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

美国近一个世纪的火灾预防和扑灭导致了与直觉相反的更大、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持久影响的替代方法上，而不是预防火灾。为了了解火在现代生态系统中的作用，必须考虑人类影响火制度和生物群生产力的长期历史。考古和古生态研究表明，几千年来，人类故意放火，以改变其地貌中资源的排列和多样性，对陆地和大气系统产生全球影响。人为火是指人类故意设置和控制的火，在改造和维护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。该项目将人为焚烧的多维研究与史前农地利用的考古措施相结合，以调查新石器时代(7,700-4,500卡)的起源和演化。这项工作结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，以及“非现场”考古角度，研究了人为火灾对古代农业景观的人类和环境方面的影响。地中海地貌独一无二地适合于研究史前人为火灾，因为它有长期的农业土地使用历史，很少发生自然火灾，以及对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，对世界各地类似的易着火生态系统的长期管理具有借鉴意义，包括加利福尼亚州南部、南非沿海、澳大利亚南部和整个地中海盆地。该项目的田野工作是与美国和西班牙的考古学家、古生态学家和火灾科学家合作进行的。这个多样化的国际团队结合了关于人为火灾在森林生态系统功能、维护和可持续发展中的作用的多种视角。亚利桑那州立大学的实验室工作也为考古学、古生态学和火灾科学专业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.