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The shapes of adaptation: Historical ecology of anthropogenic landscapes in the southeastern United States

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Abstract

Native inhabitants of the Southeastern United States traditionally practiced land management strategies, including burning and clearing, that created ‘anthropogenic landscapes’. From the viewpoint of landscape ecology, analysis of historic documents including drawings and deerskin maps from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries depicted the Native Southeastern landscape as a series of circular patches surrounded by buffer areas. This character contrasted sharply with early European coastal settlements which were more typically rectangular in shape. Differences between Native American and European land use patterns and implied perceptions of the landscape reflect distinct differences in their respective cultural models and intentionality.
Landscape Ecology vol.
7
no.
2
pp
121-135
(1992)
SPB
Academic Publishing bv, The Hague
The shapes
of
adaptation: Historical ecology
of
anthropogenic landscapes
in the Southeastern United States
Julia E. Hammett
Research Laboratories
of
Anthropology, University
of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
Keywords: historical ecology, Native North Americans, anthropogenic landscapes, corridors, patches
Native inhabitants
of
the Southeastern United States traditionally practiced land management strategies, in
-
cluding burning and clearing, that created ‘anthropogenic landscapes
’.
From the viewpoint
of
landscape ecol
-
ogy, analysis
of
historic documents including drawings and deerskin maps from the sixteenth, seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries depicted the Native Southeastern landscape as a series
of
circularpatches surrounded
by buffer areas. This character contrasted sharply with early European coastal settlements which were more
typically rectangular in shape. Differences between Native American and European land use patterns and
implied perceptions
of
the landscape reflect distinct differences in their respective cultural models and inten
-
tionality.
1.
Introduction
Ecologists have noted the importance of historic
environmental events in terms
of
their effects on
subsequent disturbance regimes (e.g. White 1979;
Romme 1982; Pickett and White 1985). Historical
ecology has
a
long tradition in Europe (c.f. Bloch
1953; Harris 1961; Roberts 1987) and this field of
study has been explored to a lesser extent in the New
World as well (i.e. Sauer 1927; Burcham 1957;
Lewis 1973, 1977; Lewis and Ferguson 1988). In
this paper, historical documents are used to study
spatial aspects of regional vegetation dynamics in
the Southeastern United States during the early
period of European contact. Various recent theo
-
retical constructs related to landscape structure and
function, and disturbance and patch dynamics, are
utilized to shed new light on these historical data.
2.
A
description
of
the documents
The primary data sources for this work are maps,
drawings and historical accounts dating from 1540
to the 1770s, which pertain to the region surround
-
ing the early European colonies in the Carolinas
and Virginia. The most common forms of docu
-
mentation that have survived from those years are
the journals and reports written by early explorers
and settlers. Within this large volume of written
documents, one can occasionally find the descrip
-
tions of the expert observer or naturalist, although
such useful material is relatively rare. By the 1700s
when surveyors were commissioned to explore in
-
terior areas of the Carolinas, they were instructed
merely to report anything found that was new, nov
-
el or unlike what had already been seen in other
lo
-
calities (Hulton 1984). Where relevant, quotations
from these early writers are drawn into the discus
-
sion
to
lend support and clarification to the recon
-
struction of landscape and land use that is being
presented here.
129
groups such as Powhatan’s Confederation along
the Chesapeake. Based
on
a model of faunal assem
-
blage age distributions he hypothesizes that begin
-
ning in the Middle Mississippian Period (ca. A.D.
1200 to 1400) the larger chieftainships of the Mid
-
west also may have used communal drives
(Waselkov 1978:
23).
Waselkov (1978: 24
-
25)
postulates that the distribution and frequency of
such drives would have been much lower in aborigi
-
nal times for the Carolina and Virginia Piedmont
area, although he notes dissention in the literature
regarding this point of view.
Waselkov’s model regarding prehistoric strate
-
gies is still hypothetical due to the nature of his evi
-
dence. Our best early documentation with descrip
-
tive details of Indian practices comes from the
Jamestown settlement near the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay. The first known accounts
of
management and hunting techniques employed in
the interior Piedmont area of Virginia and North
Carolina were recorded a hundred years later. We
have
no
direct evidence of the presence
or
absence
of fire drives earlier in the Piedmont. Where there
are good descriptions along the coast, there are
usually good accounts
of
individual stalking
methods, as well. Also, Waselkov (1978: 23) men
-
tions that deer of the eastern woodlands tend to
‘yard, or congregate in very restricted locales in the
north, but not in the south,’ thus indicating that
ethology and non
-
anthropogenic landscape fea
-
tures may also factor into hunting and managing
strategies. These observations do not discount
Waselkov’s hypothesis, but it remains to be sub
-
stantiated by significantly reliable ethnohistorical
or archaeological data. Waselkov’s provocative
model, nevertheless, illuminates the difficulties in
-
herent in reconstructing prehistoric landscape pat
-
terns.
In
general, more reliable and detailed charac
-
terizations
of
native landscapes are imbedded in
historical descriptions rather than archaeological
data.
4.2.
Prescribed burning
Prescribed burning is a technique for clearing areas
and enhancing certain resources. This type of prac
-
tice has been associated with the ‘park
-
like’ setting
described by
so
many early European explorers
(Day 1953; Guffey 1977). Guffey has suggested that
the ‘deserts’ referred to by Bartram (1958) and
John Smith (Arber 1910)
on
the coastal plain may
have been maintained by burning, however, this re
-
mains to be demonstrated. It is also possible that
these areas were subject to occasional natural wild
-
fires, which could have had far reaching effects
if
left unchecked during a dry season. Even today
with large scale fire control programs, thousands
of
acres are burned periodically despite human at
-
tempts at intervention.
