Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

Abstract

The impact of Indigenous populations on historical fire regimes has been controversial and beset by mismatches in the geographic scale of paleofire reconstructions and the scale of land-use behaviors. It is often assumed that anthropogenic burning is linearly related to population density and not different cultural practices. Here we take an off-site geoarchaeology strategy to reconstruct variability in historical fire regimes (<1000 years ago) at geographic scales that match the archaeological, ethnohistorical, and oral tradition evidence for variability in the intensity of Indigenous land use by two different cultural groups (Ancestral Pueblo and Western Apache). We use multiple, independent proxies from three localities in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in east-Central Arizona to reconstruct fire regime variability during four phases of cultural use of different intensities. Elevated charcoal with domesticate pollen (Zea spp.) but otherwise unchanged forest pollen assemblages characterized intensive land use by Ancestral Pueblo people during an early phase, suggesting fire use to support agricultural activities. By contrast, a phase of intensive pre-reservation Western Apache land use corresponded to little change in charcoal, but had elevated ash-derived phosphorus and elevated grass and ruderal pollen suggestive of enhanced burning in fine fuels to promote economically important wild plants.

Long‐Term Landscape Evolution in Response to Climate Change, Ecosystem Dynamics, and Fire in a Basaltic Catchment on the Colorado Plateau

“…This suggests that enhanced erosion rates in the STL catchment during the Holocene may have been contingent on fire activity, which had been lower in the Early Holocene. Significant peaks in Ti, Glomus , and charcoal occur within the last 1.5 kyr (Figure 6) and could relate to activities of Indigenous peoples on the Mogollon Rim (Roos et al., 2022).…”

A multi-century perspective on contemporary fire deficit and anomalous fire severity in the southwestern United States

“…Dry conifer forests in the American Southwest dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are particularly vulnerable to the combined effects of altered fire regimes and climate change. A large body of evidence demonstrates that some proportion of these forests was historically characterized by frequent, low-to moderate-severity fires associated with prolonged dry seasons, profuse grassy fuels, and abundant ignitions from lightning and Indigenous land stewardship 13,14,15,16 . These fire regimes were disrupted by Euro-American colonization in the late 19th C, producing an enduring fire deficit 17 and initiating fuel build ups 18 .…”

Pyro Geographic Management of Flammable Kolkata City, between 2006–2023

“…Pyne coined the phylogeography in the mid-1990s, which is the science of fire, in the past, present, and future fires, that combines geography and fire ecology and also considers the physical environment, human cultures, and societies, Pynes et al [1], Krawchuk et al [2], Pyne et al [3], Mishra et al [4], Roos et al [5]. The Fire was with the Earth since its inception, 4.54 ± .005 billion years ago (B.Y.A.…”

“…Evidence/proxies from phylogeography revealed that our ancestors, the Homoerectus, tamed fire ≈ 200 mya for heat, light, hunting, cooking, making tools, and driving away wild animals, Bowman et al [6] Zhong et al [7], Gowlett J.A.J. [8] Rooset al [5]. As Homo erectus controlled and used Fire long before modern humans grew, it was tough to regulate the fire used by the Homosapiens; no definite record of history is available (Nicholas et al, 2023).…”