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Harris JA, Anyawire M, Mabulla A, Wood BM. Hadza Landscape Burning. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2024:10.1007/s12110-024-09475-5. [PMID: 39162965 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-024-09475-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024]
Abstract
We present the first published ethnographic description of landscape burning by Hadza hunter-gatherers of northern Tanzania and identify environmental, social, and cultural influences on Hadza landscape burning, thereby broadening the ethnographic record of anthropogenic burning practices described for hunter-gatherer communities. We report interview data collected in 2022 and 2023, describing their practices and attitudes regarding the causes and consequences of burning. We provide context by comparing our observations with those recorded for hunting and gathering populations in Africa, Australia, and North America. Hadza landscape burning is generally a solitary and male-dominated activity, contrary to ethnographic accounts of Indigenous landscape burning from North America and Australia. The primary goals stated by Hadza for landscape burning were improved hunting, reduced hazards from dangerous animals, and to reduce the density of livestock. Firsthand observations suggest that landscape burning has decreased over the past 20 years, and this historical trend is supported by interviews. Satellite imagery also suggests an overall decrease in burning activity in the region from 2001 to 2022. Among the Hadza, landscape burning is a culturally influenced and strongly gender-biased activity that is rapidly disappearing. Because burning can radically transform landscapes, these practices often generate or amplify conflicts of interest between groups with different land use strategies. Hadza report serious social conflict with pastoralists over landscape burning, and our study suggests this tension has constrained the practice in the past two decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Harris
- School of Interdisciplinary Forensics, Arizona State University, Glendale, USA.
| | | | - Audax Mabulla
- Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Brian M Wood
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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2
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Carrión-Paladines V, Correa-Quezada L, Valdiviezo Malo H, Zurita Ruáles J, Pereddo Tumbaco A, Zambrano Pisco M, Lucio Panchi N, Jiménez Álvarez L, Benítez Á, Loján-Córdova J. Exploring the ethnobiological practices of fire in three natural regions of Ecuador, through the integration of traditional knowledge and scientific approaches. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2024; 20:60. [PMID: 38845008 PMCID: PMC11155166 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-024-00699-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
This study examines the convergence between traditional and scientific knowledge regarding the use of fire and its potential to trigger wildfires, with possible impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. The research encompasses three distinct natural regions of Ecuador: the coast, the highlands, and the Amazon. Data on traditional fire use were collected through semi-structured interviews with 791 members from five local communities. These data were compared with climatic variables (rainfall (mm), relative humidity (%), wind speed (km/h), and wind direction) to understand the climatic conditions conducive to wildfires and their relationship with human perceptions. Furthermore, the severity of fires over the past 4 years (2019-2022) was assessed using remote sensing methods, employing the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and the difference between pre-fire and post-fire conditions (NBR Pre-fire-NBR Post-fire). The results revealed a significant alignment between traditional knowledge, climatic data, and many fires, which were of low severity, suggesting potential benefits for ecosystems. These findings not only enable the identification of optimal techniques and timing for traditional burns but also contribute to human well-being by maintaining a harmonious balance between communities and their environment. Additionally, they provide valuable insights for the development of more inclusive and effective integrated fire management strategies in these natural areas of Ecuador.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vinicio Carrión-Paladines
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, C.P. 11 01 608, Loja, Ecuador.
| | - Liliana Correa-Quezada
- Departamento de Ciencias Jurídicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Huayra Valdiviezo Malo
- Licenciatura en Gestión Ambiental, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Jonathan Zurita Ruáles
- Licenciatura en Gestión Ambiental, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Allison Pereddo Tumbaco
- Licenciatura en Gestión Ambiental, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Marcos Zambrano Pisco
- Licenciatura en Gestión Ambiental, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Nataly Lucio Panchi
- Licenciatura en Gestión Ambiental, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, Loja, 1101608, Ecuador
| | - Leticia Jiménez Álvarez
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, C.P. 11 01 608, Loja, Ecuador
| | - Ángel Benítez
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, C.P. 11 01 608, Loja, Ecuador
| | - Julia Loján-Córdova
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, San Cayetano Alto S/N, C.P. 11 01 608, Loja, Ecuador
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3
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Neidermeier AN, Zagaria C, Pampanoni V, West TAP, Verburg PH. Mapping opportunities for the use of land management strategies to address fire risk in Europe. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 346:118941. [PMID: 37716166 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023]
Abstract