Prescribed burning apparently often occurred in
conjunction with communal hunts when large
groups gathered. At this time the participants
benefitted from greater numbers
of
people for both
hunting and clearing activities. The specific land
-
scape effect from burning is dependent upon a ser
-
ies of factors related to frequency, periodicity, and
scale of burning, available fuel load, and weather
conditions (Pyne 1984).
In
general, however, over
the period of years that
a
given group might hunt
in one general area, the consequence of small to
moderate sized fire ring drives and other prescribed
burning techniques would be a reduction in the
chance of a catastrophic fire and an increase in
landscape heterogeneity, through the
tessellation
of
the surrounding matrix. The resulting patchwork
would be a
heterogeneous mosaic
of small patches
or associations at various successional levels.
Resource managers now realize that this mosaic
of
patches
of
varying ages provides several additional
advantages to many game animals that prefer to in
-
habit edge areas between varying types of patches
(i.e.
Ribinski 1968; Taber and Murphy 1971; Mel
-
lars 1976). Here can be found
a
marked increase in
the diversity and quality of available resources.
The use
of
fire for wildlife management by Na
-
tive Americans has been documented
in
many parts
of North America
(Le.
Lewis 1973, 1977; Russell
1983; Lewis and Ferguson
1988).
We can safely as
-
sume that Native Americans who lived in the
Southeast were aware that the indirect effect of
their burning was to increase productivity of the
land in terms of many plant crops and forage for
game. This is based not
only
on observations
made
by
plant
and
animal
ecologists regarding
numerous
short
term
responses
of
these organisms
to
fire
(Mellars
1975;
Hammett 1986)
but
also
interviews
with native informants who
practice
or
remember
practicing
similar
techniques
in
the
Subarctic
(Lewis 1977;
Lewis
and
Ferguson 1988)
and
Austra
-
lia
(Jones 1969).
In
New
England, there
are
good
early
descrip
-
tions
from
early
Euroamerican
settlers
for
the
use
of
fire
to stimulate vegetation.
In
about
1655,
Adri
-
aen
Van
der
Donck
of
New
Netherlands
wrote that:
The Indians have a yearly custom of burning the
woods, plains and meadows in the fall of the year,
when the leaves have fallen, and when the grass and
vegetable substances are dry
.
.
.
Those places which
are then passed over are fired in the spring in April.
This is done
. .
.
to render hunting easier (for stalking),
to thin out woods of all dead substances and grass,
which grow better in ensuing spring
. .
.
to circum
-
scribe and enclose game
.
.
.
and because game is more
easily tracked over burned parts of the woods (Van der
Donck 1846: 20
-
21).
In
Massachusetts,
Thomas
Morton (1632) found
that ‘The
Salvages
. .
.
burne
it (the woods) twize
a
yeare,
viz:
at
the
Spring
and
the fall of the
Leafe.’
It
appears
that
the
practice
of
prescribed
burning
extended
to
the
study
area
as
well.
In
1709
Lawson
noted
for
Carolinas that:
When these Savages go
a
hunting, they commonly go
out in great Numbers, and oftentimes a great many
Days Journey from home, beginning at the coming in
of the Winter, that is when the Leaves are fallen from
the Trees, and are become Any. ’Tis then they burn the
Woods, by setting Fire to the Leaves, and Wither’d
Bent and Cross, which they do with a Match made of
the black
Moss
that hangs on the Trees in Carolina,
and is sometimes above six Foot Long. In Places,
where this Moss is not found, (as towards the Moun
-
tains) they make Lintels of the Bark of Cypress beatn,
which serves as well (Lefler 1967: 215).
William
Byrd
described
the
same
practice
in
early
November
of
1728
in
the
area
of
northern
North
Carolina
and
southern
Virginia
(Wright 1966).
4.3.
A
gricu ltural clearing
On
April
28,
1607,
George Percy,
one
of
the James
-
town
settlers, entered
these
notes
in
his
log:
We marched to those smoakes and found that the
Savages had beene there burning downe grasse, as we
thought either to make their plantation there, or else to
give signes to bring their forces together, and
so
to give
us
battell (Percy 1907: 10
-
11; Arber 1910: lxii
-
lxiii).
Other early coastal
Virginia
settlers
described
this
method
of
clearing trees:
The greatest labour they take, is in planting their corn,
for the country naturally is overgrowne with wood. To
prepare the ground they bruise the bark of the trees
neare the roote, then do they scortch the roots with fire
that grow no more
.
. .
The next yeare with a crooked
peece
of
wood, they beat up the woodes by the rootes,
and in that moulds they plant their corne (Stratchey
1849: 116; Arber 1910: 61).
