Use of fi re in managing national park landscape and fauna in the Netherlands, De Sallandse Heuvelrug. Photo by Jap Smits. A color version of this fi gure is available online. 

Context in source publication

Context 1

... stranded whale ” (Cooper 1946:105). Fire is used as part of a ritual in initiation ceremonies (DB 80) and ritual activities before hunting (DB 40, 210). Burning can play a role in as- serting rights, whether the hunting rights of a speci fi c family group (DB 94) or the rights of an indigenous community in the face of restrictions (DB 161). Fires also offer other at- tractions, including aesthetic pleasure and entertainment (e.g., DB 36; see also DB 159); the Kayapó of the Brazilian Amazon “ say the fi res produce beautiful effects in the night skies ” (Posey 1985:143). The products of fi re are also used to communicate with spiritual forces, including the burning of certain herbs to draw attention from god to the Mbuti Pygmy hunters from the Ituri Forest in Africa (DB 38; see also DB 210; this is classi fi ed as communication in the database). While social uses mostly involve smaller fi res, there are a few cases involving burning on a larger scale for purposes of de- fense (DB 63, 65), claiming ownership (DB 94), and communication (DB 185, 187). Burning is also carried out with more or less distant future bene fi ts in mind, most importantly, for clearing vegetation and resetting the vegetation succession to favor edible plants for people and game ( fi g. 3 b ; classi fi ed as improvement in the database). Figure 4 illustrates an example of this type of burning, although not from a traditional subsistence context: the burning of heathland in order to increase biodiversity in Dutch nature reserves. In addition to subsistence purposes, vegetation is burned (sometimes on a relatively large scale) in order to create a path, to clear a waterhole or campsite, to open up an area of water for fi shing or boats, and to get rid of poisonous animals (e.g., DB 51, 76, 124, 149). New plant growth lures ungulates from forests or even nature reserves (DB 96, 207) as well as improving visibility (DB 96). For example, according to Gould (1971), Nyatunyatjara hunters in Western Australia often burned areas of spinifex to which they would return immediately after it rained in order to hunt the game that was attracted to the fresh grass shoots (DB 84). The growth of a wide range of edible plants — from berry patches and fruit trees to seed bearers and grasses — was also stimulated by fi re (e.g., DB 9, 18, 23, 24, 60). The bene fi ts may be felt very soon after (e.g., that very night when camping in a snake-free area; DB 76) or in the longer term (after the fi rst rains, as in the case above, DB 84). In some cases, both long- and short-term returns were obtained; for example, Hart and Pilling ’ s (1961) description of Tiwi people hunting kangaroos highlights the abundant meat obtained, improved visibility, and generation of attractive forage. The products of fi re that are pertinent also vary ( fi g. 3 c ); for example, in addition to the wide use of heat and fl ames, smoke may be important in communication (DB 178), obtaining honey (DB 39), driving prey from a hiding place (DB 176), and light in way fi nding or attracting prey (DB 77, 126). People use fi re off-site in a broad range of vegetation types for diverse purposes (including subsistence, improvement, and social goals). For some types of vegetation, there is limited data, for example, for tundra or swamps (see fi g. 5). In general, the same activities are important in each vegetation type, although communication is more important in boreal forest and woodland than is generally the case. This includes areas in which the dominant vegetation is dif fi cult to set alight. In deciduous forest, burning was carried out on a relatively large scale with a range of objectives, including drives, managing oak trees, and making tracking easier (DB 20, 118, 110, 112). Leaves, humus, and undergrowth in woodlands as well as open areas were burned (DB 20, 118); in one case, the grass was ignited to drive game (DB 112); in another, this involved “ the woods all around being set on fi re ” (DB 110). There are no cases of deciduous vegetation being burned to open up vegetation and improve food for game, although the clearing of already utilized areas is mentioned (DB 13). Similarly, fi re is used off-site in tropical forest in activities ranging from clearing an area for walking and hunting, killing poisonous beasts, and stimulating the growth of fruit trees (DB 149 – 151) to fl ushing game (DB 157), although in one case the latter activity occurs after areas have been cleared already (DB 211). Off-site burning is rare in tundra, with the few cases involving smoke signals (e.g., DB 203). Both smaller- and larger- scale burning occurs in most biomes (except tundra), although larger-scale burning is rare in boreal habitats (see fi g. 6). Fire is used in a range of topographic contexts. For example, in a number of cases, fi re is used near a river or lake to clear vegetation (e.g., to make way for boats in swamp forest; DB 51, 55); to attract fi sh, fowl, or game; and occa- sionally to drive game into rivers (DB 132, 133). Taphonom- ical circumstances increase the chances that evidence is pre- served near these landscape features (see “ Discussion ” ). Burning clearly occurs on a range of scales, and fi res both small and large can be used in a variety of activities, although explicit quantitative or relative descriptions of the areas that are burned are scarce ( fi g. 7 a ). Fires are identi fi ed as small or large on the basis of the description (e.g., described as small or as involving burning a single tree or bush). More speci fi c examples suggest that a fi re drive may cover areas of several, 10, or 100 km 2 (DB 70, 112, 230). For example, fi re drives carried out by the Delaware of Pennsylvania took place over a circle with a diameter of a half to 2 miles (Lindestrom 1925, cited in Newcomb 1956). Burning on a large scale in a hunting context is not restricted to large game but is also applied to smaller targets, such as rodents or lizards (DB 90, 91, 180, 230). “ Hunters fi re a tract of mangul or kunarka , usually between 1 and 10 ha in extent, follow in behind the advancing fi re line to search the cleared area for signs of tracks to pursue to fresh burrows, and then use a specialized digging stick to probe for and excavate an occupied den ” (Bliege Bird et al. 2008:14797). This ...