Many parts of Europe face increasing challenges managing wildfires. Although wildfire is an integral part of certain ecosystems, fires in many places are becoming larger and more intense, driven largely by climate change, land abandonment, and changes in fuel management with important socioeconomic, environmental, and ecosystem services consequences for Europe. In order to envision a comprehensive fire risk mitigation strategy for Europe, a spatial assessment of opportunities to manage fuels at the landscape-scale is needed. Our study explored the suitability of three land management strategies (LMS)-herbivory, mechanical fuel removal, and prescribed burn-which can create more heterogenous fuelscapes, thereby reducing an element of fire risk. We created suitability maps for each of the LMS using adoption factors identified in a systematic literature review (n = 123). We compared these maps with areas of historical fire occurrence as a proxy for fire risk to prioritize key areas for intervention. We found that over a quarter of Europe was suitable for multiple LMS within areas of greater fire risk, creating opportunities for concurrent and synergistic use of the strategies. Options were more limited in areas of southern Europe, where prescribed burn was found to be uniquely viable amongst the LMS evaluated. Opportunities were also restricted in some areas of high fire risk in northern Europe, where herbivory was found to be the only suitable LMS. Our findings take a wide-view of fuel management to target landscape-scale decision making focused on reducing fire risk. However, many other factors must be taken into account to successfully manage fuels at local scales, including the socio-cultural appropriateness of the LMS, the viability of incentive schemes, and possible trade-offs with other management goals, such as carbon storage and biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- A N Neidermeier
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - C Zagaria
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - V Pampanoni
- Earth Observation Satellite Images Applications Lab (EOSIAL), University of Rome School of Aerospace Engineering, Rome, Italy
| | - T A P West
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - P H Verburg
- Environmental Geography Group, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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4
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Tulowiecki SJ, Hanberry BB, Abrams MD. Native American geography shaped historical fire frequency in forests of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania, USA. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18598. [PMID: 37903838 PMCID: PMC10616284 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44692-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Researchers have debated the relative importance of environmental versus Indigenous effects on past fire regimes in eastern North America. Tree-ring fire-scar records (FSRs) provide local-resolution physical evidence of past fire, but few studies have spatially correlated fire frequency from FSRs with environmental and anthropogenic variables. No study has compared FSR locations to Native American settlement features in the eastern United States. We assess whether FSRs in the eastern US are located near regions of past Native American settlement. We also assess relationships between distance to Native American settlement, environmental conditions, and fire frequency in central Pennsylvania (PA), US, using an "ensemble of small models" approach for low sample sizes. Regression models of fire frequency at 21 locations in central PA often selected distance-based proxies of Indigenous land use. Models with mean annual temperature and Native American variables as predictors explained > 70% of the variation in fire frequency. Alongside temperature and wind speed, "distance to nearest trail" and "mean distance to nearest town" were significant and important predictors. In 18th-century central PA, fires were more frequent near Indigenous trails and towns, and further south due to increasing temperature and pyrophilic vegetation. However, for the entire eastern US, FSRs are located far from past settlement, limiting their effectiveness in detecting fire patterns near population centers. Improving understanding of historical fire will require developing FSRs closer to past Native American settlement.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brice B Hanberry
- USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Rapid City, SD, 57702, USA
| | - Marc D Abrams
- 204 Forest Resources Bldg., Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
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Neale T. What Tradition Affords. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/722533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Reidsma FH. Laboratory-based experimental research into the effect of diagenesis on heated bone: implications and improved tools for the characterisation of ancient fire. Sci Rep 2022; 12:17544. [PMID: 36323729 PMCID: PMC9630262 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21622-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of fire is considered to be one of the most important cultural innovations in human evolution. Understanding the taphonomy of fire remains is an important prerequisite for valid interpretations of hominin fire-related behaviour. Presented here are the results of a series of laboratory-based experiments testing the effect of different pH conditions (acidic, neutral, alkaline) on the physical and chemical properties of heated bone (charred and combusted). By taking a fundamental-research approach the study gives insight into the specific effect of pH exposure and its underlying chemical processes, and provides data that can be applied to heated bone from any context and time period. Results show that diagenesis has a significant impact on the preservation potential of heated bones, as well as on the reliability of the analytical techniques used to reconstruct past heating conditions. The study provides reference data and a toolkit for the analysis of heated bone, that explicitly takes diagenesis into account, and in doing so offers a significant improvement to the accuracy with which we can reconstruct heating conditions and fire-related human behaviour in the past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Femke H. Reidsma
- grid.5132.50000 0001 2312 1970Human Origins Group, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands ,grid.5477.10000000120346234GeoLab, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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7
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Herzog NM, Pruetz JD, Hawkes K. Investigating foundations for hominin fire exploitation: Savanna-dwelling chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in fire-altered landscapes. J Hum Evol 2022; 167:103193. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2021] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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8
