Indian Fires in the Prehistory of New England

Abstract

Humans have inhabited the northeastern United States for approximately 12,000 years (Figure 1). During that period the vegetation of the region changed first from tundra to boreal spruce and fir forests. For the past 8,000 years or so, mixtures of pines, spruces, fir, hemlock, and a variety of hardwoods including beech, several oaks, maples, hickories, and birches have occupied the landscape. Changing climate and the differential migration of plant species were responsible for the vegetation changes that occurred over time periods spanning several hundred to a few thousand years (Davis 1983). Today we see a vegetation pattern that can be related to regional variations in climate, topography, soils, and human settlement. Alpine tundra is found at high elevations in the White Mountains, spruce and fir forests cover much of northern Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and pitch pine and oaks occupy the xeric, sandy soils of southern coastal areas. Mesic forest species occur over a broad area of central New England (Westveld et al. 1956).