Dataset: Late Holocene human-environment interactions on a small island of the Taiwan Strait

The late Holocene terrestrial record in the Taiwan Strait area is absent, despite its high sensitivity to climate variability and human activity between Taiwan Island and south-eastern China. This study presents the first site-specific, integrated multiproxy paleoenvironmental reconstruction from a wetland profile on the small island of Dongjiyu (DGY) in the Taiwan Strait. We used palynological analyses and organic geochemistry, including total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), TOC/TN ratios, and stable carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) to reconstruct the vegetation and human activity since ~2000 cal yr BP. The dominant non-arboreal pollen of Poaceae and Cyperaceae indicated repeated shifts between grassland and wetland conditions, with no dense forest, in DGY. Arboreal pollen occurred only in trace amounts, suggesting long-distance wind transport from mainland sources rather than local vegetation during ~2000 cal yr BP. The combined pollen and organic geochemical records suggested a drier climate during 2000–650 cal yr BP. From 650 to 140 cal yr BP, the climate shifted toward warmer and wetter conditions. In the last 140 cal yr BP, the increase in cultivated Poaceae can be associated with late historical Han Chinese settlement (after ~1760 CE), and Japanese colonial settlement (1895-1945 CE).