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Roebroeks W, MacDonald K, Scherjon F, Bakels C, Kindler L, Nikulina A, Pop E, Gaudzinski-Windheuser S. Landscape modification by Last Interglacial Neanderthals. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabj5567. [PMID: 34910514 PMCID: PMC8673775 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Little is known about the antiquity, nature, and scale of Pleistocene hunter-gatherer impact on their ecosystems, despite the importance for studies of conservation and human evolution. Such impact is likely to be limited, mainly because of low population densities, and challenging to detect and interpret in terms of cause-effect dynamics. We present high-resolution paleoenvironmental and archaeological data from the Last Interglacial locality of Neumark-Nord (Germany). Among the factors that shaped vegetation structure and succession in this lake landscape, we identify a distinct ecological footprint of hominin activities, including fire use. We compare these data with evidence from archaeological and baseline sites from the same region. At Neumark-Nord, notably open vegetation coincides with a virtually continuous c. 2000-year-long hominin presence, and the comparative data strongly suggest that hominins were a contributing factor. With an age of c. 125,000 years, Neumark-Nord provides an early example of a hominin role in vegetation transformation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wil Roebroeks
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Katharine MacDonald
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Fulco Scherjon
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Corrie Bakels
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Lutz Kindler
- MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Schloss Monrepos, 56567 Neuwied, Germany
- Institute of Ancient Studies, Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Schönborner Hof, Schillerstraße 11, 55116 Mainz, Germany
| | - Anastasia Nikulina
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Eduard Pop
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
- Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser
- MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution, Schloss Monrepos, 56567 Neuwied, Germany
- Institute of Ancient Studies, Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Schönborner Hof, Schillerstraße 11, 55116 Mainz, Germany
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9
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Abstract
Large and severe wildfires are becoming increasingly common worldwide and are having extraordinary impacts on people and the species and ecosystems on which they depend. Indigenous peoples comprise only 5% of the world’s population but protect approximately 85% of the world’s biodiversity through stewardship of Indigenous-managed lands. Much of this is attributed to long-term and widespread relationships with and dependence on fire, which has been applied as a tool for managing landscapes for millennia. Fortunately, the revitalization of Indigenous fire stewardship is demonstrating the value of routinely applying controlled fire to adapt to changing environments while promoting desired landscapes, habitats, and species and supporting subsistence practices and livelihoods. Increasingly, severe wildfires have led to declines in biodiversity across all of Earth’s vegetated biomes [D. B. McWethy et al., Nat. Sustain. 2, 797–804 (2019)]. Unfortunately, the displacement of Indigenous peoples and place-based societies that rely on and routinely practice fire stewardship has resulted in significant declines in biodiversity and the functional roles of people in shaping pyrodiverse systems [R. Bliege Bird et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 12904–12914 (2020)]. With the aim of assessing the impacts of Indigenous fire stewardship on biodiversity and species function across Earth’s major terrestrial biomes, we conducted a review of relevant primary data papers published from 1900 to present. We examined how the frequency, seasonality, and severity of human-ignited fires can improve or reduce reported metrics of biodiversity and habitat heterogeneity as well as changes to species composition across a range of taxa and spatial and temporal scales. A total of 79% of applicable studies reported increases in biodiversity as a result of fire stewardship, and 63% concluded that habitat heterogeneity was increased by the use of fire. All studies reported that fire stewardship occurred outside of the window of uncontrollable fire activity, and plants (woody and nonwoody vegetation) were the most intensively studied life forms. Three studies reported declines in biodiversity associated with increases in the use of high-severity fire as a result of the disruption of Indigenous-controlled fire regimes with the onset of colonization. Supporting Indigenous-led fire stewardship can assist with reviving important cultural practices while protecting human communities from increasingly severe wildfires, enhancing biodiversity, and increasing ecosystem heterogeneity.
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Middle Pleistocene fire use: The first signal of widespread cultural diffusion in human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2101108118. [PMID: 34301807 PMCID: PMC8346817 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101108118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Control of fire is one of the most important technological innovations within the evolution of humankind. The archaeological signal of fire use becomes very visible from around 400,000 y ago onward. Interestingly, this occurs at a geologically similar time over major parts of the Old World, in Africa, as well as in western Eurasia, and in different subpopulations of the wider hominin metapopulation. We interpret this spatiotemporal pattern as the result of cultural diffusion, and as representing the earliest clear-cut case of widespread cultural change resulting from diffusion in human evolution. This fire-use pattern is followed slightly later by a similar spatiotemporal distribution of Levallois technology, at the beginning of the African Middle Stone Age and the western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic. These archaeological data, as well as studies of ancient genomes, lead us to hypothesize that at the latest by 400,000 y ago, hominin subpopulations encountered one another often enough and were sufficiently tolerant toward one another to transmit ideas and techniques over large regions within relatively short time periods. Furthermore, it is likely that the large-scale social networks necessary to transmit complicated skills were also in place. Most importantly, this suggests a form of cultural behavior significantly more similar to that of extant Homo sapiens than to our great ape relatives.
