Anthropogenic burning and the Anthropocene in late-Holocene California

Lightfoot, Kent G.; Cuthrell, Rob Q.

doi:10.1177/0959683615588376

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Certainly, such progressive changes in socio-cultural complexity over time enhanced and improved the capacity for engineering different components of biophysical systems either at macro or meso regional scales. Exceptions are the decoupling relationships between paleodemographic patterns and fire activity (Figure 5c) or the formation of anthropogenic soil in coastal areas, which have also been observed for hunter-gatherers from different regions of the world (Erlandson, 2013;Glikson, 2013;Lightfoot and Cuthrell, 2015;Pinter et al, 2011;Ramsey et al, 2015;Rick et al, 2013;Williams et al, 2015). Even though hunter-gatherer groups maintained low population levels, these were able to set up an anthropogenic fire regime by 2900 cal yrs BP in Mediterranean Chile (Figure 5a) and lead to disproportionate impacts on the littoral morphology of northern and central regions (Figures 2a and 4a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

Gayó

McRostie

Campbell

et al. 2019

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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The deep-time dynamics of coupled socio-ecological systems at different spatial scales is viewed as a key framework to understand trends and mechanisms that have led to the Anthropocene. By integrating archeological and paleoenvironmental records, we test the hypothesis that Chilean societies progressively escalated their capacity to shape national biophysical systems as socio-cultural complexity and pressures on natural resources increased over the last three millennia. We demonstrate that Pre-Columbian societies intentionally transformed Chile’s northern and central regions by continuously adjusting socio-cultural practices and/or incorporating technologies that guaranteed resource access and social wealth. The fact that past human activities led to cumulative impacts on diverse biophysical processes, not only contradicts the notion of pristine pre-Industrial Revolution landscapes, but suggests that the Anthropocene derives from long-term processes that have operated uninterruptedly since Pre-Columbian times. Moreover, our synthesis suggests that most of present-day symptoms that describe the Anthropocene are rooted in pre-Columbian processes that scaled up in intensity over the last 3000 years, accelerating after the Spanish colonization and, more intensely, in recent decades. The most striking trend is the observed coevolution between the intensity of metallurgy and heavy-metal anthropogenic emissions. This entails that the Anthropocene cannot be viewed as a universal imprint of human actions that has arisen as an exclusive consequence of modern industrial societies. In the Chilean case, this phenomenon is intrinsically tied to historically and geographically diverse configurations in society-environment feedback relationships. Taken collectively with other case studies, the patterns revealed here could contribute to the discussion about how the Anthropocene is defined globally, in terms of chronology, stratigraphic markers and attributes. Furthermore, this deep-time narrative can potentially become a science-based instrument to shape better-informed discourses about the socio-environmental history in Chile. More importantly, however, this research provides crucial “baselines” to delineate safe operating spaces for future socio-ecological systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

Gayó

McRostie

Campbell

et al. 2019

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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“…More controversial is the suggestion that the first arrival of humans in the Americas during the end of the last ice age can be associated with non-trivial anthropogenic influences on landscape, in particular with the use of fire [41,42]. Proponents of this idea suggest that even small transient human populations could have had broad impacts on ignition-limited portions of the landscape [41].…”

Section: Fire and The Arrival Of People In North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Hardiman

Scott

Pinter

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 24 to a discussion meeting issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'. Recent studies have suggested that the first arrival of humans in the Americas during the end of the last Ice Age is associated with marked anthropogenic influences on landscape; in particular, with the use of fire which, would have given even small populations the ability to have broad impacts on the landscape. Understanding the impact of these early people is complicated by the dramatic changes in climate occurring with the shift from glacial to interglacial conditions. Despite these difficulties, we here attempt to test the extent of anthropogenic influence using the California Channel Islands as a smaller, landscape-scale test bed. These islands are famous for the discovery of the 'Arlington Springs Man', which are some of the earliest human remains in the Americas. A unifying sedimentary charcoal record is presented from Arlington Canyon, Santa Rosa Island, based on over 20 detailed sedimentary sections from eight key localities. Radiocarbon dating was based on thin, fragile, long fragments of charcoal in order to avoid the 'inbuilt' age problem. Radiocarbon dating of 49 such fragments has allowed inferences regarding the fire and landscape history of the Canyon ca 19-11 ka BP. A significant period of charcoal deposition is identified approximately 14-12.5 ka BP and bears remarkable closeness to an estimated age range of the first human arrival on the islands.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

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“…Intercropped with other drought-resistant, fire-responsive ruderals, such as chenopodium and various grasses, low-intensity understory “food fires” created a foodway that was largely inoculated against long-term climatic change and short-term environmental variability (Fulé et al 2002a:44). Moreover, fire foodways take advantage of highly predictable successional pathways (Barney and Frischknecht 1974) that virtually guaranteed, with fire rotation (i.e., resting formerly burned areas for a year or two to promote fuel regeneration; Lightfoot and Cuthrell 2015:1585), interannual continuity in food provisioning (Bates and Davies 2016:127). Hence, this sustainable strategy contributed to a degree of food security that was rarely enjoyed by maize-based foodways in view of their vulnerability to capricious and largely uncontrollable environmental factors.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical and Socioecological Consequences of Fire Foodways

Sullivan

Mink

2018

Am. Antiq.

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Archaeological investigations of the effects of anthropogenic fire on the subsistence economies of small-scale societies, particularly those of the prehispanic northern American Southwest, are embryonic in scope and disciplinary impact. When burning has been mentioned in such studies it typically has been with reference to its alleged effectiveness in clearing land or deforesting areas for maize agriculture. In this article, in contrast, we present the results of our initial efforts to estimate the yield and socioecological consequences of cultivating a common fire-responsive ruderal—amaranth—whose growth is enabled by anthropogenic burning of understory vegetation in the Southwest's pinyon-juniper ecosystems. With data from the Upper Basin (northern Arizona), we show that, in an area that is not environmentally conducive to maize production, populations could be supported with systematic, low-intensity anthropogenic fires that promoted the growth of amaranth and other ruderals, such as chenopodium, which consistently dominate archaeobotanical and pollen assemblages recovered from a variety of archaeological and sedimentary contexts in the region. Based on this evidence, as well as modern fire ecological data, we propose that fire-reliant ruderal agriculture, in contrast to maize agriculture, was a widespread, sustainable, and ecologically sound practice that enhanced food supply security independently of variation in soil fertility and precipitation.

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Anthropogenic burning and the Anthropocene in late-Holocene California

Cited by 26 publications

References 57 publications

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Theoretical and Socioecological Consequences of Fire Foodways

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