2026-10-08T08:08:23Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34029813 2026-09-30T04:50:58Z category_127 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Table 1_Tropical arboriculture and root crop cultivation in the volcanically active landscape of ancient Arenal, Costa Rica.docx Venicia Slotten (11614187) Rachel Egan (25141617) Payson D. Sheets (25141620) Archaeology arboriculture archaeobotany (palaeoethnobotany) Costa Rica (Central America) geophytes (roots resilience tubers) volcanoes <p>The Arenal region of Costa Rica experiences catastrophic eruptions on average every 336 years. Although deposits of volcanic ash can be initially detrimental to fauna and flora, after the tephra has weathered it can become a very fertile, mineral-rich soil that is suitable for cultivation of food and other resources. Paleoethnobotanical data collected from the ancient domestic structures at La Chiripa (c. 1500 BCE) and the Sitio Bolívar village (c. 500 CE) provides a diachronic perspective of human-plant engagement in the region. The macrobotanical dataset (seeds, fruits, geophytes, and wood charcoal) reveal a subsistence strategy that was dominated by a diverse assemblage of forest-based products and root crops supplemented by minimal agricultural foods such as maize, beans, and squash. Larger flora, such as fruit trees, and underground root crops would have been reliable sources of food that could withstand most volcanic episodes that occurred every few centuries. Such a subsistence regime focused on forest products and root crops provided these ancient peoples with a storage bank of food either within their local surroundings or neighboring regions, as well as the ability to maintain their daily routines with a sense of resilience to their environmental setting that often experienced sudden extreme conditions.</p> 2026-09-30T04:50:58Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fearc.2026.1920953.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Table_1_Tropical_arboriculture_and_root_crop_cultivation_in_the_volcanically_active_landscape_of_ancient_Arenal_Costa_Rica_docx/34029813 CC BY 4.0