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11
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ, Choi JH, Nightingale S, Mackay A, Schilt F, Otárola-Castillo E, Mercader J, Forman SL, Pietsch T, Cohen AS, Arrowsmith JR, Welling M, Davis J, Schiery B, Kaliba P, Malijani O, Blome MW, O'Driscoll CA, Mentzer SM, Miller C, Heo S, Choi J, Tembo J, Mapemba F, Simengwa D, Gomani-Chindebvu E. Early human impacts and ecosystem reorganization in southern-central Africa. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/19/eabf9776. [PMID: 33952528 PMCID: PMC8099189 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf9776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Modern Homo sapiens engage in substantial ecosystem modification, but it is difficult to detect the origins or early consequences of these behaviors. Archaeological, geochronological, geomorphological, and paleoenvironmental data from northern Malawi document a changing relationship between forager presence, ecosystem organization, and alluvial fan formation in the Late Pleistocene. Dense concentrations of Middle Stone Age artifacts and alluvial fan systems formed after ca. 92 thousand years ago, within a paleoecological context with no analog in the preceding half-million-year record. Archaeological data and principal coordinates analysis indicate that early anthropogenic fire relaxed seasonal constraints on ignitions, influencing vegetation composition and erosion. This operated in tandem with climate-driven changes in precipitation to culminate in an ecological transition to an early, pre-agricultural anthropogenic landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Institute of Human Origins, P.O. Box 874101, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
- State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xian, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
| | - Jeong-Heon Choi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, Republic of Korea
| | - Sheila Nightingale
- Department of Anthropology, City University of New York, Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alex Mackay
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Flora Schilt
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Universidade do Algarve, Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), FCHS, Campus Gambelas, J27, Faro 8005-139, Portugal
| | | | - Julio Mercader
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Zona Educacional, 4-Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
| | | | - Timothy Pietsch
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Andrew S Cohen
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - J Ramón Arrowsmith
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Menno Welling
- Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- African Heritage Ltd., Box 622, Zomba, Malawi
| | | | | | - Potiphar Kaliba
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | - Oris Malijani
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | - Margaret W Blome
- Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
| | - Corey A O'Driscoll
- Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Susan M Mentzer
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Christopher Miller
- Institute for Archaeological Sciences and Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Seoyoung Heo
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, Republic of Korea
| | - Jungyu Choi
- Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Gyeongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Joseph Tembo
- Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | | | - Davie Simengwa
- Lanujos Social Research and Consultancy, Blantyre, Malawi
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12
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Pontzer H. Hotter and sicker: External energy expenditure and the tangled evolutionary roots of anthropogenic climate change and chronic disease. Am J Hum Biol 2021; 33:e23579. [PMID: 33629785 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The dual crises of climate change and chronic, or non-communicable, disease (NCD) have emerged worldwide as the global economy has industrialized over the past two centuries. AIMS In this synthesis I examine humans' dependence on external (non-metabolic) energy expenditure (e.g., fire, fossil fuels) as a common, root cause in these modern crises. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using fossil, archeological, and historical evidence I show that the human lineage has been dependent on external energy sources since the control of fire in the Paleolithic. This reliance has grown with the development of agriculture, the use of wind- and water-power, and the most recently with industrialization and the transition to fossil fuels. To place industrialization in context I develop a Rule of 50, whereby individuals in industrialized economies consume roughly 50-times more external energy and manufacture roughly 50-times more material than do hunter-gatherers. RESULTS Industrialization and mechanization, powered by fossil fuels, have promoted centralization and processing in food production, reduced physical activity, and increased air pollution (including greenhouse gas emissions). These developments have led in turn to NCD and climate change. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Climate change and NCD are connected both to one another and to our species' deep evolutionary dependence on external energy. Transitioning to carbon-free energy is essential to reduce the existential risks of climate change, but will likely have only modest effects on NCD. With the impending exhaustion of oil, coal, and natural gas reserves, developing replacements for fossil fuels is also critical to maintaining our species' external energy portfolio.
