Developing High-Resolution Theoretically-Informed Geoarchaeology
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-10-12

Developing High-Resolution Theoretically-Informed Geoarchaeology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Changing Human-Fire Relations in Early Agricultural Environments and Communities

The aim in this paper is to evaluate ways in which high-resolution theoretically-informed approaches can be applied in analysis of multi-scalar geoarchaeological data sets to explore the interconnectedness between environment and human ecology, technology and social roles and relations. As a case-study, this paper examines theories and approaches in investigation of the inter-relationships between fire ecology, fuel-selection, and the socio-economic context and specific uses of fire. Theories and approaches are drawn from ecology, anthropology, material studies and archaeology. The analytical techniques reviewed and applied include micro-charcoal analyses, micromorphology, biomolecular analyses by GC-MS and FTIR. The geoarchaeological data sets examined are drawn from landscapes and built environments that inform on one of the most significant step-changes in human lifeways and interrelations with environment and other species – the transition from mobile hunting-gathering to more sedentary agriculture in a key heartland of change, the Zagros region of Iraq and Iran, c. 12,000-8,000 BP. In the review and case-studies multiple links are investigated between human fire-use and environment, ecology, energy use, technology, the built environment, health, social roles and relations, cultural practices and catastrophic events. From the selected examples presented, it is evident that a wide range of ecological and social theories and analytical techniques are applicable in geoarchaeology and can be combined to develop interdisciplinary enquiries that encourage analysis of the multifaceted, multi-scalar and inter-related aspects and human-environment inter-relations and in this case, the impacts of fire and thus bring us closer to robust consideration of alternate hypotheses and interpretations. The interdisciplinary analytical techniques reviewed enable identification of diverse fire-affected plant, dung, micro-artefactual and architectural materials, and high-resolution analysis of their precise associations and taphonomy, crucial to interpretation of the context, history and impact of fire and the specific linkages, couplings and interrelations between humans, environment and other species.

Wendy Matthews Department of Archaeology, School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, UK