The recent emergence of global megafires has made it imperative to better understand the role of humans in altering the size, distribution, and seasonality of fires. The dynamic relationship between humans and fire is not a recent phenomenon; rather, fire has deep roots in our biological and cultural evolution. Because of its long-term perspective, archaeology is uniquely positioned to investigate the social and ecological drivers behind anthropogenic fire. However, the field faces challenges in creating solution-oriented research for managing fire in the future. This dissertation project facilitated new methods and approaches to archaeological data that enable us to interpret humans' long-term influences on fire regimes. By weaving together human niche construction theory and ecological resilience, new connections between archaeology, paleoecology, and fire ecology emerge.

The principal research goals of this project were addressed through three, stand-alone studies, which illustrate the usefulness of new methods and theoretical perspectives for charting changes in land-use, fire-regimes, and vegetation communities during the Neolithic Transition (7600 - 3800 cal. BP) in eastern Spain. In the first study, archaeological survey data is analyzed using Bayesian methods to extract land-use intensities from mixed surface assemblages from a case study in the Canal de Navarres region. This work points to changing patterns of land-use throughout study area, with an intensification and concentration of occupation during the Late Neolithic period (4500-3800 cal. BP). The second study builds on the archaeological data collected to create a computational model of landscape fire, charcoal dispersion, and deposition to test how multiple models of natural and anthropogenic fire activity contributed to the formation a single sedimentary charcoal dataset from the Canal de Navarres. The comparison of the modeled proxy data with the empirical data highlighted in this study suggests that anthropogenic ignitions were a primary driver of fire regimes during the Neolithic period. Finally, the third study incorporates the modeling and data generated in the previous chapters into sampling and analysis of sedimentary charcoal data from alluvial contexts in three study areas throughout eastern Spain. Results indicate that anthropogenic fire played a significant role in the creation of agricultural landscapes during the Neolithic period, but sustained, low-intensity burning after the late Neolithic period maintained the human created niche for millennia beyond the arrival of agro-pastoral land-use. With global fire activity on the rise, it is vital to incorporate perspectives on the origins, development, and maintenance of human-fire relationships to effectively manage fire in today's coupled social- ecological landscapes.

Last Modified: 05/01/2019
Modified by: Grant Snitker