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Affiliation(s)
- Herman Pontzer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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13
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Braun DR, Faith JT, Douglass MJ, Davies B, Power MJ, Aldeias V, Conard NJ, Cutts R, DeSantis LRG, Dupont LM, Esteban I, Kandel AW, Levin NE, Luyt J, Parkington J, Pickering R, Quick L, Sealy J, Stynder D. Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:50-62. [PMID: 33604991 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2019] [Revised: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Despite advances in our understanding of the geographic and temporal scope of the Paleolithic record, we know remarkably little about the evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in human behavior. Recent inquiries suggest that human evolution reflects a long history of interconnections between the behavior of humans and their surrounding ecosystems (e.g., niche construction). Developing expectations to identify such phenomena is remarkably difficult because it requires understanding the multi-generational impacts of changes in behavior. These long-term dynamics require insights into the emergent phenomena that alter selective pressures over longer time periods which are not possible to observe, and are also not intuitive based on observations derived from ethnographic time scales. Generative models show promise for probing these potentially unexpected consequences of human-environment interaction. Changes in the uses of landscapes may have long term implications for the environments that hominins occupied. We explore other potential proxies of behavior and examine how modeling may provide expectations for a variety of phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R Braun
- The George Washington University, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - John Tyler Faith
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.,Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Matthew J Douglass
- College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.,Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Benjamin Davies
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Mitchel J Power
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.,Department of Geography, Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Vera Aldeias
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Nicholas J Conard
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Russell Cutts
- Emory University-Oxford College, History and Social Sciences (Anthropology), Oxford, Georgia, USA
| | - Larisa R G DeSantis
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Lydie M Dupont
- MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Irene Esteban
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Andrew W Kandel
- The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Naomi E Levin
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Julie Luyt
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - John Parkington
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Robyn Pickering
- Department of Geological Science, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.,Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Lynne Quick
- African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| | - Judith Sealy
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Deano Stynder
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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14
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Iovita R, Braun DR, Douglass MJ, Holdaway SJ, Lin SC, Olszewski DI, Rezek Z. Operationalizing niche construction theory with stone tools. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:28-39. [PMID: 33475216 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 05/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
One of the greatest difficulties with evolutionary approaches in the study of stone tools (lithics) has been finding a mechanism for tying culture and biology in a way that preserves human agency and operates at scales that are visible in the archaeological record. The concept of niche construction, whereby organisms actively construct their environments and change the conditions for selection, could provide a solution to this problem. In this review, we evaluate the utility of niche construction theory (NCT) for stone tool archaeology. We apply NCT to lithics both as part of the "extended phenotype" and as residuals or precipitates of other niche-constructing activities, suggesting ways in which archaeologists can employ niche construction feedbacks to generate testable hypotheses about stone tool use. Finally, we conclude that, as far as its applicability to lithic archaeology, NCT compares favorably to other prominent evolutionary approaches, such as human behavioral ecology and dual-inheritance theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Radu Iovita
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - David R Braun
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Matthew J Douglass
- College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.,Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Simon J Holdaway
- School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Sam C Lin
- Centre for Archaeological Science and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
| | - Deborah I Olszewski
- Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Zeljko Rezek
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Anthropology and University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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15
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Thompson JC, Wright DK, Ivory SJ. The emergence and intensification of early hunter-gatherer niche construction. Evol Anthropol 2020; 30:17-27. [PMID: 33341104 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Hunter-gatherers, especially Pleistocene examples, are not well-represented in archeological studies of niche construction. However, as the role of humans in shaping environments over long time scales becomes increasingly apparent, it is critical to develop archeological proxies and testable hypotheses about early hunter-gatherer impacts. Modern foragers engage in niche constructive behaviors aimed at maintaining or increasing the productivity of their environments, and these may have had significant ecological consequences over later human evolution. In some cases, they may also represent behaviors unique to modern Homo sapiens. Archeological and paleoenvironmental data show that African hunter-gatherers were niche constructors in diverse environments, which have legacies in how ecosystems function today. These can be conceptualized as behaviorally mediated trophic cascades, and tested using archeological and paleoenvironmental proxies. Thus, large-scale niche construction behavior is possible to identify at deeper time scales, and may be key to understanding the emergence of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.,State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China
| | - Sarah J Ivory
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
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16
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Snyder BF. The genetic and cultural evolution of unsustainability. SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE 2020; 15:1087-1099. [PMID: 32292525 PMCID: PMC7133775 DOI: 10.1007/s11625-020-00803-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic changes are accelerating and threaten the future of life on earth. While the proximate mechanisms of these anthropogenic changes are well studied (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth), the evolutionary causality of these anthropogenic changes have been largely ignored. Anthroecological theory (AET) proposes that the ultimate cause of anthropogenic environmental change is multi-level selection for niche construction and ecosystem engineering. Here, we integrate this theory with Lotka's Maximum Power Principle and propose a model linking energy extraction from the environment with genetic, technological and cultural evolution to increase human ecosystem carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is partially determined by energetic factors such as the net energy a population can acquire from its environment and the efficiency of conversion from energy input to offspring output. These factors are under Darwinian genetic selection in all species, but in humans, they are also determined by technology and culture. If there is genetic or non-genetic heritable variation in the ability of an individual or social group to increase its carrying capacity, then we hypothesize that selection or cultural evolution will act to increase carrying capacity. Furthermore, if this evolution of carrying capacity occurs faster than the biotic components of the ecological system can respond via their own evolution, then we hypothesize that unsustainable ecological changes will result.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian F. Snyder
- Department of Environmental Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA
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17
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Hlubik S, Cutts R, Braun DR, Berna F, Feibel CS, Harris JWK. Hominin fire use in the Okote member at Koobi Fora, Kenya: New evidence for the old debate. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:214-229. [PMID: 31358181 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2016] [Revised: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Hominin fire use in the early Pleistocene has been debated since the early 1970s when consolidated reddened sediment patches were identified at FxJj20 East and Main, Koobi Fora, Kenya. Since then, researchers have argued for evidence of early Pleistocene fire use at a handful of archaeological sites with evidence of combustion. Some argue that morphological evidence of early Homo erectus fossils indicates a dietary shift to higher quality food sources, which could be achieved by cooking. Others contend that fire use does not become a regular behavior until later, in the middle Pleistocene, when archaeological sites begin to show regular evidence for fire use. An early date for hominin control of fire would help to explain the grade changes seen with the appearance of H. erectus, while a later date would mean that fire would have had little influence on the early development of the lineage. Early hominins would have encountered fire regularly on the landscape, increasing the possibility of hominins interacting with and habituating to natural landscape fire. Only a detailed understanding of the patterns of controlled and natural fires can lead to understanding of early hominin fire use. We present new work on the evidence of fire at the FxJj20 Site complex in Koobi Fora, dated to 1.5 Ma. We highlight evidence of burning found on site through Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry, and describe ongoing work to investigate the association of hominin behavior and fire evidence. We present data supporting the hypothesis that the site is undisturbed and discuss spatial relationships showing burned material associated with non-burned material. We present data on a type of stone fragment, the Thermal Curve Fragment (TCF), which is indicative of knapped material being exposed to high heat. Finally, we suggest future directions on the topic of fire in the early Pleistocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Hlubik
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Anthropology Department, NJ, USA.