William
Byrd’s
Natural History
of
Virginia,
first
published
in
1737,
provides
a
description
of
how
‘one
may
clean
and
clear
the
land
(of coastal Vir
-
ginia) very easily
and
conveniently’ by
the
tech
-
nique
used
by
the
Indians:
when the trees are full
of
sap, and skin about three or
four feet
of
bark from the trunks, which causes them
to dry up,
so
the foliage falls down. This no sooner
happens than they begin at once to work the soil and
to sow it with grain, or whatever they wish, which soon
spring forth and produces manifold fruit. When the
afrementioned trees have become quite withered by the
removal
of
the bark, they then go and cut
a
broad strip
from the nearest green trees, which are standing there,
[to
a
point] as far as they wish to clear, in order to pre
-
vent the whole forest from burning. They then set fire
to the dry trees, which burn immediately. Thus in a
short time
a
very large section
of
land can be cleared
and made neatly available for planting, [a practice]
which saves the planters very much trouble and ex
-
pense
.
. .
(Byrd 1940: 92
-
93).
In
this coastal
area,
burning
was the
most
impor-
131
tant tool used to initiate and maintain an
anthropo-
genic landscape. In 1608, Captain John Smith im
-
plied that those areas not along trails or in cleared
(anthropogenic) areas were lesser known by coastal
Virginia Indians. When he asked an informant
‘what was beyond the mountaines, he answered the
sunne but of any thing els he knew nothing; because
the woods were not burnt’ (Arber 1910: 427).
4.4.
Transplanting
There is some evidence for the planting and trans
-
planting of one holly evergreen shrub known by the
Indian name of yaupon
(Ilex
vomitoria).
A sacred
beverage known as the ‘black drink’ was made
from the leaves of this shrub. Yaupon is more suit
-
ed to maritime and coastal plain environments,
although it has been documented as far into the in
-
terior as Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Ken
-
tucky (Merrill 1979). There is, however, some evi
-
dence that it was transplanted to settlements in the
Piedmont and the Appalachian highlands that were
out of its normal range (Merrill 1979; Fairbanks
1979).
According to James Adair, yaupon grew along
the seacoast of the two Carolinas, Georgia and
Florida: ‘The Indians transplant, and are extremely
fond of it
. . .
(Adair 1775: 128). In the vale of the
Cherokee town of Jore, naturalist William Bartram
saw ‘a little grove’ of yaupon, which was the only
place in the Cherokee country that he had seen it
grow. According to him, ‘the Indians call it the be
-
loved tree, and are very careful to keep it pruned
and cultivated’ (Bartram 1973: 357).
The transplanting of yaupon is the only well
documented example
of
Native Southeasterners
utilizing this technique to modify the character of
their landscape. It is probable that transplanting
was more widespread than the evidence has indicat
-
ed, due to the minimal amount of time necessary to
transplant shrubs and the unlikelihood that early
European explorers would have witnessed these
events. Nevertheless, compared to burning and
clearing strategies described above, the impact of
transplanting was extremely limited and localized.
Given that such a variety of factors contribute to
the resultant landscape, it is rather problematic to
characterize specific landscapes in great detail, un
-
less where and when exceptional records allow.
Fortunately it is possible to derive
a
basic landscape
depiction at the regional spatial scale for the time
of
European invasion into the Southeast. Given that
the combination of structural and processual ingre
-
dients highlighted above contribute to and con
-
strain elements and features of the landscape, both
locally and regionally, a modest but accurate land
-
scape model for the Native Southeast is feasible.
5.
The native landscape
of
the southeastern
woodlands
With the visual and textual information presented
it now is possible to generate
a
dynamic portrait of
the Native Southeastern landscape. Returning to
the primary residences of these coastal Indian
groups (Fig.
4),
we can detect
a
similar exploitation
pattern based
on
a
wide breadth of available
resources. The coast provided the added resources
of
the sea to all their terrestrial resources. Most
major inland residences were also located near run
-
ning water, and archaeological evidence indicates
that this had been the pattern of occupation in the
Southeast for at least the last
5000
years (Smith
1987).
The general features of the habitation sites (Fig.
4)
were wooden structures, various activity areas
and small gardens plots. The latter quite likely
served a function similar to ‘door
-
yard’ gardens or
‘home gardens’ found today throughout much of
Latin America
(Le.
Kimber 1973; Chavero y Roces
1988), in Oceania (Barrau
1954),
and Southeast
Asia (Anderson 1979), and ‘kitchen gardens’ found
in the Caribbean (Brierly 1976). Adjacent to the
residence areas were fields, sometimes spreading
away from the central area, like spokes in a wheel.
Other areas were left open, and we have reasonably
good evidence that these are old fields laying fal
-
low. In these open areas perennial crops such as
berries, fruit and nut trees, and several economical
-
ly valuable ‘weeds’ typically thrived (Bartram
1973).
Back from the central village or town site and ac-
132
companying fields and gardens, was typically a
wooded area. This open area, often described as a
parkland, was an extremely valuable combination
orchard/hunting park/wood lot, supplying the
lo
-
cal inhabitants with much of their basic needs. To
obtain a better picture of these parklands, a few
quotes from early explorers are useful.
In the year 1540, De Soto’s men explored La
Florida (the Southeastern
U.S.)
in search of gold,
silver and whatever other ‘riches’ this newly disco
-
vered land might afford. In the province of
Cofitachequi, probably near present day Camden,
South Carolina (Hudson
et
al.
1985: 724), De
So-
to’s men:
journeyed a full league in garden
-
like lands where there
were many trees, both those which bore fruit and
others; and among these trees one could travel on
horseback without any difficulty for they were
so
far
apart that they appeared to have been planted by hand.
During the whole
. . .
league (they) spread out gather
-
ing the fruit and noting the fertility of the
soil.
