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Late Quaternary Stratigraphic Charcoal Records from Madagascar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David A. Burney
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Abstract

The classic view regarding the cause of the extinction of at least 17 species of large mammals, birds, and reptiles in Madagascar during the late Holocene implicates human use of fire to modify the environment. However, analysis of the charcoal stratigraphy of three sediment cores from Madagascar shows that late Pleistocene and early- to mid-Holocene sediments deposited prior to human settlement often contain more charcoal than postsettlement and modern sediments. This observation, which is confirmed by independent measurements from direct assay and palynological counting techniques, suggests that widely held but previously untested beliefs concerning the importance of anthropogenic fires in late Holocene environmental changes and megafaunal extinctions of Madagascar may be based on an overly simplified version of actual prehistoric conditions. Moderate to low charcoal values characterized only the late Holocene millennia immediately prior to the presumed time of arrival of the first settlers. Human settlement is probably indicated in the stratigraphy by the sharp rise in charcoal content observed beginning ca. 1500 yr B.P. Fire appears to be a significant natural component of prehuman environments in Madagascar, but some factor, probably climate, has modulated the extent of natural burning.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , September 1987 , pp. 274 - 280
Copyright
University of Washington

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