| | - Russell Cutts
- University of Georgia, Athens, Anthropology Department, GA, USA
| | - David R Braun
- The George Washington University, Anthropology Department, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Francesco Berna
- Simon Fraser University, Archaeology Department, Burnaby, Canada
| | - Craig S Feibel
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Anthropology Department, NJ, USA
| | - John W K Harris
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Anthropology Department, NJ, USA; The National Museums of Kenya, Archaeology Department, Nairobi, Kenya
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18
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Wood D, Lenné JM. A natural adaptive syndrome as a model for the origins of cereal agriculture. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2018.0277. [PMID: 29563270 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2018] [Accepted: 02/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A novel explanation of the origin of cereal agriculture is proposed, based on the ecology and adaptive morphology of wild cereals ancestral to our founder cereals (einkorn, emmer and barley). Wild cereals are unusually large-seeded. A natural evolutionary-ecological syndrome relates large seed, awns and monodominance (LAM). Awns bury attached seeds in the soil, protecting seed from fire; buried seed needs to be large to emerge on germination; large seeds, growing without competition from small-seeded plants, will produce monodominant vegetation. Climatic and edaphic instability at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary would have provided an impetus for the spread of annual ruderal grasses. LAM grassland provided an obvious natural model for the origins of cereal agriculture. Subsequent field management would mimic the natural niche (MNN). The fact that monodominance is a long-standing character of the natural LAM syndrome validates cereal monocultures (now producing most of our food). An alternative explanation of crop domestication, by auditioning a great range of species for a human-constructed niche (NCT), is rejected.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Wood
- North Oldmoss Croft, Fyvie, Turriff, Aberdeenshire AB53 8NA, UK
| | - Jillian M Lenné
- North Oldmoss Croft, Fyvie, Turriff, Aberdeenshire AB53 8NA, UK
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19
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Brunstrom JM, Cheon BK. Do humans still forage in an obesogenic environment? Mechanisms and implications for weight maintenance. Physiol Behav 2018; 193:261-267. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.02.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2017] [Revised: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 02/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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20
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Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:8143-8148. [PMID: 30037995 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805259115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Fire use has played an important role in human evolution and subsequent dispersals across the globe, yet the relative importance of human activity and climate on fire regimes is controversial. This is particularly true for historical fire regimes of the Americas, where indigenous groups used fire for myriad reasons but paleofire records indicate strong climate-fire relationships. In North American grasslands, decadal-scale wet periods facilitated widespread fire activity because of the abundance of fuel promoted by pluvial episodes. In these settings, human impacts on fire regimes are assumed to be independent of climate, thereby diminishing the strength of climate-fire relationships. We used an offsite geoarchaeological approach to link terrestrial records of prairie fire activity with spatially related archaeological features (driveline complexes) used for intensive, communal bison hunting in north-central Montana. Radiocarbon-dated charcoal layers from alluvial and colluvial deposits associated with driveline complexes indicate that peak fire activity over the past millennium occurred coincident with the use of these features (ca. 1100-1650 CE). However, comparison of dated fire deposits with Palmer Drought Severity Index reconstructions reveal strong climate-fire linkages. More than half of all charcoal layers coincide with modest pluvial episodes, suggesting that fire use by indigenous hunters enhanced the effects of climate variability on prairie fire regimes. These results indicate that relatively small, mobile human populations can impact natural fire regimes, even in pyrogeographic settings in which climate exerts strong, top-down controls on fuels.