In this
way they came to Talomeco, a town of five hundred
houses situated on an eminence overlooking a gorge of
the river (Vega 1951: 314).
Fifty years later, in southern coastal Virginia near
Jamestown, an area which had a relatively dense In
-
dian population, early English found ‘by chance’
upon walking into the woods:
a pathway like an Irish Pace: We traced along some
foure miles, all the way as wee went, having the
pleasantest Suckels, the ground all flowing over with
faire flowers
of
sundry coloured and kinds, as though
it had been in any Garden or orchard in England.
There be many strawberries, and other fruits
unknowne. Wee saw the woods full of Cedar and
Cypresse trees, with other trees, which issued out sweet
Gummes like to Balsam. We kept on our Way in this
paradise. At length, wee came to a Sauage Towne
(Arber 1910: lxviii).
Comparisons are made in the latter quote to ‘an Ir
-
ish pace,’ and ‘any Garden or orchard in England.’
It may be productive to examine what these images
would have meant to a person back in England
reading this account. Favretti (1974) has character
-
ized two basic English garden styles of this period,
the formal English Manor garden and the more in
-
formal cottage garden. The latter had:
a
central path of grass or gravel with irregular beds on
either side. The plants within these beds were well culti
-
vated and the beds maintained neatly, but no order of
plant material prevailed. Vegetables, useful flowering
plants, and herbs grew side by side without regard to
kinds, height or balance. The main characteristics of
these gardens were informality and neatness, with little
actual design (Favretti 1974: 5).
Apparently Native Americans had independently
developed a model of informal landscaping which
they had taken a step further in their management
practices. They initiated and maintained parklands
extending perhaps several miles beyond the obvious
limits of their towns.
We can visualize that the native landscape con
-
sisted of staple crop fields in sight of the houses,
surrounded by some cleared and some wooded
areas. In areas with few physiographic limits, open
villages and garden clearings themselves would
have appeared generally circular in shape. Later ex
-
pansion would have left rings of lesser intensity and
lesser control as one moved farther from the center.
Thus, land holdings would have been better
represented by circles than squares.
In comparison, the English imposed onto the
colonies, a prexisting landscape design modelled af
-
ter an enclosure principle being implemented at that
time in rural parts of England, rather than a design
modelled after their new Native American neigh
-
bors’ settlements. Introducing this landscape de
-
sign proved a serious pitfall as they tried to adjust
to a new environment. The decision to lay out their
first settlements in gridded squares reflects their
goals, aspirations and dependency on Europeans
and European models of private ownership. One
possible result of this European enclosure design in
the New World may have been that early English
coastal colonies remained relatively homogeneous
urban areas. They produced little food and few
resources, which perpetuated these settlers’ pre
-
disposition towards a dependency upon the trading
133
paths (corridors) that connected their settlements to
a resource base abroad, to supply all their basic
needs. Generally when shipments were overdue, the
early colonists starved (Arber 1910).
Over the next several decades, hundreds of thou
-
sands of skins and furs and countless tons of Euro
-
pean goods were carried along trading paths (cor
-
ridors), as these ports continued as
a
basic link be
-
tween settlers and survival (Wolf 1982). This set the
stage for the future, with many major American
cites remaining dependent upon trade rather than
resources produced locally. This fact is driven
home today in North Carolina, where we buy let
-
tuce and other produce shipped from California,
whom we supply with textiles, tobacco products
and furniture.
Perhaps the most basic lesson to be drawn from
this historic study of land use and landscape is the
value of
a
‘functional landscape,’ a landscape that
meets the needs of the local inhabitants. The ap
-
propriateness or ‘fit’ of the overall structure or de
-
sign of a landscape is part of a regions’ ecological
history. As such it can affect subsequent relation
-
ships. In this study we have seen how a reconstruc
-
tion of the setting can provide insights into the sub
-
sequent adaptations or maladaptations, self suffi
-
ciency or dependency.
6.
Historical ecology in the Carolinas at contact
Using a historic ecological approach, the adaptive
advantages of Native Southeastern management
and land use strategies were examined in terms
of
our current understanding of anthropogenic land
-
scapes, disturbance and patch dynamics. Historic
documents depicted the Native Southeastern land
-
scape as having been made up
of
various types of
resource patches concentrated in concentric rings
with areas of lesser exploitation spreading away
from occupation centers. Habitation and resource
patches were connected by a series of corridors;
trails, paths and waterways throughout the region
were maintained and subjected to social controls.
Buffer areas are evident in the documents, indicat
-
ing the maintenance of areas of surrounding
matrix, that were apparently left outside the direct
control of recognized groups and leaders.
The rings or circle shapes of Native Southeastern
settlements contrasted with rectangular coastal
areas claimed by early European settlers. The more
heterogeneous Native Southeastern landscapes
were more productive sources of food than the ear
-
ly Euroamerican settlements, which took inspira
-
tion from the European enclosure movement.
A landscape tessellation, that is to say a man
-
made mosaic, is part and parcel
of
any functional
human scene. Through the selection of useful spe
-
cies and maintenance of
a
variety of resource areas,
such ‘edible parklands’ were great assets to North
America’s original inhabitants.
