Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Role of Fire in Long Term Human Niche-Construction

美国近世纪的防火和灭火工作，反直觉地导致了更大、更频繁的野火，对自然、文化和娱乐资源产生了负面影响。作为回应，新的研究集中在管理火灾的持久影响的替代方法，而不是防止它。为了了解火在现代生态系统中的作用，必须考虑人类对火灾制度和生物群落生产力的长期影响。考古学和古生态学研究表明，数千年来，人类故意纵火，以改变其景观中资源的排列和多样性，对陆地和大气系统产生全球性影响。人为火灾是指人为故意放火和控制的火灾，在改变和维持农业景观方面发挥了至关重要的作用。因此，农业的开始往往与火灾频率和植被群落的变化相吻合。本项目结合人类烧荒的多维度研究和史前农业用地的考古测量，探讨新石器时代的起源和演变（7，700 - 4，500 cal. BP）西班牙东部三个案例研究地区的农业景观。这项工作整合了新的野外和实验室方法，野火及其生态效应的定量模型，和“非现场”考古学的角度来研究人为火灾对人类和古代农业景观的环境方面的影响。地中海景观是独特的适合调查史前人为火灾，由于其长期的历史农业土地使用，罕见的自然引起的火灾，火灾敏感的生态系统。这项研究鼓励考古学家和火灾科学家之间的国际合作，对世界各地类似的火灾易发生态系统的长期管理产生影响，包括南加州，南非沿海，澳大利亚南部和整个地中海盆地。该项目的实地工作是与美国和西班牙考古学家，古生态学家和火灾科学家合作进行的。这个多元化的国际团队结合了对人为火灾在森林生态系统功能，维护和可持续性中的作用的多种观点。在亚利桑那州立大学进行的实验室工作还为学习考古学、古生态学和火灾科学的本科生提供科学培训和指导。

Nearly a century of fire prevention and suppression in the United States has resulted, counterintuitively, in larger, more frequent wildfires with negative impacts on natural, cultural, and recreational resources. In response, new research focuses on alternative ways to manage the lasting effects of fire, rather than prevent it. To understand the role of fire in modern ecosystems, the long-term history of human influence on fire regimes and biome productivity must be considered. Archaeological and paleoecological research demonstrates that humans have intentionally set fires for millennia to transform the arrangement and diversity of resources within their landscape, with global consequences for terrestrial and atmospheric systems. Anthropogenic fire, meaning fire intentionally set and controlled by humans, has played a vital role in transforming and maintaining agricultural landscapes. Consequently, the beginning of agriculture often coincides with changes in fire frequency and vegetation communities. This project combines multi-dimensional research on anthropogenic burning with archaeological measures of prehistoric agricultural land-use to investigate the origins and evolution of Neolithic (7,700-4,500 cal. BP) agricultural landscapes in three case study areas in eastern Spain.This work integrates new field and laboratory methods, quantitative models of wildfire and its ecological effects, and an "off-site" archaeological perspective to study the impacts of anthropogenic fire on the human and environmental aspects of ancient agricultural landscapes. The Mediterranean landscape is uniquely suited to investigate prehistoric anthropogenic fire due to its long-term history of agricultural land-use, infrequent naturally caused fires, and fire-sensitive ecosystems. This research encourages international collaboration between archaeologists and fire scientists with implications for long-term management of similar fire-prone ecosystems around the world, including southern California, coastal South Africa, southern Australia, and the entirety of the Mediterranean Basin. Fieldwork for this project is conducted in collaboration with American and Spanish archaeologists, paleoecologists, and fire scientists. This diverse, international team combines multiple perspectives on the role of anthropogenic fire in forest ecosystem function, maintenance, and sustainability. Laboratory work conducted at Arizona State University also provides scientific training and mentorship to undergraduate students studying archaeology, paleoecology, and fire science.