Do tree-ring fire-scar records adequately reflect Native American settlement and land use?

Abstract

Background: Past burning by Native Americans can be analyzed from tree-ring fire-scar records (FSRs) via dendrochronological methods. However, the degree to which FSRs have adequately captured the varied locations where Native Americans burned landscapes, at both local and regional scales, remains largely unknown. Also unassessed is whether individual studies utilizing FSRs provide adequate spatial contextualization of FSR sites alongside Native American geography (e.g. settlements, travel corridors) to facilitate understanding of spatial relationships between fire and settlement. This paper assesses (1) the representativeness of FSR sites with respect to Native American settlement (circa 1760-1820) in eastern North America, (2) whether FSR-based studies provide adequate contextualization of their study sites with respect to settlement, and (3) spatial relationships between settlement and fire frequency gleaned from available FSRs. Results: Many locations with past Native American settlement are not represented by FSRs, and few individual studies provide locations of settlement to compare with FSR site locations. Available FSRs suggest that fire was most frequent at intermediate distances (i.e. 100-150 km) from villages, and least frequent near villages. This trend may be due to the clearing of nearby trees or deliberate burns away from villages for various purposes, but within a reasonable distance for access. Conclusions: Future FSR development should target locations near former settlement to increase spatial balance, and researchers should provide better description (textual or cartographic) of Native American geography to characterize how proximate and in what environments cultural burning occurred. Such efforts will refine understanding of spatial locations and extent of burning. This study underscores the need to develop and share FSRs in locations where past cultural burning occurred before such samples disappear.