NDLI: Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Iriarte, José Power, Mitchell J. Rostain, Stéphen Mayle, Francis E. Jones, Huw Watling, Jennifer Whitney, Bronwen S. Mckey, Doyle B.
Abstract	The nature and scale of pre-Columbian land use and the consequences of the 1492 “Columbian Encounter” (CE) on Amazonia are among the more debated topics in New World archaeology and paleoecology. However, pre-Columbian human impact in Amazonian savannas remains poorly understood. Most paleoecological studies have been conducted in neotropical forest contexts. Of studies done in Amazonian savannas, none has the temporal resolution needed to detect changes induced by either climate or humans before and after A.D. 1492, and only a few closely integrate paleoecological and archaeological data. We report a high-resolution 2,150-y paleoecological record from a French Guianan coastal savanna that forces reconsideration of how pre-Columbian savanna peoples practiced raised-field agriculture and how the CE impacted these societies and environments. Our combined pollen, phytolith, and charcoal analyses reveal unexpectedly low levels of biomass burning associated with pre-A.D. 1492 savanna raised-field agriculture and a sharp increase in fires following the arrival of Europeans. We show that pre-Columbian raised-field farmers limited burning to improve agricultural production, contrasting with extensive use of fire in pre-Columbian tropical forest and Central American savanna environments, as well as in present-day savannas. The charcoal record indicates that extensive fires in the seasonally flooded savannas of French Guiana are a post-Columbian phenomenon, postdating the collapse of indigenous populations. The discovery that pre-Columbian farmers practiced fire-free savanna management calls into question the widely held assumption that pre-Columbian Amazonian farmers pervasively used fire to manage and alter ecosystems and offers fresh perspectives on an emerging alternative approach to savanna land use and conservation that can help reduce carbon emissions.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1201461109
Starting Page	6473
File Format	PDF
ISSN	10916490
e-ISSN	10916490
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Issue Number	17
Volume Number	109
Language	English
Publisher	National Academy of Sciences
Publisher Date	2012-04-24
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	National Academy of Sciences
Subject Keyword	Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Multidisciplinary

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas.

New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

Native American depopulation, reforestation, and fire regimes in the Southwest United States, 1492–1900 CE

Land use drives change in amazonian tree species

Highway Network and Fire Occurrence in Amazonian Indigenous Lands

The Use of Fire in the Cerrado and Amazonian Rainforests of Brazil: Past and Present

Abrupt increases in Amazonian tree mortality due to drought–fire interactions

The Effectiveness of Conservation Reserves: Land Tenure Impacts upon Biodiversity Across Extensive Natural Landscapes in the Tropical Savannahs of the Northern Territory, Australia

RECONFIGURATION OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE AMAZONIAN SAVANNAS

Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas

Similar Documents

Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas.

New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

Native American depopulation, reforestation, and fire regimes in the Southwest United States, 1492–1900 CE

Land use drives change in amazonian tree species

Highway Network and Fire Occurrence in Amazonian Indigenous Lands

The Use of Fire in the Cerrado and Amazonian Rainforests of Brazil: Past and Present

Abrupt increases in Amazonian tree mortality due to drought–fire interactions

The Effectiveness of Conservation Reserves: Land Tenure Impacts upon Biodiversity Across Extensive Natural Landscapes in the Tropical Savannahs of the Northern Territory, Australia

RECONFIGURATION OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE AMAZONIAN SAVANNAS

Fire-free land use in pre-1492 Amazonian savannas