TRACING 4,000 YEARS OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY IN THE CUZCO AREA, PERU,FROM THE POLLEN RECORD

The Central Peruvian Andes stand out as a globally important center of cultural and biological evolution. This is supported by its location at the heart of the former dominating Inca civilization (AD 1440-1534) , itself built on remarkable preceding civilizations. These civilizati ons have arisen in this area possibly because of its exceptional natur al biodiversity and its prominence as a center of domestication for nu merous high altitude crops growing between 2,000-4,500 m a.s.l. Contin uous environmental records for the Holocene from lake basin deposits i n the Cuzco area would provide valuable information on how early human impact occurred. They would also assist ill determining when the tran sition to agriculture took place in the southern highlands of present day Peru. A pollen record from Marcacocha, an in-filled lake basin at 3,300 m near Ollantaytambo indicates evidence of a deforested agricult ural landscape earlier than 4,000 years ago. Major local climatic even ts at about AD 100 and 1050 in the record separate three contrasting l and-use phases and may be;inked to climatic events of a wider geograph ical occurrence. Most importantly these data furnish valuable insight into which cultures in Peru appeared to manage these fragile mountaino us environments with minimal impact, and even evidence of agro-forestr y using Alnus on a major scale. There are numerous lakes in the Cuzco area to provide a complete regional overview A selection of these site s is presented. It is suggested that a series of continuous records at different altitudes may fill the gaps in our understanding of the com position of natural vegetation communities, including the distribution of Polylepis forest in existence prior to human impact. All this info rmation will be important to agronomists, archaeologists, ecologists, and palaeoclimatologists alike.