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. 2016 Jun 5;371(1696):20150167.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0167.

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Mark Hardiman  1 , Andrew C Scott  2 , Nicholas Pinter  3 , R Scott Anderson  4 , Ana Ejarque  5 , Alice Carter-Champion  6 , Richard A Staff  7
Affiliations

Fire history on the California Channel Islands spanning human arrival in the Americas

Mark Hardiman et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested that the first arrival of humans in the Americas during the end of the last Ice Age is associated with marked anthropogenic influences on landscape; in particular, with the use of fire which, would have given even small populations the ability to have broad impacts on the landscape. Understanding the impact of these early people is complicated by the dramatic changes in climate occurring with the shift from glacial to interglacial conditions. Despite these difficulties, we here attempt to test the extent of anthropogenic influence using the California Channel Islands as a smaller, landscape-scale test bed. These islands are famous for the discovery of the 'Arlington Springs Man', which are some of the earliest human remains in the Americas. A unifying sedimentary charcoal record is presented from Arlington Canyon, Santa Rosa Island, based on over 20 detailed sedimentary sections from eight key localities. Radiocarbon dating was based on thin, fragile, long fragments of charcoal in order to avoid the 'inbuilt' age problem. Radiocarbon dating of 49 such fragments has allowed inferences regarding the fire and landscape history of the Canyon ca 19-11 ka BP. A significant period of charcoal deposition is identified approximately 14-12.5 ka BP and bears remarkable closeness to an estimated age range of the first human arrival on the islands.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

Keywords: Arlington springs man; charcoal; fire; landscape history; radiocarbon dating.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map of the California Channel Islands, including (a) the position of the Islands in relation to mainland USA, (b) the position of the islands in relation to the US West Coast, (c) the Northern Channel Islands including an outline of the Santa Rosae palaeocoastline at ca 16 ka BP [72], and (d) Santa Rosa Island, including key archaeological sites and the position of Arlington Canyon. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The Arlington Canyon sedimentary sequences described and dated within this study, including the sedimentary characteristics, location of visible charcoal fragments and the dating sample points (see the electronic supplementary material, table S2 for precise grid reference for each site). Note depths given are measured from the ground (0 m) up and do not represent comparable elevations between localities. (Online version in colour.)
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Calibrated age ranges from all charcoal radiocarbon dates from our research, dates of M. exilis [87,88,121], and dates from archaeological sites from the northern California Channel Islands [,–81]. All dates based on charcoal are in dark grey. All ages have been calibrated with IntCal13 (age ranges in purple, green or dark grey) or Marine13 with a local marine reservoir correction applied (samples in blue) where appropriate [76]. Archaeological sites Daisy Cave, 512 W, SRI-706, SMI-679SE and SMI-678 are presented within sequence models [77]. Also shown in red is the estimate of the first human appearance date on Santa Rosae. All ages are given at 95.4% confidence limits; see the Material and methods section for more information. (Online version in colour.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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