Acknowledgments
The original copies of the deerskin maps are housed
at the British Public Recorders Office. Photo
-
graphic duplicates of the deerskin map copies were
provided by the South Carolina State Library in
Columbia and by the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. The University of North Carolina
Press granted permission to reproduce the en
-
gravings of John White’s drawings. Photographs
of the maps and engravings used in this article were
made by Jerry Cotten, photographic archivist of
Wilson Library, UNC
-
Chapel Hill.
The author would like to thank Bruce Win-
terhalder, Richard Yarnell, Robert Peet, Carole
Crumley, Molly Anderson, Joseph Winter, Joel
Gunn, James Hevia and an anonymous reviewer
for their comments. Earlier versions of this paper
were presented at the Ethnobiology Conference in
1987 and the Landscape Ecology Conference in
1988, which were both held in Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
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... These situations reinforce the development of strategies to deal with risky environments. Fire is commonly used by human societies to manipulate resource outputs, and anthropogenic fire is believed to significantly alter the composition of forests Burchard 1998;Fritz 2000;Hammett 1992;Miller et al. 2005;Reice 2001;Robock and Graf 1994;Shaw 2003). Anthropogenic fire produces local changes in plant and animal ecosystems and affects both the local and, recently, the global climate (Burchard 1998;Pyne 1994;Walker and del Moral 2003). ...
... Recent research indicates that deer can alter forest composition through overbrowsing (McGraw and Furedi 2005). Human extraction of resources can also alter forest composition and ecosystem structure and function (Fritz 2000;Hammett 1992). have described a combination of over-fishing and deforestation on small Caribbean islands in prehistory that resulted in changes to both marine and terrestrial food webs. ...
... Gayle Fritz (2000), following Hammett (1992), argues that the anthropogenic effects of Native Americans in the eastern United States were relatively small scale and highly variable depending on the kinds of activities engaged in by the native people. Instead of overgeneralizing that humans drastically alter the environment, scientists need to accurately and systematically measure anthropogenic effects at multiple geographic scales and durations (Fritz 2000:240). ...
... At the time of European arrival in the 1500's, the Cherokee controlled approximately 40 000 square miles 1 that included settlements along rivers and outlying lands used for hunting and gathering (Altman 2006, Goodwin 1977. Increasing evidence indicates that pre-Columbian landscapes of the Southern Appalachians were anthropogenic, having been transformed through land clearing, farming, and fire (Abrams and Nowacki 2008, Denevan 1992, Hammett 1992. Pre-Columbian land and forest use patterns represented a functional landscape that included farmed areas growing corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers; as well as uncultivated areas that were used for hunting, fishing, and gathering of diverse plant materials for food, medicine, and fuelwood (Goodwin 1977, Hammett 1992. ...
... Increasing evidence indicates that pre-Columbian landscapes of the Southern Appalachians were anthropogenic, having been transformed through land clearing, farming, and fire (Abrams and Nowacki 2008, Denevan 1992, Hammett 1992. Pre-Columbian land and forest use patterns represented a functional landscape that included farmed areas growing corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers; as well as uncultivated areas that were used for hunting, fishing, and gathering of diverse plant materials for food, medicine, and fuelwood (Goodwin 1977, Hammett 1992. Fire was used to clear forests for farming, manage vegetation around villages to prevent uncontrolled fires, promote more valuable forest vegetation (e.g., nut and fruit bearing trees), and create favourable conditions for hunting (Goodwin 1977, Hammett 1997, Newfont 2012. ...
Article
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), and the USDA Forest Service are engaged in integrated research and action to manage forests for culturally significant plants within portions of traditional Cherokee homelands. The effort seeks to support EBCI arts, food sovereignty, and cultural practices while promoting coordinated forest stewardship guided by Cherokee knowledge. The focus area includes the Qualla Boundary (EBCI tribal lands); the Pisgah, Nantahala, and Cherokee National Forests; and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Examination of synergistic efforts to date suggests an emerging platform for access, sustainable harvesting and improved ecological conditions. Here, a platform is conceived of as long-term institutionalized collaboration across policies, practices, and governance at different scales. Building on approaches to adaptive collaborative management with Indigenous peoples at the landscape level indicates that key features of platform building in this context include responding to Indigenous priorities, fostering cross-boundary relationships, community engagement, and co-producing knowledge.
... Historically, fires have been documented as far back as 1806 CE, when large fires burned areas from which timber had been harvested (Simpson, 1990;Stewart, 1979). Prior to colonial times, Native Americans in the Virginia and North Carolina Coastal Plain are known to have used fire for hunting and agriculture (Hammett, 1992), but these are thought to have been low intensity brush fires (Fowler and Konopik, 2007). After 1900 CE, fire frequency increased along with railroad and timbering activity; these activities typically occurred during dry periods, and a particularly severe fire ("The Great Conflagration") burned from 1923 to 1926 CE, affecting >400 km 2 of GDS and air quality in the nearby Hampton Roads area (Simpson, 1990). ...
... Land-use scientists increasingly recognize that ecological and anthropogenic forces have long interacted in complex ways, forming many of the landscapes we observe today (Hammett 1992;Munoz et al. 2014;Pavlik et al. 2021), including some of the most desirable ecosystems for human use and occupation (McCune et al. 2013;Coughlan et al. 2018). Under certain circumstances, varied Indigenous land-use and management of forests have resulted in the expansion of healthy (e.g. ...
