also be added to this list, particularly as it may help reduce stochasticity in the often low fossil counts of obligate coprophilous types. Our results suggest that domestic large herbivores, at least when associated with some degree of crop agriculture, leave a clearer signature on fungal-spore assemblages in the lakes’ sediments than large wildlife. Furthermore, they indicate that the typically small number of livestock kept by mixed-subsistence farmers leave a stronger imprint on fungal-spore assemblages than the much larger herds of specialist pastoralists occasionally visiting the lake to drink or bathe.

The use of spores of coprophilous fungi from sedimentary sequences as proxy evidence for large herbivore abundance has garnered pronounced attention and scrutiny over the past three decades. In response to the rapid rate at which new information is being discovered on this topic, this paper presents a brief review of the archaeological applications so far, and outlines opportunities and limitations of using Sporormiella as a proxy for herbivore abundance. Specific archaeological uses of this proxy include understanding megaherbivore extinctions and human land use patterns such as pastoralism and agriculture. We analyse how dung fungal records are formed and review the mycological literature to outline factors affecting spore reproduction and preservation. These include how strongly each commonly used dung fungal taxon relies on dung as a substrate and environmental factors affecting dung fungal reproduction and coprophilous fungi deposition. Certain laboratory preparation techniques adversely affect spore representation on pollen slides. The methods of analysis and quantification of spore records also impact our understanding. We describe good practice to increase precision of analytical methods. Due to limitations imposed by some of these factors, it is possible that an absence of dung fungi from a palaeoecological record does not imply an absence of herbivores. However, consideration of these factors and inclusion of as wide a range of coprophilous spore records as possible increases the reliability of such inferences.

Little is known about the timing and the vegetation dynamics shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the Swiss Plateau 19,000–15,000 cal BP. Subsequent Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation changes are better known; however, it is unclear if the few available palynological and macrofossil records are able to capture the entire vegetation variability of the region. A new palaeoecological multi-proxy study using pollen, spores, charcoal and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) from Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau, 465 m a.s.l.) is applied to reconstruct vegetation, fire and land use for the past 19,000 cal years. Steppe tundra vegetation established at c. 18,700 cal BP only c. 300 years after the end of the LGM and deglaciation. A shift from steppe tundra (Artemisia, Helianthemum) to shrub tundra (Betula nana, Salix, Juniperus) with sporadic tree Betula stands occurred around 16,000 cal BP, most likely in response to climate warming after the end of Heinrich event 1. Abundant spores of coprophilous fungi (Sporormiella, Cercophora) may reflect the presence of Pleistocene large herbivores (e.g. Mammuthus primigenius, Bison bonasus, Rangifer tarandus). Afforestation started more than 2,000 years later with Juniperus and tree Betula around 14,500 cal BP. Mixed Betula and Pinus sylvestris forests persisted until 10,800 cal BP, when mixed elm forests expanded into the region in response to climate warming. Around 8,200 cal BP, mesophilous Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba partly replaced more heliophilous species in the forests, when climate became less continental and more moist. Pollen of Cerealia, Plantago lanceolata and other crops and weeds suggest that agricultural activities became significant during the Neolithic around 6,500 cal BP (4550 cal BC). Archaeological findings from Neolithic pile dwellings around 5,950 cal BP (4000 cal BC) indicate local settlements around the lake. The lake sediments are laminated for most of the last c. 6,800 years. With two independent proxies (XRF and pollen), we can demonstrate that these laminations are annual, suggesting short-term mixing of the lake water due to a more open landscape in response to land use. Our study shows that the annually laminated (varved) sediments from Burgäschisee have a great potential for high-resolution multi-proxy analyses covering the past c. 6,800 years. They can provide accurate ages of cultural phases that might be compared with dendrochronologically dated evidence from lake dwellings.

International audience; This paper presents results from a modern dataset of non-pollen palynomorphs and its application to aca. 2,000 year peat record from the same area in the western Pyrenees (Basque Country, France). The modern dataset is composed of 35 surface samples (moss polsters) from a mountainous pasture-woodland landscape. Airborne fungal spores (ascospores and conidia), found dominant in the dataset, are linked to the degree of landscape openness and grazing pressure. The complete spectrum of 13 selected spore-types of dung-related Ascomycetes is positively linked with grazing pressure. However, different dung affinities between the spore-types have been identified. These are types clearly related to high grazing pressure and types with no or unclear dung indicative value. The modern dataset is used to aid interpretation of the local fossil pollen record as an independent 'proxy' to assess past pastoral dynamics. This study confirms the utility of modern nonpollen palynomorphs from terrestrial ecosystems in the reconstruction of historical local pastoral activities but also shows their limitation. It may be necessary to extend such study to wetland ecosystems and to investigate the spatial dimension of some fungal spores.