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The Pacific coast of the Southern Central American Isthmus is a highly productive and biodiverse region with a rich human history. Although the interaction of the oceans, climate, biodiversity and early human systems has shaped the region’s ecology, research has remained largely disconnected, arising independently from discrete disciplines. To unite this disparate research, we reviewed and synthesized the historical ecology of the Isthmus from the Last Glacial Maximum to the rise of industrial fishing in the 1950s. Our findings reveal a complex interplay between environmental changes, human adaptations and resource use patterns. We identify three major transitions that influenced resource use: the shift to agriculture, the stabilization of rising sea levels and the arrival of Spanish colonists. Each transition marked a significant shift in human–environment interactions, yet we find that the ocean consistently played a central role. This interdisciplinary synthesis offers insights into the region’s socio-ecological past, emphasizing the importance of ocean–land connections for Isthmian peoples and the critical need for research and conservation efforts to ensure its future sustainability. A Spanish language version of the abstract is provided as electronic supplementary material. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Shifting seas: understanding deep-time human impacts on marine ecosystems’. 

Abstract The Caribbean & Mesoamerica Biogeochemical Isotope Overview (CAMBIO) is an archaeological data community designed to integrate published biogeochemical data from the Caribbean, Mesoamerica, and southern Central America to address questions about dynamic interactions among humans, animals, and the environment in the region over the past 10,000 years. Here we present the CAMBIO human dataset, which consists of more than 16,000 isotopic measurements from human skeletal tissue samples (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ³⁴S, δ¹⁸O,⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr,^206/204Pb,^207/204Pb,^208/204Pb,^207/206Pb) from 290 archaeological sites dating between 7000 BC to modern times. The open-access dataset also includes detailed chronological, contextual, and laboratory/sample preparation information for each measurement. The collated data are deposited on the open-access CAMBIO data community via the Pandora Initiative data platform (https://pandoradata.earth/organization/cambio).