Landscape dynamics and fire activity since 6740 cal yr BP in the Cantabrian region (La Molina peat bog, Puente Viesgo, Spain)

Abstract

In recent years, environmental history geographers have shown the importance of a joint consideration of natural dynamics and human influence when interpreting landscape changes during the Holocene (Battarbe et al., 2004). As a result, paleoecology studies have given way to multiproxy studies as we attempt to clearly discern the human and natural signs that remain from those changes. Researchers have synthesized the changing plant landscape of the Iberian peninsula during the Holocene based on pollen (

History of fires and vegetation since the Neolithic in the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain)

“…The pollen curve decreased steadily until about 2800 cal years BP, about the time that fires were being used to maintain open agricultural spaces, and there were fewer local fires with wood fuels. According to Pérez‐Obiol et al (), the increase in Poaceae and cereals since pre‐Roman times is closely related to the absence of trees or shrubs as fuel for fires in the adjacent zones. In the final part of the sequence (Figure ), various anthropic or fire indicators (Ericaceae, Cerealia, and Plantago ) attest to pastures and crops dominating the landscape, as they do now.…”

“…Information from La Molina (Pérez‐Obiol et al, ) and El Cueto de la Avellanosa (Mariscal, ) allowed us to obtain a complete and comparative view of vegetation changes. The pollen diagram was based on the 57 samples from El Sertal and the 151 samples taken from the top of La Molina.…”

“…At present in Cantabria, fires are generally intentional and mainly burn scrub (Carracedo, 2015); previously, tree biomass was involved but controlled by climate factors. For example, Bond cycles (Bond et al, 2001) associated with quasi-periodic climate fluctuations have sometimes coincided with cooling periods or dry periods (Burjachs & Expósito, 2015); in Cantabria, dry climatic phases coincided with Bond Cycles three and four (Pérez-Obiol et al, 2016), which could favor greater recurrence of fires.…”

“…This charcoal particles approach does not allow taxonomic identification but does establish the relative magnitude of fire events. The standard protocol (Carcaillet et al, 2001(Carcaillet et al, , 2007, as adjusted by Pérez-Obiol et al (2016), was followed. KOH was used as a deflocculant solution and 15% NaClH as a bleaching solution (Finsinger, Kelly, Fevre, & Magyari, 2014).…”

“…In Cantabria, only one study of historical fires has been based on sedimentary charcoals (Pérez‐Obiol, García‐Codron, Pèlachs, Pérez‐Haase, & Soriano, ); it points out the importance of fire since Neolithic times in one of the Iberian regions most affected by fires in forests and pasture lands. The region also has some of the richest and best known prehistoric archaeology in Europe (González Morales & Estévez, ; Moure Romanillo, ).…”