Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T23:49:01.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fire Ecology, Animal Populations and Man: a Study of some Ecological Relationships in Prehistory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

Paul Mellars
Paul Mellars
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, Sheffield University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The occurrence of fires in many types of woodland and forested environments would have benefited human populations in several different ways. In addition to greatly increasing the mobility of the human groups, the occurrence of fire in many types of forest would have led to substantial improvements in the economic potential of the environment. Improvements in both the quantity and nutritional quality of the food supplies available to herbivorous animals would have increased not only the total carrying capacity of the environment for these species, but also the relative growth-rates and reproductive rate of the animals. In certain cases it is likely that burning would have increased the overall ‘productivity’ of ungulate populations by a factor of × 10. Similar improvements may have been achieved in the yields of certain vegetable food resources. The potential impact of these environmental changes on the population numbers and settlement patterns of human communities is discussed, and it is suggested that the adoption of systematic policies of forest burning by hunting and gathering populations may have led in certain situations to the emergence of more complex patterns of man-animal relationships which were closely similar to those of traditional ‘herding’ or ‘pastoralist’ economies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 42 , December 1976 , pp. 15 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aldous, S. E. and Krefting, L. W., 1946. ‘The present status of moose on Isle Royale’, Trans. of the North American Wildlife Conference, 11, 296–308.Google Scholar
Bean, L. J. and Lawton, H. W., 1973. ‘Some explanations for the rise of cultural complexity in native California with comments on proto-agriculture and agriculture’, Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, 1, v–xlvii.Google Scholar
Behrend, D. F. and Patric, E. F., 1969. ‘Influence of site disturbance and removal of shade on regeneration of deer browse’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 33, 394–8.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R., 1968. ‘Post-Pleistocene adaptations’. In Binford, L. R. and Binford, S. R. (eds.), New Perspectives in Archaeology, Chicago, Aldine, 313–41.Google Scholar
Birdsell, J. B., 1968. ‘Some predictions for the Pleistocene based on equilibrium systems among recent hunter-gatherers’. In Lee, R. B. and DeVore, I. (eds.), Man the Hunter, Chicago, Aldine, 229–40.Google Scholar
Biswell, H. H., 1968. ‘Controlled burning to improve rangeland’. In Golley, F. B. and Buechner, H. K. (eds.), A Practical Guide to the Study of the Productivity of Large Herbivores, Oxford, Blackwell, 272–4.Google Scholar
Biswell, H. H., 1972. ‘Fire ecology in Ponderosa pine-grassland’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 12, 69–96.Google Scholar
Biswell, H. H., Taber, R. D., Hedrick, D. W. and Schultz, A. M., 1952. ‘Management of chamise brushlands for game in the north coast region of California’, California Fish and Game, 38, 453–84.Google Scholar
Bradley, R., 1972. ‘Prehistorians and pastoralists in Neolithic and Bronze Age England’, World Archaeology, 4, 192–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckley, J. L., 1958. ‘Effects of fire on Alaskan wildlife’, Procs. of the Society of American Foresters, 58, 123–6.Google Scholar
Clark, J. G. D., 1972. ‘Star Carr: a case study in bioarchaeology’, Addison-Wesley Modular Publications, 10, 1–42.Google Scholar
Cowan, I. McT., 1956. ‘Life and times of the coast black-tailed deer’. In Taylor, W. P. (ed.), The Deer of North America, Harrisburg, Stackpole, 523–617.Google Scholar
