The Fire Areas on Santa Rosa Island, California

Orr, Phil C.; Berger, Rainer

doi:10.1073/pnas.56.5.1409

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Four modes of origin have emerged from the decades of observation and discussion. The first of these is the anthropogenic origin, championed by Berger and Orr (1966), Orr and Berger (1966), Orr (1967, 1968), and Berger (1980. These investigators proposed that the fire areas are of human origin, essentially remnants of hearths that were used for heating or cooking (particularly for cooking mammoth).…”

Section: Fire As a Factor In Landscape Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of Repeated Wildfires Prior to Human Occupation on San Nicolas Island, California

Pigati

McGeehin

Skipp

et al. 2014

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

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Section: Fire As a Factor In Landscape Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of Repeated Wildfires Prior to Human Occupation on San Nicolas Island, California

Pigati

McGeehin

Skipp

et al. 2014

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

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“…An enduring research question on the Channel Islands has focused on the relationship between humans and pygmy mammoths. The pendulum has swung widely over the years, often paralleling trends in continental megafaunal extinction debates, between human overkill, climate change and, more recently, an extraterrestrial impact as the driving force of extinction (Agenbroad 2002(Agenbroad , 2009Agenbroad et al 2005;Berger and Orr 1966;Cushing et al 1986;Erlandson et al 2004;Kennett et al 2008;Orr 1968;Orr and Berger 1966).…”

Section: A Mammoth Ending: Extinction Of Mammuthus Exilismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some twentieth-century researchers believed the northern Channel Islands were colonized by humans at least 40,000 years ago and associations between artifacts, 'fire features' and mammoth remains pointed towards a human-induced extinction Orr 1968;Orr and Berger 1966). The Americas are now thought to have been colonized during the last *15,000 years and careful scrutiny of some of these questionable associations suggests that most or all of the fire areas or 'mammoth roasting pits' were natural burn features or the result of groundwater processes (Cushing et al 1986;Wendorf 1982).…”

Section: A Mammoth Ending: Extinction Of Mammuthus Exilismentioning

confidence: 99%

Flightless ducks, giant mice and pygmy mammoths: Late Quaternary extinctions on California's Channel Islands

Rick¹,

Hofman²,

Braje³

et al. 2012

World Archaeology

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Explanations for the extinction of Late Quaternary megafauna are heavily debated, ranging from human overkill to climate change, disease and extraterrestrial impacts. Synthesis and analysis of Late Quaternary animal extinctions on California's Channel Islands suggest that, despite supporting Native American populations for some 13,000 years, few mammal, bird or other species are known to have gone extinct during the prehistoric human era, and most of these coexisted with humans for several millennia. Our analysis provides insight into the nature and variability of Quaternary extinctions on islands and a broader context for understanding ancient extinctions in North America.

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“…Several workers have noted charcoal fragments present in the extensive fluvial and alluvial fill sequences of the Northern Channel Islands, but this palaeofire record has been only minimally studied [89][90][91][92][93]. Pinter & Anderson noted high abundances of macrocharcoal fragments from sites across the Channel Islands and suggested that they could have been the result of large wildfires, perhaps triggered by the first human colonizers [94].…”

Section: The Northern California Channel Islandsmentioning

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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The Fire Areas on Santa Rosa Island, California

Cited by 23 publications

References 5 publications

Evidence of Repeated Wildfires Prior to Human Occupation on San Nicolas Island, California

Evidence of Repeated Wildfires Prior to Human Occupation on San Nicolas Island, California

Flightless ducks, giant mice and pygmy mammoths: Late Quaternary extinctions on California's Channel Islands

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

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