The contribution of humans to past biomass burning in the tropics

Humans as Agents in the Termination of the African Humid Period

“…In herbivore-rich, semi-arid regions of the earth, fire is a natural feature of the landscape (Schüle, 1990;Marlon et al, 2013). The fire record in the Sahara is sparse, but Neolithic archeological sites in Ounjougou in southern Mali ( Figure 4H; Huysecom et al, 2004), Selima Oasis in Sudan ( Figure 4I; Haynes et al, 1989) and the Segedim depression in northern Niger ( Figure 4J; Schulz, 1994), among many, yield evidence for common occurrences of fires during the Holocene, which is interpreted as a landscape management tool, particularly after the introduction of domesticated animals (Kershaw et al, 1997). Based on a charcoal record from Lake Tilla, northeastern Nigeria (Figure 3E), Salzmann et al (2002) argue that burning was a continuous feature of landscape maintenance throughout the Holocene, regardless of the presence of a foraging or domesticated subsistence economy (see also Marlon et al, 2013).…”

Amazonian paleoecological histories: one hill, three watersheds

“…100 km from the Hill of Six Lakes. Certainly the abundance of charcoal never attains the frequency of charcoal associated with savanna, cerrado, caatinga, or even seasonally deciduous forest (Kershaw et al, 1997;Salgado-Labouriau, 1979). Even during the time of no organic accumulation between 33,000 and 27,000 cal BP there is no concentration of charcoal.…”

Long-Term Fire Regime Estimated from Soil Charcoal in Coastal Temperate Rainforests

“…To establish the historical role of fires in these forests, we studied the distribution and age of charcoal buried in soils (e.g., Kershaw et al 1997). We show that charcoal can be used to date past fires in these forests and that fire is very rare in ecological time.…”