Cowan, I. McT., Hoar, W. S. and Hatter, J., 1950. ‘The effect of forest succession upon the quantity and upon the nutritive values of woody plants used as food by moose’, Canadian Journal of Research, 28, 249–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranstone, B. A. L., 1969. ‘Animal husbandry: the evidence from ethnography’. In Ucko, P. J. and Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, London, D ickworth, 247–63.Google Scholar
Cumming, J. A., 1969. ‘Prescribed burning on recreation areas in New Jersey: history, objectives, influences and technique’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 9, 251–69.Google Scholar
Darling, F. F. and Boyd, J. M., 1969. The Highlands and Islands, London, Collins.Google Scholar
Day, G. M., 1953. ‘The Indian as an ecological factor in the northeastern forest’, Ecology, 34, 329–46.Google Scholar
DeWitt, J. B., and Derby, J. V., 1955. ‘Changes in the nutritive value of browse plants following forest fires’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 19, 65–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dills, G. G., 1970. ‘Effects of prescribed burning on deer browse’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 34, 540–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimbleby, G. W., 1957. Plants and Archaeology. London, Baker.Google Scholar
Dimbleby, G. W., 1961. ‘The ancient forest of Blackamore’, Antiquity, 35, 123–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dimbleby, G. W., 1962. The Development of British Heathlands and their Soils, Oxford, University Press.Google Scholar
Dimbleby, G. W., 1963. ‘Pollen analysis of a Mesolithic site at Addington, Kent’, Grana Palynologica, 4, 140–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowling, J. H., 1968. ‘Individual ownership and the sharing of game in hunting societies’, American Anthropologist, 70, 502–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, H. E., 1969. Indians of North America, Chicago and London, Chicago University Press (2nd edition).Google Scholar
Einarsen, A. S., 1946. ‘Crude protein determination as an applied management technique’, Trans. of the North American Wildlife Conference, 11, 309–12.Google Scholar
Fleming, A. M., 1971. ‘Territorial patterns in Bronze Age Wessex’, PPS, 37 (1), 138–66.Google Scholar
Flook, D. R., 1964. ‘Range relationships of some ungulates native to Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta’. In Crisp, D. J. (ed.), Grazing in Terrestrial and Marine Environments, Oxford, Blackwell, 119–28.Google Scholar
Forde, C. D., 1934. Habitat, Economy and Society, London, Methuen.Google Scholar
Gates, B. R., 1968. Deer Food Production in certain Serai Stages of the Coast Forest. M.Sc. thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Givens, L. S., 1962. ‘Use of fire on southeastern wildlife refuges’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 1, 121–6.Google Scholar
Gould, R. A., 1971. ‘Uses and effects of fire among the western desert Aborigines of Australia’, Mankind, 8, 14–24.Google Scholar
Hayden, B., 1972. ‘Population control among hunter/gatherers’, World Archaeology, 4, 205–21.Google Scholar
Hendricks, J. H., 1968. ‘Control burning for deer management in chaparral in California’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 8, 219–33.Google Scholar
Holsworth, W. N., 1973. ‘Hunting efficiency and white-tailed deer density’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 37, 336–42.Google Scholar
Hosley, N. W., 1956. ‘Management of the white-tailed deer in its environment’. In Taylor, W. P. (ed.), The Deer of North America, Harrisburg, Stackpole, 187–259.Google Scholar
Ingold, T., 1974. ‘On reindeer and men’, Man, 9, 523–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, L. L., 1975. ‘Deer-moose relationships on a burn in northeastern Minnesota’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 39, 653–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarman, M. R., 1972. ‘European deer economies and the advent of the Neolithic’. In Higgs, E. S. (ed.), Papers in Economic Prehistory, Cambridge, University Press, 125–47.Google Scholar
