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Two sediment cores (Maxus 4 and Maxus 1) were obtained from lowland wetlands situated in the highly diverse rain forests of the western Amazon basin, Ecuador. The cores, separated by ca. 57 km, were analyzed for fossil pollen, charcoal and loss-on-ignition. The Maxus 4 core encompasses the last 9500 years, while the Maxus 1 core provides a record for approximately the last 2000 years. As neither core registered evidence of human impacts or land use, an unobscured image of Holocene vegetation and climate change was obtained. Alternating wet and drier periods on a millennial scale characterized much of the Holocene. The unusually high values of Cecropia in the pollen sum between 8700 and 5800 cal yr BP suggest frequent disturbance or the presence of early successional habitat. After 5800 cal yr BP a series of taxa rising and falling in prominence reveals a hydrarch succession that culminated in a relatively dry period between ca. 4900 and 3700 cal yr BP. Seasonal flooding of the site is evident as local water tables rose between 3700 and ca. 1000 cal yr BP. After 1000 cal yr BP the modern wooded wetland was established. The second site Maxus 1 reveals a detailed history of approximately last 2000 years. The principal feature of the record is a disturbance event at about 1000 cal yr BP, followed by a period of hydrarch succession. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]