Article
Full-text available
Cultural land-use is an important driver of ecosystem change, influencing the composition of species across landscapes and through time. Recent research in northwestern North America has shown that historical Indigenous land-use and forest management has resulted in relict forest gardens dominated by edible fruit, nut, and berry producing trees and shrubs – many of which continue to grow adjacent to archaeological village sites today. Our research combines archaeological and ecological methods to better understand the historical ecology of seven forest gardens in the Pacific Northwest. Vascular plant communities at all sites are evaluated for distinctiveness using ANOSIM, NMDS, and indicator species analyses. We identify 15 forest garden indicator species, all of which are culturally significant edible fruit or root-bearing species. We then present the results of an intensive historical-ecological study of one site in Laxyuubm Gitselasu (Ts’msyen). Paleoethnobotanical data, soil and tree ring analyses, and radiocarbon dates show that forest management in the Gitsaex forest garden of Gitselasu pre-dates settler colonialism and shows that people likely modified soils and otherwise enhanced their immediate environment to increase the productivity of desired plant species. Given the importance of Indigenous peoples’ role in sustaining forested foodsheds, there is an ongoing and urgent need to support their revitalization and management and better understand the integrated cultural practices and ecological processes that result in these vast cultural landscapes.
... Specifically, we hypothesize that a survey of archaeological village sites in Nuchatlaht territory, combined with a systematic study of contemporary vegetation in the vicinity of such sites, will allow us to document sites of ancient management. This hypothesis builds on global historicalecological research, which has shown the extent to which some contemporary plant communities reflect ancient or historical management (Hammett, 1992;Keener and Kuhns, 1998;Ross, 2011;Odonne et al., 2019) especially plant communities growing near archaeological village sites (Balée, 2013;Munoz et al., 2014;Warren, 2016;Pavlik et al., 2021). ...
Article
Indigenous peoples’ legacies of plant cultivation and management can have profound effects on contemporary forest structure and species composition long after cultivation has ceased. Despite rich ethnographic accounts of practices like orcharding and fruit tree management in the Pacific Northwest, archaeological and ecological research documenting these practises have been lacking. To investigate ancient and historical land-use and cultivation in Nuchatlaht (Nuu-chah-nulth) territory, we undertook a multidisciplinary study combining archaeological surveys on Nootka Island and ecological analyses of seven anomalous plant communities found adjacent to former village sites. Fifty-seven archaeological sites were inventoried, and 16 previously recorded sites were updated, including six notable village sites. Intensive botanical surveys were subject to indicator species analysis, NMDS, and ANOSIM analysis, which suggest that three putative orchard sites were highly enriched for culturally important and edible fruit and root plants, such as Pacific crabapple (Malus fusca), saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), and wild rice root (Fritillaria camschatcensis), and are highly distinctive compared to nearby sites and regional floristic patterns. Four shell midden sites were characterized by plant communities distinct from both orchard sites and control sites. Our archaeological and ecological analyses, alongside ethnohistorical data, strongly suggest a pattern of ancient and/or historical cultural landscape modification by Nuchatlaht peoples to produce food-bearing plant communities in their territories. This compliments findings in other literature, and what Indigenous peoples have long told researchers, that plant resources were routinely encouraged and harvested across their inhabited landscapes.
... First-hand written accounts of the Piedmont date back to early Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. In 1540, Hernando De Soto's men reported marveling at the open, garden-like nature of the Cofitachequi lands of the outer Piedmont of South Carolina (Hammett 1992). Trees were spaced widely enough to appear deliberately planted, and other European visitors described the easy availability of fruits and nuts. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
The Piedmont (PDMT) ecoregion of the USA stretches from New Jersey to Alabama, nestled between the Coastal Plain and Blue Ridge Mountain physiographic provinces. Many of the notable Piedmont plant communities, including the dominant oak-hickory forests of the region, are reliant upon fire to some degree. Before human settlement, most Piedmont vegetation burned relatively frequently and at low intensities, resulting in extensive closed canopy oak-hickory forests, studded with patches of open woodland and savanna largely defined by unusual soil conditions. Indigenous peoples of the Piedmont used fire as a land management tool for both agriculture and game production. Historical changes in land use throughout the region have altered fire regimes and changed forest dynamics dramatically over the past 400 years. Euro-American settlement led to widespread clearing of land for agriculture and logging; by the early twentieth century, very little old-growth forest remained in the Piedmont. During the mid-twentieth century, the decline of agriculture and the aggressive suppression and exclusion of wildfires brought about the growth of successional forests in the place of older, fire-mediated communities. The Piedmont region is currently experiencing a rapid expansion of the human population and land development, making restoration of the historical fire regime a challenge. However, land managers frequently do use prescribed fire to enhance timberland and restore rare plant communities.
... I view landscapes as additive and reflective of change over time. Drawing on scholarship in historical ecology, I define landscapes as accumulations of human interactions with and interventions acted upon a given space over time (Balée 2006;Hammett 1992; see also Unwin 1992). As such, I understand any given landscape to be in a constant state of change, with changes thereto bearing both immediate and future impact on the landscape itself (Barnes 2000). ...
