Forest fire and human interaction in the early Holocene woodlands of Britain

Abstract

A question of fundamental interest to palaeoecologists and archaeologists, in relation to the early Holocene wooded environment, is whether a fire had a natural or anthropogenic cause. Microscopic charcoal is an essential tool in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, informing on fire histories and cycles, vegetative response to fire, climate change and human manipulation of the environment through the use of fire. However, the information microscopic charcoal has to impart remains elusive. Case studies vary from accurate reconstructions of historical fires to anomalous results from known fire events where charcoal fragments were more prevalent in zones where it was known no burning had occurred. As a result, microscopic charcoal has failed to provide sufficiently robust data to answer this question. The approach here is to place microscopic charcoal data in a more holistic framework. By dealing with misconceptions relating to early Holocene woodlands in Britain and their susceptibility to fire, and considering woodland ecology, fire ecology, topography, climate, ethnographic analogy and social theory, an interpretative framework for identifying human firing of the wooded landscape is formulated.