THEORETICAL AND SOCIOECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF FIRE FOODWAYS

Alan P Sullivan,Philip B Mink

doi:10.1017/aaq.2018.32

Alan P Sullivan, Philip B Mink

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.32

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Abstract

Archaeological investigations of the effects of anthropogenic fire on the subsistence economies of small-scale societies, particularly those of the prehispanic northern American Southwest, are embryonic in scope and disciplinary impact. When burning has been mentioned in such studies it typically has been with reference to its alleged effectiveness in clearing land or deforesting areas for maize agriculture. In this article, in contrast, we present the results of our initial efforts to estimate the yield and socioecological consequences of cultivating a common fire-responsive ruderal—amaranth—whose growth is enabled by anthropogenic burning of understory vegetation in the Southwest's pinyon-juniper ecosystems. With data from the Upper Basin (northern Arizona), we show that, in an area that is not environmentally conducive to maize production, populations could be supported with systematic, low-intensity anthropogenic fires that promoted the growth of amaranth and other ruderals, such as chenopodium, which consistently dominate archaeobotanical and pollen assemblages recovered from a variety of archaeological and sedimentary contexts in the region. Based on this evidence, as well as modern fire ecological data, we propose that fire-reliant ruderal agriculture, in contrast to maize agriculture, was a widespread, sustainable, and ecologically sound practice that enhanced food supply security independently of variation in soil fertility and precipitation.

Highlights

Archaeological investigations of the effects of anthropogenic fire on the subsistence economies of small-scale societies, those of the prehispanic northern American Southwest, are embryonic in scope and disciplinary impact
Cross-disciplinary understanding of the transformative effects of anthropogenic landscape fire on ecosystems, their structure, and associated “services” has accelerated dramatically in recent decades (e.g., Bowman et al 2009). Thinking globally about these developments in the context of human prehistory, it is rare for modern research regarding human-environment interactions not to mention anthropogenic fire as one of the principal ecosystem-shaping forces during the Pleistocene and Holocene (Supplemental Text 1)
Inspired by firsthand contemporary observations of how ruderals predictably respond to a variety of fire types, severity, and origin, we offer some thoughts about how these considerations have the potential to integrate applied historical ecology and niche construction theory to enrich our narratives of past human-environment interactions and economic prehistory in the American Southwest

Summary

Introduction

Archaeological investigations of the effects of anthropogenic fire on the subsistence economies of small-scale societies, those of the prehispanic northern American Southwest, are embryonic in scope and disciplinary impact. With data from the Upper Basin (northern Arizona), we show that, in an area that is not environmentally conducive to maize production, populations could be supported with systematic, low-intensity anthropogenic fires that promoted the growth of amaranth and other ruderals, such as chenopodium, which consistently dominate archaeobotanical and pollen assemblages recovered from a variety of archaeological and sedimentary contexts in the region Based on this evidence, as well as modern fire ecological data, we propose that fire-reliant ruderal agriculture, in contrast to maize agriculture, was a widespread, sustainable, and ecologically sound practice that enhanced food supply security independently of variation in soil fertility and precipitation. These investigations are especially timely in view of the current attention directed at the contributions of fire-induced particulates to climate change (Han et al 2016) and the continuing controversy over whether the onset and duration of the Anthropocene (Braje 2015) should be defined in terms of atmospheric chemistry (Ruddiman 2013) or domestication processes (Smith and Zeder 2013)

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Conclusion