Thesis
Currently available at http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1610041972377958 This dissertation analyzes how winegrowers in central Ohio and the eastern French region of Alsace respond to changes in their vineyards, wine cellars, and tasting rooms, as well as how changing ecological conditions influence changing social processes (and vice versa). I build upon the French notion of terroir to reconceptualize it as a theoretical model of social-ecological “sense-making” that helps people make sense of the various interactive components of the winegrowing system. Such a framework also provides individuals with a guide for understanding through their sensory faculties what an idealized system of winegrowing feels like. By analyzing how they define the taste of place, I argue that winegrowers and others are able to pinpoint not only changes in their respective landscapes, but also opportunities for adaptation and/or innovation. Amid discourses of global climate change, winegrowers are experiencing its differential effects. Central Ohio winegrowers tend to be more concerned with increased rainfall and freezing temperatures, while those in Alsace are concerned with periods of less rainfall and very high temperatures. These conditions appear to prompt winegrowers to (re)consider whether they can plant new varietals, how they may intervene in the fermentation process, and what wines are available for their clientele. In short, vitivinicultural practices are invariably linked to cultural behaviors that continue to change over time and space. Bringing together multisensory ethnography and multispecies perspectives, and based on my case studies and each new vintage, I characterized the extent to which changing landscapes influence the production and elaboration of place-based goods. Accordingly, I asked: (1) What changes do winegrowers perceive in their winegrowing landscapes? (2) How do they adapt to changes in winegrowing conditions? (3) How do these changes influence winegrowers’ constructions of terroir and the “taste of place”? I interviewed over 24 winegrowers, as well as their co-workers, family members, and volunteers. I also incorporated into my analysis characteristics of local birds, yeasts, plants, weather, and trellising systems. The principal chapters of this dissertation are composed of four articles, which are synthesized in my conclusion. The first article frames my understanding of terroir in central Ohio and Alsace. The second article presents my multisensory approach. The third article considers who (or what) comprises the winegrowing system. And the fourth article uses actor-network theory to trace interactions between and among terroir actants. While the actual taste of a wine may be different from year to year as a result of local conditions and winegrower practices, I demonstrate that the proverbial “taste” of a place does not in itself change, as winegrowers make incremental adaptations to maintain a sense of consistency. Winegrowers, vines, and wines from Ohio or Alsace are still Ohioan or Alsatian, despite changing practices or cultural norms that result from changes in weather, legislation, and/or market demands. As I have learned through more than 18 months of fieldwork, this study of terroir reveals how winegrowers and the plants in their care are able to reproduce, redefine, or in some cases create anew, place-based identities in times of change.
... For centuries, yaupon holly was consumed by many groups of Native Americans, who brewed it into a caffeinated beverage similar to tea or coffee and likely transplanted it for cultivation within southeastern North America (Hammett 1992). The beverage, which became known as "black drink, " was primarily drunk by men to maintain ritual purity, although it was also used regularly as a social or medicinal drink. ...
Article
Full-text available
Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria Aiton, is an evergreen woody plant native to the southeastern United States. The species is widely used as a landscape ornamental plant because it tolerates a wide range of soil and environmental conditions, is available in various forms, and attracts wildlife, especially native birds. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in cultivating the plant for the caffeinated beverages that can be made from its leaves. This 8-page fact sheet written by Matthew A. Borden, Mark A. Wilhelm, and Adam G. Dale and published by the UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department provides a guide to managing yaupon holly and protecting it from pests. It will be useful to both commercial growers and homeowners interested in growing this beautiful and useful plant.
... Briefly, due to agreement about the magnitude of effects caused by increased land use, we address land use. Historical land management by Native Americans and later Euro-American settlers relied on the use of fire for different objectives and involved some amount of clearing around settlements (Bromley, 1935;Day, 1953;Pyne, 1982;Hammett, 1992;Brown, 2000). Extensive clearing, intensively from 1850 to 1920, followed by agricultural use and subsequent abandonment resulted in turnover in forest composition and structure during reforestation (Williams, 1989). ...
Article
Full-text available
Historically open oak and pine savannas and woodlands have transitioned to closed forests comprised of increased numbers of tree species throughout the eastern United States. We reviewed evidence for and against a suite of previously postulated drivers of forest transition focused on (1) change in fire regimes, (2) increased precipitation, (3) increased white-tailed deer densities, and (4) loss of American chestnut. We found that fire and fire exclusion provide a parsimonious mechanism for historical dominance by open forests of fire-tolerant oak and/or pine species and subsequent transition to closed forests with fire-sensitive tree species that fill the vertical profile. Based on statistical tests, increased precipitation during the past century was within historical ranges and thus fails to provide an explanation for forest change; additionally, precipitation variability is incongruent with tree traits (i.e., both drought-tolerant and drought-intolerant species have increased and decreased) and patterns of tree establishment. Similarly, current deer densities fail to provide a statistical relationship to explain tree densities at regional scales, species trends are unrelated to deer browse preferences, and both historically open forests and contemporary closed forests contained high deer densities. Functional extinction of the American chestnut had localized impacts but chestnut was not abundant compared to oak or widespread enough in distribution to match forest transitions throughout the eastern United States. Although Euro-American settlement affected many processes, not all changes were consistent enough to cause transitions in forest composition and structure that generally trailed westward expansion by Euro-American settlers. Evidence about these drivers continues to mount and we recognize the need for further research and continual re-evaluation of drivers of historical forests and forest change due to importance for understanding and management of these ecosystems.
