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Aromatic derivatives of vascular plant triterpenoids are common in recent and ancient sediments, coal, and petroleum. Understanding their early diagenetic alterations and their relation with environmental conditions can facilitate their applications in paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Here we present a high-resolution record of aromatic triterpenes in a Holocene peat core collected in the Dajiuhu peatland, central China. These aromatic triterpenes are derivatives of plant triterpenoids with oleanane, ursane and lupane carbon skeletons and exist in three different structural groups: aromatic des-A-triterpenes, aromatic pentacyclic triterpenes, and C-ring cleaved aromatic triterpenes. Such a high diversity of aromatic triterpenes in a young peat deposit is compelling evidence for rapid microbial mediation of these important degradation pathways during very early diagenesis. Of particular importance is the occurrence …