A Study Of The Effects Of Fire On Archaeological Resources Phase I

Cultural resources refer to the physical evidence of human occupations that cultural resource specialists and archaeologists use to reconstruct the past. This includes the objects, location, and landscapes that play a significant role in the history or cultural traditions of a group of people. Cultural resources include artifacts of historical significance left by prehistoric aboriginal peoples. Archaeological constituents, the basic units of archaeological analysis, consist of artifacts and features. Artifacts include carved objects, pottery, and ceramics, flaked and ground stones, faunal and floral remains, glass, and metal. Features include earthen works, rock art, midden soils, and structured. Cultural resources are at risk of being damaged by wildfires as well as active natural resource management. In Canada and the United States, managers have legal requirements to protect cultural resources during fuels treatments, restoration activities, wildfire suppression, and post-fire rehabilitation. The successful implementation of prescribed burning and wildfire suppression in cultural resources sensitive areas requires integration of cultural resources and wildland fire science. Knowledge of the local archeology, artifact materials, site types, and context is essential to minimizing the negative impacts of all management activities. Likewise, understanding fuels, fire behavior, and heat transfer mechanisms is key to predicting, managing, and monitoring the effects of fire on cultural resources. This volume of the "Rainbow Series" synthesizes the relationships between fire and cultural resources. It presents the reader with the context of contemporary fire use and how these fire management tactics may affect prehistoric and historic cultural resources. It synthesizes the impacts of fire and fire management on various types of cultural resources and identifies management strategies to minimize negative impact on cultural resources.

Wildfire is one of many natural forces that has challenged humans for thousands of years. In just over the last one hundred years, methods to suppress and manage wildfire in the United States were formally developed. Wildfire prevention and suppression is necessary to the management of many natural and cultural resources. Cultural resources are nonrenewable resources that require consideration by those who manage wildland fire. Though there has been previous research conducted on the direct impact of fire to cultural resources, there is a dearth of information on how operational effects, such as fireline construction, impact cultural resources including archaeological sites. What limited information is available on the subject suggests that mechanical fireline construction and rehabilitation are no less of a threat to cultural resources than fire is. Working within the framework of experimental archaeology, I simulated an archaeological site using replica precontact artifacts and authentic historic materials. A fireline was mechanically constructed through the simulated site, a prescribed burn was conducted, and the fireline was mechanically rehabilitated. Data were gathered on the spatial displacement and physical impacts to experimental artifacts. The findings of this study reveal that mechanical fireline construction consistently displaces artifacts by several meters. Fireline rehabilitation also contributes to the displacement of artifacts. Both of these operational effects are no less directly threatening to cultural resources than fire is, and have irreversible impacts that severely inhibit the ability to interpret or recover an archaeological site. Physical impacts to artifacts in this study include breakage and staining from combustive residue. By quantifying the impacts of fireline construction and rehabilitation to the simulated archaeological site, this study provides a means for cultural resource specialists and wildland fire managers to make appropriate decisions towards the preservation of our Nation's heritage.

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.

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 and a primer on fire and fuel processes and fire effects prediction modeling. A synthesis of the effects of fire on various cultural resource materials is provided for ceramics, lithics, rock art, historic-period artifacts/materials (chapter 6), and below-ground features. The importance of cultural landscapes to indigenous peoples and emphasizes the need to actively involve native people in the development of collaborative management plans is also discussed. The use and practical implications of this synthesis are the subject of the final chapter.