Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on cultural resources and archaeology

Abstract

This state-of-knowledge review provides a synthesis of the effects of fire on cultural resources, which can be used by fire managers, cultural resource (CR) specialists, and archaeologists to more effectively manage wildland vegetation, fuels, and fire. The goal of the volume is twofold: (1) to provide cultural resource/archaeological professionals and policy makers with a primer on fuels, fire behavior, and fire effects to enable them to work more effectively with the fire management community to protect resources during fuels treatment and restoration projects and wildfire suppression activities; and (2) to provide fire and land management professionals and policy makers with a greater understanding of the value of cultural resource protection and the methods available to evaluate and mitigate risks to CR. The synthesis provides a conceptual fire effects framework for planning, managing, and modeling fire effects (chapter1) and a primer on fire and fuel processes and fire effects prediction modeling (chapter 2). A synthesis of the effects of fire on various cultural resource materials is provided for ceramics (chapter 3), lithics (chapter 4), rock art (chapter 5), historic-period artifacts/materials (chapter 6), and below-ground features (chapter 7). Chapter 8 discusses the importance of cultural landscapes to indigenous peoples and emphasizes the need to actively involve native people in the development of collaborative management plans. The use and practical implications of this synthesis are the subject of the final chapter (chapter 9).

Titles contained within Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on cultural resources and archaeology

• Effects of fire on cultural resources-Introduction [Chapter 1]
• Fire behavior and effects: Principles for archaeologists [Chapter 2]
• Fire effects on prehistoric ceramics [Chapter 3]
• Fire effects on flaked stone, ground stone, and other stone artifacts [Chapter 4]
• Fire effects on rock images and similar cultural resources [Chapter 5]
• Fire effects on materials of the historic period [Chapter 6]
• The effects of fire on subsurface archaeological materials [Chapter 7]
• Effects of fire on intangible cultural resources: Moving toward a landscape approach [Chapter 8]
• Implications of fire management on cultural resources [Chapter 9]

Keywords

cultural resources, heritage resources, archaeology, fire regime, fire environment, fuels management, fire management, fire planning, wildfire, prescribed fire, First-Order fire effects, Second-Order fire effects, Third-Order fire effects, Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER), fire severity, traditional cultural knowledge (TKE), cultural landscapes

Citation

Ryan, Kevin C.; Jones, Ann Trinkle; Koerner, Cassandra L.; Lee, Kristine M., tech. eds. 2012. Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on cultural resources and archaeology. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-42-vol. 3. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 224 p.