Anthropogenic fire and the development of Neolithic agricultural landscapes: connecting archaeology, paleoecology, and fire science to evaluate human impacts on fire regimes

The recent emergence of global ‘megafires’ has made it imperative to better understand the role of humans in altering the size, distribution, and seasonality of fires. The dynamic relationship between humans and fire is not a recent phenomenon; rather, fire has deep roots in our biological and cultural evolution. Because of its long-term perspective, archaeology is uniquely positioned to investigate the social and ecological drivers behind anthropogenic fire. However, the field faces challenges in creating solution-oriented research for managing fire in the future. In this dissertation, I originate new methods and approaches to archaeological data that enable us to interpret humans’ long-term influences on fire regimes. I weave together human niche construction theory and ecological resilience, creating connections between archaeology, paleoecology, and fire ecology. Three, stand-alone studies illustrate the usefulness of these methods and theories for charting changes in land-use, fire-regimes, and vegetation communities during the Neolithic Transition (7600 - 3800 cal. BP) in eastern Spain. In the first study (Ch. II), I analyze archaeological survey data using Bayesian methods to extract land-use intensities from mixed surface assemblages from a case study in the Canal de Navarrés. The second study (Ch. III) builds on the archaeological data collected computational model of landscape fire, charcoal dispersion, and deposition to test how multiple models of natural and anthropogenic fire activity contributed to the formation a single sedimentary charcoal dataset from the Canal de Navarrés. Finally, the third study (Ch. IV) incorporates the modeling and data generated in the previous chapters into sampling and analysis of sedimentary charcoal data from alluvial contexts in three study areas throughout eastern Spain. Results indicate that anthropogenic fire played a significant role in the creation of agricultural landscapes during the Neolithic period, but sustained, low-intensity burning after the late Neolithic period maintained the human created niche for millennia beyond the arrival of agro-pastoral land-use. With global fire activity on the rise, it is vital to incorporate perspectives on the origins, development, and maintenance of human-fire relationships to effectively manage fire in today’s coupled social-ecological landscapes.