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Prehistoric Human Use of Fire, the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and Appalachian Oak-Chestnut Forests: Paleoecology of Cliff Palace Pond, Kentucky

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul A. Delcourt ,
Hazel R. Delcourt ,
Cecil R. Ison ,
William E. Sharp  and
Kristen J. Gremillion
Paul A. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996
Hazel R. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996
Cecil R. Ison
Affiliation:
Daniel Boone National Forest, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1700 Bypass Road, Winchester, KY 40391
William E. Sharp
Affiliation:
Daniel Boone National Forest, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3010 River Circle, Richmond, KY 40475
Kristen J. Gremillion
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, 245 Lord Hall, 124 West 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210
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Abstract

Fossil pollen assemblages from Cliff Palace Pond, Kentucky, characterize changes in forest composition through the past 9,500 years of the Holocene. Early-Holocene spruce and northern white cedar stands were replaced by mixed mesophytic forests after 7300 B.P. Hemlock declined around 4800 B.P., and eastern red cedar became locally important. After 3000 B.P, mixed oak-chestnut and pine forests were dominant. The fossil charcoal record from Cliff Palace Pond demonstrates that Late Archaic and Woodland peoples cleared forest gaps to cultivate native plants in the Eastern Agricultural Complex and that anthropogenic fires served to increase populations of fire-tolerant oaks, chestnut, and pines in upland forests of the northern Cumberland Plateau.

Résumé

Résumé

Los conjuntos de polen fosilífero de Cliff Palace Pond, Kentucky, caracterizan los cambios en la compositión del bosque en los últimos 9,500 años del Holoceno. Los grupos de abetos rojos y cedros blancos norteños del Holoceno Temprano mexofiticos por fueron reemplazalos bosques mezclados después del año 7300 a.P. Después de quel abeto americano decayó en 4800 a.P. el cedro rojo oriental se volvió más importante en la región. Después de 3000 a.P. los bosques de castaño, roble, y pino fueron dominantes. La relation del carbón fosilifero de madera de Cliff Palace Pond demuestra que la gente “Woodland“ y Arcaica más reciente cortaron partes del bosque para cultivar plantas indígenas en el Complejo Agrícola Oriental y los fuegos antropogénicos sirvieron para aumentar la población de robles, castaños y pinos resistentes alfuego en los bosques elevados de la meseta norteña Cumberland.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 1998 , pp. 263 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1998

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