Tracing fire cultivation in Estonia

Abstract

Abstract. Fire cultivation is possibly the agricultural land-use method of the longest duration in Estonia; yet still it has attracted little attention from researchers. The aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to discuss the latest stage of historical bushland management via fire cultivation as it appears in historical sources, and secondly to look for ways in which the natural historical research methods can be combined with those of the humanities in search of more complex understanding of land-use dynamics. The material analysed are the 19 th century agrarian laws and ethnographic data. These sources show that researchers have so far rather under-than overestimated the persistence and spread of fire use -a number of fire cultivation cases are reported even from the early 20th century from different parts of Estonia. Thus we suggest that bushland management with fire cultivation methods has continued longer than previously assumed. Analysis of the 19 th century Livonian agrarian laws shows that legislation of the period directed the land-use pattern away from the earlier practice of a mosaic or scattered patchwork of wooded areas and cleared fields, towards bigger wooded areas and more compact cultivated areas, thus bringing about changes in the landscape.

The environmental and cultural contexts of the late Iron Age and medieval settlement in the Mazurian Lake District, NE Poland: combined palaeobotanical and archaeological data

“…Fields were cultivated for a short time and when the crop yields decreased as a result of increased weed pressure, degradation of soil and the lowering of its fertility, they were temporarily abandoned and new areas were cleared. In the fallow phase once-cultivated plots were overgrown by secondary forests (Kleinman et al 1995;Jääts et al 2010). According to historical sources from Estonia these forest types were composed of Betula, Alnus incana and Picea (Jääts et al 2010).…”

“…In the fallow phase once-cultivated plots were overgrown by secondary forests (Kleinman et al 1995;Jääts et al 2010). According to historical sources from Estonia these forest types were composed of Betula, Alnus incana and Picea (Jääts et al 2010). Also at present, in Estonia almost all abandoned fields are overgrown by Betula pubescens or Alnus incana (Saarse et al 2010).…”

“…Jääts et al (2010) when describing one of the fire cultivation methods used in later centuries in Estonia (up to the 20th century), suggested the re-use of the same plots after 20-60 years. Hamilton (1997) described shifting agriculture from southern Sweden with a 20-30 year rotation cycle but also mentioned that most of the slash-and-burn cultivations operated on a 3-4 year cycle.…”

The forest fire regime in Latvia during 1922–2014

“…In Latvia, slash-and-burn agriculture, which is associated with increased forest fire occurrence (Granström and Niklasson 2008), was widely practiced until the late 19th century (Dumpe 1999) as was the case in Estonia (Jääts et al 2010) and Sweden (Granström and Niklasson 2008). Organised fire suppression systems started to develop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the market value of timber increased, resulting in a considerable decrease in forest fires (Saliņš 1999;Dumpe 1999).…”

Cyclic sedimentation pattern in Lake Veetka, southeast Estonia: a case study

“…The lowermost cycle covers the interval 1,200-980 cal BP (611-591 cm) is characterised by changeable OM and mineral matter percentages, resulting primarily from the nature of agricultural practice and climatic conditions. As fire cultivation was the principal land-use practice, soils rapidly became depleted in nutrients and fields were abundant and left to be overgrown by bushes (Jääts et al, 2010). Climatic warming and increased nutrient supply into the lake that led to increased bioproduction during the Middle Ages probably were the main reasons why OM accumulation in the lake increased during the cycle between 980 and 740 cal BP (591-571 cm; Fig.…”