Jarman, M. R. and Wilkinson, P. F., 1972. ‘Criteria of animal domestication’. In Higgs, E. S. (ed.), Papers in Economic Prehistory, Cambridge, University Press, 83–96.Google Scholar
Jones, R., 1968. ‘The geographical background to the arrival of Man in Australia and Tasmania’, Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania, 3, 186–215.Google Scholar
Jones, R., 1969. ‘Fire-stick farming’, Australian Natural History, September 1969, 224–8.Google Scholar
Keef, P. A. M., Wymer, J. J. and Dimbleby, G. W., 1965. ‘A Mesolithic site on Iping Common, Sussex, England’, PPS, 31, 85–92.Google Scholar
Klein, D. R., 1970. ‘Food selection by North American deer and their response to over-utilization of preferred plant species’. In Watson, A. (ed.), Animal Populations in Relation to their Food Resources, Oxford, Blackwell, 25–46.Google Scholar
Lay, D. W., 1957. ‘Browse quality and the effects of burning in southern pine forests’, Journal of Forestry, 55, 342–7.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B., 1968. ‘What hunters do for a living, or how to make out on scarce resources’. In Lee, R. B. and DeVore, I. (eds.), Man the Hunter, Chicago, Aldine, 30–48.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B., 1969. ‘Kung Bushman subsistence: an input-output analysis’. In Damas, D. (ed.), Ecological Essays, Ottawa, National Museums of Canada (Bulletin 230), 73–94.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B. and DeVore, I., 1968. Man the Hunter, Chicago, Aldine.Google Scholar
Leege, T. A., 1968. ‘Prescribed burning for elk in northern Idaho’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 8, 235–53.Google Scholar
Leege, T. A. and Fultz, M. C., 1972. ‘Aerial ignition of Idaho elk ranges’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 36, 1332–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leege, T. A. and Hickey, W. O., 1971. ‘Sprouting of northern Idaho shrubs after prescribed burning’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 35, 508–15.Google Scholar
Lewis, H. T., 1973. ‘Patterns of Indian burning in California: ecology and ethnohistory’, Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, 1, 1–101.Google Scholar
Longhurst, W. M., 1961. ‘Big-game and rodent relationships to forests and grasslands in North America’, La Terre et la Vie, 1961, 305–19.Google Scholar
Lowe, V. P. W., 1971. ‘Some effects of a change in estate management on a deer population’. In Duffey, E. and Watts, A. S. (eds.), The Scientific Management of Animal and Plant Communities, Oxford, Blackwell, 437–56.Google Scholar
Lyon, J. L., 1969. ‘Wildlife habitat research and fire in the northern Rockies’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 9, 213–27.Google Scholar
McCulloch, C. Y., 1955. ‘Utilization of winter browse on wilderness big game range’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 19, 206–15.Google Scholar
McCulloch, C. Y., 1969. ‘Some effects of wildlife on deer habitat in pinyon-juniper woodland’, Journal of Wildlife Management, 33, 778–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellars, P. A., 1975. ‘Ungulate populations, economic patterns and the Mesolithic landscape’. In Evans, J. G., Limbrey, S. and Cleere, H. (eds.), The Effect of Man on the Landscape: the Highland Zone, London, Council for British Archaeology (Research Report No. 11), 49–56.Google Scholar
Mellars, P. A., 1976. ‘Settlement patterns and industrial variability in the British Mesolithic’. In Longworth, I. H. and de G. Sieveking, G. (eds.), Problems in Social and Economic Archaeology, London, Duckworth (in press).Google Scholar
Miller, H. A., 1963. ‘Use of fire in wildlife management’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 2, 19–30.Google Scholar
Netting, R. McC., 1971. ‘The ecological approach in cultural study’, Addison-Wesley Modular Publications, 6, 1–30.Google Scholar
Odum, E. P., 1971. Fundamentals of Ecology, London, Saunders (3rd edition).Google Scholar
Petrides, G. A., 1961. ‘The management of wild hoofed animals in the United States in relation to land use’ La Terre et la Vie, 1961, 181–202.Google Scholar
