DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.04.030
论文题名: Exploring the relationship between Aboriginal population indices and fire in Australia over the last 20,000years
作者: Williams A.N. ; Mooney S.D. ; Sisson S.A. ; Marlon J.
刊名: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
ISSN: 0031-0182
出版年: 2015
卷: 432 起始页码: 49
结束页码: 57
语种: 英语
英文关键词: Aboriginal demography
; Charcoal
; Fire-stick farming
; Radiocarbon data
英文摘要: The extent of prehistoric human impact on the environment is a contentious topic in various palaeo-environmental sciences. The long history of humans in Australia and its extensive fire-prone biota makes this continent a key research area for better characterization of prehistoric human-fire interactions. Here we use statistically robust cross-correlation of archaeological radiocarbon data (n. =. 4102 ages from 1616 sites) and a new synthesis of charcoal records (n. =. 155 sites) to test for any relationship between people and fire over the last 20,000. years at continental and regional (25-45°S) scales. We find that the statistical correlation between the two datasets is weak at both spatial scales, with short-lived synchronous responses only in the terminal Pleistocene-Holocene transition, at the onset of the mid-Holocene climatic optimum (~. 10-7. ka) and during significant transitions of El Niño Southern Oscillation (~. 5-4. ka and 1.2-0.8. ka). One interpretation of this is that Aboriginal populations were implementing 'fire-stick farming' only intermittently during periods of societal stress resulting from climatic variability. However, the synchronicity of the correlations with climate changes, along with the low populations through much of this time, suggests that both datasets were independently responding to external climatic forcing. Under either scenario, a lack of significant change in the charcoal record implies that there were no long-lasting impacts to the environmental biota, and macro-scale palaeoenvironmental records prior to European colonization largely reflect responses to non-human influences. While we do not discount the possibility of systematic or deliberate manipulation of fire regimes at local spatial scales, we conclude that human control of fire by prehistoric people in Australia is not evident at broad landscape levels. This conclusion contradicts persistent suggestions of Australian-wide land management and the pervasiveness of the impacts of 'fire-stick farming'. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/68903
Appears in Collections: 过去全球变化的重建
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作者单位: Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South WalesNSW, Australia; School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South WalesNSW, Australia; Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, United States
Recommended Citation:
Williams A.N.,Mooney S.D.,Sisson S.A.,et al. Exploring the relationship between Aboriginal population indices and fire in Australia over the last 20,000years[J]. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,2015-01-01,432