Article
Full-text available
Indigenous peoples in eastern North America domesticated a diverse group of annual crops. Several of these crops fell out of cultivation around the time of European colonization, and their domesticated forms are known only from the archaeological record. These crops have previously been characterized as lost, but in the context of a renaissance in Indigenous agriculture in this region, they are perhaps better understood as sleeping: this ancient agricultural system and its myriad ecosystem interactions could be reawakened. I briefly review the history of research on native eastern North American crops, and then synthesize recent research in terms of three themes: new models of domestication based on ecological, experimental and archaeological studies; new insights into the evolution of ancient agrobiodiversity; and an increasingly expansive understanding of the domesticated landscapes of ancient eastern North America. I conclude by suggesting some priorities for future research, and considering this sleeping agricultural system as a source of alternative crops and methods for the North American midcontinent in an era of rapid climate change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Unravelling domestication: multi-disciplinary perspectives on human and non-human relationships in the past, present and future’.
Chapter
This three-volume work examines all facets of the modern U.S. food system, including the nation’s most important food and agriculture laws, the political forces that shape modern food policy, and the food production trends that are directly impacting the lives of every American family. • Examines a breadth of contemporary food controversies and offers diverse viewpoints on them, placing these perspectives fairly into a broader historical context • Presents a multidisciplinary approach to the subject of food that highlights related issues in transportation, business, diet and nutrition, public health, the environment, and public policy • Includes primary documents that illuminate important laws, policies, and perspectives on the environmental, public health, and economic impact of food • Provides readers with the latest information about food controversies as well as extensive resources for further study on major food controversies
Book
In this book, Professor Dahlman applies modern economic methodology to an old historical problem. He demonstrates how the quaint institutions of the ancient English open field system of agriculture can be understood as an intelligent and rational adaptation to a particular problem of production and to certain historical circumstances. He argues that the two major characteristics of this type of agriculture - scattered strips owned by individual peasants and extensive areas of common land - both fulfilled vital economic functions. This overturns the traditional view of the open field system as inefficient and rigidly bound by tradition, and throws light on the behaviour of medeival peasants. Professor Dahlman also offers some generalisations about the economic theory of institutions and institutional change, refuting the idea that an economic analysis of institutions must necessarily be deterministic. As a challenge to some of the fundamental criticisms of the application of economic theory to historical problems, the book will be of great interest to agrarian historians and to economic historians generally, as well as to specialists in the medieval period.
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Defines the spatial dimensions of a particular Siona-Secoya community of San Pablo in NE Ecuador, and compares the findings with a reconstruction of Encabellado territoriality in the 18th century. The similarities identified reflect similar resource inventories and subsistence technologies. The ecological concept of territoriality is applicable to aboriginal man-land relationships in Amazonia; warfare and witchcraft are associated with resource competition and territorial behaviour. Future studies of Amazonian human adaptation should investigate the spatial parameters of specific communities in order to advance understanding of resource availabilities and exploitation strategies.-after Author
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Examines, in a variety of contexts, a number of theoretical and empirical relationships between disturbance (environmental fluctuations and destructive events, whether predictable and/or cyclical or not) and patch dynamics (where discrete spatial patterns possess internal characteristics and also inter-relate with surrounding patch and non-patch areas). The main sections are on: patch dynamics in nature; adaptations of plants and animals in a patch dynamic setting; and implications of patch dynamics for the organisation of communities and the functioning of ecosystems. A final chapter moves towards a general theory of disturbance. All 21 chapters are abstracted separately. -P.J.Jarvis
Book
Ecologists are aware of the importance of natural dynamics in ecosystems. Historically, the focus has been on the development in succession of equilibrium communities, which has generated an understanding of the composition and functioning of ecosystems. Recently, many have focused on the processes of disturbances and the evolutionary significance of such events. This shifted emphasis has inspired studies in diverse systems. The phrase "patch dynamics" (Thompson, 1978) describes their common focus. The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics brings together the findings and ideas of those studying varied systems, presenting a synthesis of diverse individual contributions.
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There has been emphasis on environmental factors in the interpretation of Amazonian societies through the years. The detailed ecological studies of specific communities have begun to appear. This is a healthy trend because the appropriate unit of cultural ecological analysis is the community and its associated environment. This chapter discusses the spatial dimensions of a particular Siona–Secoya community. The periodic migrations of the Siona–Secoya are not unpredictable moves through an unknown landscape. Life history materials indicate that the vast majority of settlement relocations occur within a definable space and that new settlements are usually established on previously inhabited sites. It has been suggested that the future studies of Amazonian human adaptation should investigate the spatial parameters of specific communities to advance the understanding of resource availabilities and exploitation strategies. Such studies should provide powerful empirical keys to the explanation of Amazonian cultural patterns.
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This edition of A Description of New Netherland provides the first complete and accurate English-language translation of an essential first-hand account of the lives and world of Dutch colonists and northeastern Native communities in the seventeenth century. Adriaen van der Donck, a graduate of Leiden University in the 1640s, became the law enforcement officer for the Dutch patroonship of Rensselaerswijck, located along the upper Hudson River. His position enabled him to interact extensively with Dutch colonists and the local Algonquians and Iroquoians. An astute observer, detailed recorder, and accessible writer, Van der Donck was ideally situated to write about his experiences and the natural and cultural worlds around him. Van der Donck's Beschryvinge van Nieuw-Nederlant was first published in 1655 and then expanded in 1656. An inaccurate and abbreviated English translation appeared in 1841 and was reprinted in 1968. This new volume features an accurate, polished translation by Diederik Willem Goedhuys and includes all the material from the original 1655 and 1656 editions. The result is an indispensable first-hand account with enduring value to historians, ethnohistorians, and anthropologists.