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Journal Article

Holocene fire activity during low-natural flammability periods reveals scale-dependent cultural human-fire relationships in Europe

Authors
/persons/resource/edietze

Dietze,  Elisabeth
5.2 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, 5.0 Geoarchives, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Theuerkauf,  Martin
External Organizations;

Bloom,  Karolina
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/brau

Brauer,  A.
5.2 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, 5.0 Geoarchives, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Dörfler,  Walter
External Organizations;

Feeser,  Ingo
External Organizations;

Feurdean,  Angelica
External Organizations;

Gedminienė,  Laura
External Organizations;

Giesecke,  Thomas
External Organizations;

Jahns,  Susanne
External Organizations;

Karpińska-Kołaczek,  Monika
External Organizations;

Kołaczek,  Piotr
External Organizations;

Lamentowicz,  Mariusz
External Organizations;

Latałowa,  Małgorzata
External Organizations;

Marcisz,  Katarzyna
External Organizations;

Obremska,  Milena
External Organizations;

Pędziszewska,  Anna
External Organizations;

Poska,  Anneli
External Organizations;

Rehfeld,  Kira
External Organizations;

Stančikaitė,  Migle
External Organizations;

Stivrins,  Normunds
External Organizations;

Święta-Musznicka,  Joanna
External Organizations;

Szal,  Marta
External Organizations;

Vassiljev,  Jüri
External Organizations;

Veski,  Siim
External Organizations;

Wacnik,  Agnieszka
External Organizations;

Weisbrodt,  Dawid
External Organizations;

Wiethold,  Julian
External Organizations;

Vannière,  Boris
External Organizations;

Słowiński,  Michał
External Organizations;

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Fulltext (public)

3597891.pdf
(Postprint), 2MB

Supplementary Material (public)
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Citation

Dietze, E., Theuerkauf, M., Bloom, K., Brauer, A., Dörfler, W., Feeser, I., Feurdean, A., Gedminienė, L., Giesecke, T., Jahns, S., Karpińska-Kołaczek, M., Kołaczek, P., Lamentowicz, M., Latałowa, M., Marcisz, K., Obremska, M., Pędziszewska, A., Poska, A., Rehfeld, K., Stančikaitė, M., Stivrins, N., Święta-Musznicka, J., Szal, M., Vassiljev, J., Veski, S., Wacnik, A., Weisbrodt, D., Wiethold, J., Vannière, B., Słowiński, M. (2018): Holocene fire activity during low-natural flammability periods reveals scale-dependent cultural human-fire relationships in Europe. - Quaternary Science Reviews, 201, 44-56.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.10.005


Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_3597891
Abstract
Fire is a natural component of global biogeochemical cycles and closely related to changes in human land use. Whereas climate-fuel relationships seem to drive both global and subcontinental fire regimes, human-induced fires are prominent mainly on a local scale. Furthermore, the basic assumption that relates humans and fire regimes in terms of population densities, suggesting that few human-induced fires should occur in periods and areas of low population density, is currently debated. Here, we analyze human-fire relationships throughout the Holocene and discuss how and to what extent human-driven fires affected the landscape transformation in the Central European Lowlands (CEL). We present sedimentary charcoal composites on three spatial scales and compare them with climate model output and land cover reconstructions from pollen records. Our findings indicate that widespread natural fires only occurred during the early Holocene. Natural conditions (climate and vegetation) limited the extent of wildfires beginning 8500 cal. BP, and diverging subregional charcoal composites suggest that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers maintained a culturally diverse use of fire. Divergence in regional charcoal composites marks the spread of sedentary cultures in the western and eastern CEL. The intensification of human land use during the last millennium drove an increase in fire activity to early-Holocene levels across the CEL. Hence, humans have significantly affected natural fire regimes beyond the local scale – even in periods of low population densities – depending on diverse cultural land-use strategies. We find that humans have strongly affected land-cover- and biogeochemical cycles since Mesolithic times.