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21
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Elephant and Mammoth Hunting during the Paleolithic: A Review of the Relevant Archaeological, Ethnographic and Ethno-Historical Records. QUATERNARY 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/quat1010003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Proboscideans and humans have shared habitats across the Old and New Worlds for hundreds of thousands of years. Proboscideans were included in the human diet starting from the Lower Paleolithic period and until the final stages of the Pleistocene. However, the question of how prehistoric people acquired proboscideans remains unresolved. Moreover, the effect of proboscidean hunting on the eventual extinction of these mega-herbivores was never seriously evaluated, probably because of the lack of acquaintance with the plethora of information available regarding proboscidean hunting by humans. The aim of this paper is to bridge this gap and bring to light the data available in order to estimate the extent and procedures of elephant and mammoth hunting by humans during the Quaternary. This study examines the archaeological evidence of proboscidean hunting during Paleolithic times, and provides a review of ethnographic and ethno-historical accounts, demonstrating a wide range of traditional elephant-hunting strategies. We also discuss the rituals accompanying elephant hunting among contemporary hunter-gatherers, further stressing the importance of elephants among hunter-gatherers. Based on the gathered data, we suggest that early humans possessed the necessary abilities to actively and regularly hunt proboscideans; and performed this unique and challenging task at will.
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22
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Bowman DMJS, Perry GLW, Higgins SI, Johnson CN, Fuhlendorf SD, Murphy BP. Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0169. [PMID: 27216526 PMCID: PMC4874407 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Fire positively and negatively affects food webs across all trophic levels and guilds and influences a range of ecological processes that reinforce fire regimes, such as nutrient cycling and soil development, plant regeneration and growth, plant community assembly and dynamics, herbivory and predation. Thus we argue that rather than merely describing spatio-temporal patterns of fire regimes, pyrodiversity must be understood in terms of feedbacks between fire regimes, biodiversity and ecological processes. Humans shape pyrodiversity both directly, by manipulating the intensity, severity, frequency and extent of fires, and indirectly, by influencing the abundance and distribution of various trophic guilds through hunting and husbandry of animals, and introduction and cultivation of plant species. Conceptualizing landscape fire as deeply embedded in food webs suggests that the restoration of degraded ecosystems requires the simultaneous careful management of fire regimes and native and invasive plants and animals, and may include introducing new vertebrates to compensate for extinctions that occurred in the recent and more distant past. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M J S Bowman
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - George L W Perry
- School of Environment, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Steve I Higgins
- Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Chris N Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Samuel D Fuhlendorf
- Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
| | - Brett P Murphy
- Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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23
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Gowlett JAJ. The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0164. [PMID: 27216521 PMCID: PMC4874402 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Numbers of animal species react to the natural phenomenon of fire, but only humans have learnt to control it and to make it at will. Natural fires caused overwhelmingly by lightning are highly evident on many landscapes. Birds such as hawks, and some other predators, are alert to opportunities to catch animals including invertebrates disturbed by such fires and similar benefits are likely to underlie the first human involvements with fires. Early hominins would undoubtedly have been aware of such fires, as are savanna chimpanzees in the present. Rather than as an event, the discovery of fire use may be seen as a set of processes happening over the long term. Eventually, fire became embedded in human behaviour, so that it is involved in almost all advanced technologies. Fire has also influenced human biology, assisting in providing the high-quality diet which has fuelled the increase in brain size through the Pleistocene. Direct evidence of early fire in archaeology remains rare, but from 1.5 Ma onward surprising numbers of sites preserve some evidence of burnt material. By the Middle Pleistocene, recognizable hearths demonstrate a social and economic focus on many sites. The evidence of archaeological sites has to be evaluated against postulates of biological models such as the ‘cooking hypothesis' or the ‘social brain’, and questions of social cooperation and the origins of language. Although much remains to be worked out, it is plain that fire control has had a major impact in the course of human evolution. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A J Gowlett
- Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, School of Histories, Language and Cultures, University of Liverpool, 12-14 Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 7WZ, UK
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24
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Hardiman M, Scott AC, Pinter N, Anderson RS, Ejarque A, Carter-Champion A, Staff RA. Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2015.0167. [PMID: 27216524 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Hardiman
- Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK
| | - Andrew C Scott
- Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK
| | - Nicholas Pinter
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - R Scott Anderson
- School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
| | - Ana Ejarque
- UMR 6042, GEOLAB, CNRS, 4 rue Ledru, 63057 Clermont-Ferrand cedex 1, France GEOLAB, Université Clermont Auvergne, Université Blaise Pascal, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Richard A Staff
- Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK
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25
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Holdaway SJ, Davies B, Fanning PC. Aboriginal Use of Fire in a Landscape Context. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/691436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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26
