JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE (2004) 19(3) 229–239 Copyright ß 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published online 24 February 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jqs.804 Anthropogenic changes in the landscape of west Java (Indonesia) during historic times, inferred from a sediment and pollen record from Teluk Banten SANDER VAN DER KAARS 1 * and GERT D. VAN DEN BERGH 2 1 Centre for Palynology and Palaeoecology, School of Geography and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 11A, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 2 Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), PO Box 59, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands van der Kaars, S. and van den Bergh, G. D. 2004. Anthropogenic changes in the landscape of west Java (Indonesia) during historic times, inferred from a sediment and pollen record from Teluk Banten. J. Quaternary Sci., Vol. 19 pp. 229–239. ISSN 0267-8179. Received 25 February 2003; Revised 18 September 2003; Accepted 29 September 2003 ABSTRACT: Palynological and charcoal analyses of shallow marine core 98-28 from the northern coastal area of West Java provide a regional vegetation history during the last few centuries. Reliable chronostratigraphical control is provided by 210 Pb analyses and the occurrence of the 1883 Krakatau ash/tsunami layer as a time marker. The results permit the distinction of four successive stages, reflect- ing increased disturbance and land clearance, with some evidence for the presence of deciduous lowland forests in the Banten area during the early Holocene. The establishment of coconut and pine plantations and the severe loss of biodiversity in the last few decennia are also echoed in the pollen record. The effect of the Krakatau eruption was insignificant compared with human impact on vege- tation in the Banten area. Copyright ß 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEYWORDS: west Java; human impact; palynology; vegetation change. Introduction Core 98-28 was collected in 1998 as part of a joint Dutch– Indonesian coastal zone research programme in Teluk Banten, a small embayment on the north coast of west Java (Fig. 1). In total 39 cores were retrieved both inside and outside Teluk Banten during this study. The 161-cm-long core 98-28 was taken at a water depth of 20.5 m, from the offshore edge of the Holocene coastal mud prism that has partly filled in the bay. The relatively high accumulation rate and limited distur- bance by bioturbation at station 98-28 offered an opportunity to investigate changes in vegetation cover of the adjacent land area during historic times. Historical sources indicate that Banten area has experien- ced significant impact from both human and natural causes. A brief summary of the history of the area is given by Whitten et al. (1996). They note that around AD 1300 Banten had already become a seaport and that by AD 1590 Banten was the largest city in Southeast Asia, a successful port and an important exporter of locally produced pepper and gold. Eventually the impact of intensive pepper- growing areas along the Cibanten River and clay extraction from riverbanks led to increased rates of sedimenta- tion, reduced access to the port and environmental degrada- tion, and a decline of trade since the late seventeenth century. The Krakatau eruption of AD 1883 was one of the lar- gest in historic times and was accompanied by a highly destructive tsunami. A palaeoenvironmental record from Rawa Danau, located some 40 km southwest of Teluk Banten, covering the Late- glacial and Holocene period, has been presented by Van der Kaars et al. (2001), and provides information on local vegeta- tion developments of the last few hundred years. Their findings suggest the presence of fern-rich closed forest vegetation dur- ing the Holocene, with indications of significant human impact from AD 1550 Æ 80 and evidence for cultivation from AD 1770 Æ 80. The Teluk Banten record permits the establishment of a more regional picture of vegetation change during the last few centuries. Environmental setting Teluk Banten is a small and shallow coastal embayment on the north coast of West Java, opening to the Java Sea in the north (Fig. 1). Various coral islands with fringe reefs are located in Teluk Banten, of which the largest, Pulau Panjang, is situated 800 m southwest of the sampling station. To the west the inac- tive Gunung Gede volcanic complex borders the bay. The * Correspondence to: Dr S. van der Kaars, Centre for Palynology and Palaeoecol- ogy, School of Geography and Environmental Science, PO Box 11A, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia. E-mail: Sander.vanderKaars@arts.monash.edu.au