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Human migration in response to past climate change has been recorded globally. The pastoralist Todas are believed to have colonised the higher elevations (&gt;2000 m asl) of the Nilgiris, Western Ghats, India, after ∼2000 cal. yr BP. During the late Quaternary, climate-induced vegetation shifts in tropical montane forest-grassland mosaic of the Nilgiris have been well-documented using stable carbon isotopes and pollen, but there have been no corresponding investigations of human activity. We used several proxies to infer the human ecology of this region. Radiocarbon-dated (∼22,000 cal. yr BP to the present) peat from Sandynallah (2200 m asl) was used to reconstruct fire history, animal abundance, and human presence since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). While macro-charcoal records fires at the LGM, macro- and micro-charcoal indicate intense fire at ∼3500 cal. yr BP, coprophilous fungal spores indicate abundant herbivorous mammals,  n -alkane signatures point to arid grassland vegetation, and steroid biomarkers show human faecal remains for the first time. We infer that a pastoralist people, most likely the Todas, migrated to the montane Nilgiris along with their buffaloes in response to prolonged or abrupt climate change in peninsular India ∼3500 cal yr BP or ~1500 years prior to what historical accounts assume.

environmental archaeology

Climate Change and the Migration of a Pastoralist People c. 3500 cal. Years BP Inferred from Palaeofire and Lipid Biomarker Records in the Montane Western Ghats, India