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Magargal KE, Parker AK, Vernon KB, Rath W, Codding BF. The ecology of population dispersal: Modeling alternative basin-plateau foraging strategies to explain the Numic expansion. Am J Hum Biol 2017; 29. [PMID: 28374557 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2016] [Revised: 02/21/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The expansion of Numic speaking populations into the Great Basin required individuals to adapt to a relatively unproductive landscape. Researchers have proposed numerous social and subsistence strategies to explain how and why these settlers were able to replace any established populations, including private property and intensive plant processing. Here we evaluate these hypotheses and propose a new strategy involving the use of landscape fire to increase resource encounter rates. METHODS Implementing a novel, spatially explicit, multi-scalar prey choice model, we examine how individual decisions approximating each alternative strategy (private property, anthropogenic fire, and intensive plant processing) would aggregate at the patch and band level to confer an overall benefit to this colonizing population. Analysis relies on experimental data reporting resource profitability and abundance, ecological data on the historic distribution of vegetation patches, and ethnohistoric data on the distribution of Numic bands. RESULTS Model results show that while resource privatization and landscape fires produce a substantial advantage, intensified plant processing garners the greatest benefit. The relative benefits of alternative strategies vary significantly across ecological patches resulting in variation across ethnographic band ranges. Combined, a Numic strategy including all three alternatives would substantially increase subsistence yields. CONCLUSIONS The application of a strategy set that includes landscape fire, privatization and intensified processing of seeds and nuts, explains why the Numa were able to outcompete local populations. This approach provides a framework to help explain how individual decisions can result in such population replacement events throughout human history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate E Magargal
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Archaeological Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111
| | - Ashley K Parker
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Archaeological Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111
| | - Kenneth Blake Vernon
- Archaeological Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111
| | - Will Rath
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111
| | - Brian F Codding
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Archaeological Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.,Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111
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27
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Sullivan AP, Bird DW, Perry GH. Human behaviour as a long-term ecological driver of non-human evolution. Nat Ecol Evol 2017; 1:65. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-016-0065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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28
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Abstract
Members of genus Homo are the only animals known to create and control fire. The adaptive significance of this unique behavior is broadly recognized, but the steps by which our ancestors evolved pyrotechnic abilities remain unknown. Many hypotheses attempting to answer this question attribute hominin fire to serendipitous, even accidental, discovery. Using recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions, we present an alternative scenario in which, 2 to 3 million years ago in tropical Africa, human fire dependence was the result of adapting to progressively fire-prone environments. The extreme and rapid fluctuations between closed canopy forests, woodland, and grasslands that occurred in tropical Africa during that time, in conjunction with reductions in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, changed the fire regime of the region, increasing the occurrence of natural fires. We use models from optimal foraging theory to hypothesize benefits that this fire-altered landscape provided to ancestral hominins and link these benefits to steps that transformed our ancestors into a genus of active pyrophiles whose dependence on fire for survival contributed to its rapid expansion out of Africa.
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29
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Kaplan JO, Pfeiffer M, Kolen JCA, Davis BAS. Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0166726. [PMID: 27902716 PMCID: PMC5130213 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2016] [Accepted: 11/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Reconstructions of the vegetation of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are an enigma. Pollen-based analyses have suggested that Europe was largely covered by steppe and tundra, and forests persisted only in small refugia. Climate-vegetation model simulations on the other hand have consistently suggested that broad areas of Europe would have been suitable for forest, even in the depths of the last glaciation. Here we reconcile models with data by demonstrating that the highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that inhabited Europe at the LGM could have substantially reduced forest cover through the ignition of wildfires. Similar to hunter-gatherers of the more recent past, Upper Paleolithic humans were masters of the use of fire, and preferred inhabiting semi-open landscapes to facilitate foraging, hunting and travel. Incorporating human agency into a dynamic vegetation-fire model and simulating forest cover shows that even small increases in wildfire frequency over natural background levels resulted in large changes in the forested area of Europe, in part because trees were already stressed by low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the cold, dry, and highly variable climate. Our results suggest that the impact of humans on the glacial landscape of Europe may be one of the earliest large-scale anthropogenic modifications of the earth system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jed O. Kaplan
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Géopolis, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
| | - Mirjam Pfeiffer
- Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Jan C. A. Kolen
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Basil A. S. Davis
- Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Géopolis, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Controlled fire use in early humans might have triggered the evolutionary emergence of tuberculosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:9051-6. [PMID: 27457933 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1603224113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), a wildly successful group of organisms and the leading cause of death resulting from a single bacterial pathogen worldwide. It is generally accepted that MTBC established itself in human populations in Africa and that animal-infecting strains diverged from human strains. However, the precise causal factors of TB emergence remain unknown. Here, we propose that the advent of controlled fire use in early humans created the ideal conditions for the emergence of TB as a transmissible disease. This hypothesis is supported by mathematical modeling together with a synthesis of evidence from epidemiology, evolutionary genetics, and paleoanthropology.
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Bird DW, Bliege Bird R, Codding BF. Pyrodiversity and the anthropocene: the role of fire in the broad spectrum revolution. Evol Anthropol 2016; 25:105-16. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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