Pienaar, U. de V., 1968. ‘The use of fire as a tool in wildlife management in the Kruger National Park’. In Golley, F. B. and Buechner, H. K. (eds.), A Practical Guide to the Study of the Productivity of Large Herbivores Oxford, Blackwell, 274–80.Google Scholar
Pimlott, D. H., 1961. ‘The ecology and management of moose in North America’, La Terre et la Vie 1961, 246–65.Google Scholar
Rankine, W. F., Rankine, W. M. and Dimbleby, G. W., 1960. ‘Further excavations at a Mesolithic site at Oakhanger, Selborne, Hants’, PPS, 26, 246–62.Google Scholar
Ribinski, R. F., 1968. ‘Effects of forest fires on quantity and quality of deer browse production in mixed oak forests of central Pennsylvania’, Quarterly Report of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, 30 (5), 13–15.Google Scholar
Severinghaus, C. W. and Cheatum, E. L., 1956. ‘Life and times of the White-tailed deer’. In Taylor, W. P. (ed.), The Deer of North America, Harrisburg, Stackpole, 57–186.Google Scholar
Simmons, I. G., 1969. ‘Evidence for vegetation changes associated with Mesolithic man in Britain’. In Ucko, P. J. and Dimbleby, G. W. (eds.), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, London, Duckworth, 113–9.Google Scholar
Simmons, I. G. and Dimbleby, G. W., 1974. ‘The possible role of ivy (Hedera helix L.) in the Mesolithic economy of western Europe’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 1, 291–6.Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., 1970. ‘The influence of Mesolithic and Neolithic man on British vegetation: a discussion’. In Walker, D. and West, R. G. (eds.), Studies in the Vegetational History of the British Isles, Cambridge, University Press, 81–96.Google Scholar
Smith, N. F., 1947. ‘Controlled burning in Michigan's forest and game management programs’, Procs. of the Society of American Foresters, 1947, 200–5.Google Scholar
Smith, V. L., 1975. ‘The primitive hunter culture, Pleistocene extinction, and the rise of agriculture’, Journal of Political Economy, 83, 727–55.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. L. and Chatelain, E. F., 1953. ‘Progress in the management of moose of south central Alaska’, Trans. of the North American Wildlife Conference, 18, 539–52.Google Scholar
Spencer, D. L. and Hakala, J. B., 1964. ‘Moose and fire on the Kenai’, Procs. of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 3, 11–33.Google Scholar
Stewart, O. C., 1956. ‘Fire as the first great force employed by Man’. In Thomas, W. L. (ed.), Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, Chicago, Aldine, 115–33.Google Scholar
Swank, W. G., 1956. ‘Protein and phosphorus content of browse as an influence on southwestern deer herd levels’, Trans, of the North American Wildlife Conference, 21, 141–58.Google Scholar
Taber, R. D., 1961. ‘The black-tailed deer: a review of ecology and management’, La Terre et la Vie, 1961, 221–45.Google Scholar
Taber, R. D., 1963. ‘Land use and native cervid populations in America north of Mexico’, Trans. of the International Union of Game Biologists, 6, 201–25.Google Scholar
Taber, R. D. and Dasmann, R. F., 1957. ‘The dynamics of three natural populations of the deer Odocoileus hemionus columbianus’, Ecology, 38, 233–46.Google Scholar
Taber, R. D. and Murphy, J. L., 1971. ‘Controlled fire in the management of North American deer’. In Duffey, E. and Watts, A. S. (eds.), The Scientific Management of Animal and Plant Communities, Oxford, Blackwell, 425–35.Google Scholar
Tansley, A. G., 1968. Britain's Green Mantle, London, Allen and Unwin (2nd edition).Google Scholar
Taylor, W. P., 1961. ‘The white-tailed deer of North America’, La Terre et la Vie, 1961, 203–20.Google Scholar
Thompson, D. Q. and Smith, R. H., 1970. ‘The forest primeval in the north-east—a great myth?’, Proceedings of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, 10, 255–65.Google Scholar
Watson, W. J., 1925. ‘Deer and boar in Gaelic literature’. In Ross, J. (ed.). The Book of the Red Deer, London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 75–100.Google Scholar
Woodburn, J., 1968. ‘An introduction to Hadza ecology’. In Lee, R. B. and DeVore, I. (eds.), Man the Hunter Chicago, Aldine, 49–55.Google Scholar