Savanna anthropogenesis in the Mariana Islands, Micronesia: re‐interpreting the palaeoenvironmental data

Abstract

Abstract This paper argues that human actions had nothing to do with creating tropical Pacific island savannas, which likely arose during the Pleistocene, and that geographic factors such as soils, climate, and fire are responsible for their distribution and persistence in the Holocene. Palaeontological observations from the southern Mariana Islands, including charcoal particles, pollen, and spores in palaeosediments from Guam and Saipan, cited by archaeologists as evidence for human‐caused savannas, are re‐interpreted as a natural outcome of geo‐climatic conditions. Archaeological and ethnographic findings, past climate proxies, and field studies in soil science are also brought to bear on the issue. The data and arguments presented in favor of natural causation of the Marianas savannas motivate a re‐examination of proposals that purport to explain the presence of savannas elsewhere in the tropical Pacific. Implications for future research are drawn.

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