In a recent paper published in Human Ecology, Rodriguez (2007) uses paleoecological literature to support some conclusions about the use of fire by the indigenous Pemon people from the Gran Sabana, in southeastern Venezuela. Similar references on past events are used by Sletto (2008) to discuss fire management policies in the region. In both cases, the selected paleoecological evidence is limited, out-of-date, and has not been properly used. This note aims to place the existing paleoecological data in the right context, and to show that there is more useful information pertinent to the discussion. A summary of the past evidence available for the Gran Sabana and its more accurate interpretation is provided to help further work. The origin and maintenance of the huge savanna exten sions in the Gran Sabana are intensely debated. The two main hypotheses are centered on either natural climatic factors or anthropogenic fires. At present, the Gran Sabana is frequently burnt by the Pemon people for a variety of reasons: savanna cleaning and rejuvenation, hunting, aesthetics, magic, cooking, warming, drying firewood, and others (Rodriguez 2007). The fact that this occurs inside the Canaima National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site, http://whc.unesco. org/en/list/701) and the headwaters of the Carom river, where reservoirs provide most of the electrical power generated in the country, has extended the controversy beyond the scientific context (Dezzeo et al. 2004, Rodriguez 2004b). The main actors in the debate are the Pemon people, the ecologists and conservationists working in the area, and the electrical company (EDELCA), as well as their individ