Fire and human management of late Holocene ecosystems in southern Africa

Authors

Benjamin Davies, University of UtahFollow
Mitchell J. Power, University of UtahFollow
David R. Braun, The George Washington UniversityFollow
Matthew J. Douglass, University of Nebraska—LincolnFollow
Stella G. Mosher, University of UtahFollow
Lynne J. Quick, Nelson Mandela UniversityFollow
Irene Esteban, Nelson Mandela University
Judith Sealy, University of Cape Town
John Parkington, University of Cape Town
J. Tyler Faith, University of UtahFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

8-2022

Citation

Published in Quaternary Science Reviews 289 (2022) 107600

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107600

Comments

Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission

Abstract

Globally, fire is a primary agent for modifying environments through the long-term coupling of human and natural systems. In southern Africa, control of fire by humans has been documented since the late Middle Pleistocene, though it is unclear when or if anthropogenic burning led to fundamental shifts in the region's fire regimes. To identify potential periods of broad-scale anthropogenic burning, we analyze aggregated Holocene charcoal sequences across southern Africa, which we compare to paleoclimate records and archaeological data. We show climate-concordant variability in mid-Holocene fire across much of the subcontinent. However, increased regional fire activity during the late Holocene (~2000 BP) coincides with archaeological change, especially the introduction and intensification of food production across the region. This increase in fire is not readily explained by climate changes, but rather reflects a novel way of using fire as a tool to manage past landscapes, with outcomes conditioned by regional ecosystem characteristics.