The Role of Fire in the Domestication of Plants and Animals in Southwest Asia: A Hypothesis

Lewis, Henry T.

doi:10.2307/2799724

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is well understood that intentional landscape burning has been practiced by humans in North America over much or all of the Holocene [36][37][38][39][40]. More controversial is the suggestion that the first arrival of humans in the Americas during the end of the last ice age can be associated with non-trivial anthropogenic influences on landscape, in particular with the use of fire [41,42].…”

Section: Fire and The Arrival Of People In North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Hardiman

Scott

Pinter

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One contribution of 24 to a discussion meeting issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'. 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'.

show abstract

Section: Fire and The Arrival Of People In North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Hardiman

Scott

Pinter

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…That hunter-gatherers did (and do) modify landscapes and resources for calculated gain is inarguable (96-98); however, the extent and scope of this practice are a matter of considerable debate (49). In the case of domestication and agriculture, landscape modification has long been recognized as an important phenomenon (99)(100)(101). However, we do not agree with the contention that OFT models cannot accommodate dynamic environments and argue that EE is well-positioned to support and complement NCT.…”

Section: Ecological Models Accommodate Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins

Gremillion

Barton

Piperno

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

105

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The introduction of new analytic methods and expansion of research into previously untapped regions have greatly increased the scale and resolution of data relevant to the origins of agriculture (OA). As a result, the recognition of varied historical pathways to agriculture and the continuum of management strategies have complicated the search for general explanations for the transition to food production. In this environment, higher-level theoretical frameworks are sometimes rejected on the grounds that they force conclusions that are incompatible with real-world variability. Some of those who take this position argue instead that OA should be explained in terms of local and historically contingent factors. This retreat from theory in favor of particularism is based on the faulty beliefs that complex phenomena such as agricultural origins demand equally complex explanations and that explanation is possible in the absence of theoretically based assumptions. The same scholars who are suspicious of generalization are reluctant to embrace evolutionary approaches to human behavior on the grounds that they are ahistorical, overly simplistic, and dismissive of agency and intent. We argue that these criticisms are misplaced and explain why a coherent theory of human behavior that acknowledges its evolutionary history is essential to advancing understanding of OA. Continued progress depends on the integration of human behavior and culture into the emerging synthesis of evolutionary developmental biology that informs contemporary research into plant and animal domestication. evolutionary theory | behavioral ecologyOver the last decade there has been a major expansion of knowledge regarding the timing and socioecological context of plant domestication and emerging agricultural systems. This wealth of data is due in large part to methodological innovations (e.g., in genetics and paleogenomics, in the analysis of plant micro-and macroremains and biological residues, and in the physical and biogeochemical analyses of anthropogenic sediments), reexcavations of some important archaeological sites, and the expansion of archaeological research into regions whose record of agricultural origins has been until recently poorly known [such as New Guinea (1, 2), lowland areas of Mesoamerica and northern South America (3-7), and northern and southern China (8-13)]. These research activities have enriched both the scale and resolution of the data relevant to agricultural origins worldwide. One result of this welcome enhancement of the empirical record is wider acknowledgment of the variability in the historical pathways taken by emerging food production systems across space and time. The dichotomy between foraging and food production has been discarded in favor of a continuum of landscape, plant, and animal management strategies that sometimes resist classification. However, for some scholars (2, 14), the richly detailed records of change seem to have dampened the appeal of general explanations for the transition to agriculture. This tr...

show abstract

“…We therefore hypothesise that changing burning regimes in the Eastern Mediterranean influenced, and were in turn influenced by, the transition to Neolithic agriculture in this region. Lewis (1972) was one of the first to recognise the potential importance of fire in the process of plant domestication in Southwest Asia. He proposed, partly from ethnographic analogy with Native California, that burning was employed as a technique of landscape management during the 'broadspectrum revolution' that formed a key part of the pathway to plant domestication in the Eastern Mediterranean region.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro‐charcoal records of biomass burning during the last glacial–interglacial transition in Southwest Asia

Turner

Roberts

Eastwood

et al. 2009

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates changes in climate, vegetation, wildfire and human activity in Southwest Asia during the transition to Neolithic agriculture between ca. 16 and ca. 9 ka. In order to trace the fire history of this region, we use microscopic charcoal from lake sediment sequences, and present two new records: one from south central Turkey (Akgöl) and the other from the southern Levant (Hula). These are interpreted primarily as the result of regional‐scale fire events, with the exception of a single large event ca. 13 ka at Akgöl, which phytolith analysis shows was the result of burning of the local marsh vegetation. Comparison between these and other regional micro‐charcoal, stable isotope and pollen records shows that wildfires were least frequent when the climate was cold and dry (glacial, Lateglacial Stadial) and the vegetation dominated by chenopod–Artemisia steppe, and that they became more frequent and/or bigger at times of warmer, wetter but seasonally dry climate (Lateglacial Interstadial, early Holocene). Warmer and wetter climates caused an increase in biomass availability, with woody matter appearing to provide the main fuel source in sites from the Levant, while grass fires predominated in the interior uplands of Anatolia. Southwest Asia's grasslands reached their greatest extent during the early Holocene, and they were maintained by dry‐season burning that helped to delay the spread of woodland by up to 3 ka, at the same time as Neolithic settlement became established across this grass parkland landscape. Although climatic changes appear to have acted as the principal ‘pacemaker’ for fire activity through the last glacial–interglacial climatic transition (LGIT), human actions may have amplified shifts in biomass burning. Fire regimes therefore changed markedly during this time period, and both influenced, and were influenced by, the cultural‐economic transition from hunter‐foraging to agriculture and village life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

The Role of Fire in the Domestication of Plants and Animals in Southwest Asia: A Hypothesis

Cited by 35 publications

References 28 publications

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins

Fire, climate and the origins of agriculture: micro‐charcoal records of biomass burning during the last glacial–interglacial transition in Southwest Asia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About