CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 11Fire effects on ecosystemsArchaeology and ancient environmental studiesAmazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory

Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

Open access
Roos, Christopher I., Laluk, Nicholas C., Reitze, William, Davis, Owen K.·2023·Quaternary Research
DOI 10.1017/qua.2022.61
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The impact of Indigenous populations on historical fire regimes has been controversial and beset by mismatches in the geographic scale of paleofire reconstructions and the scale of land-use behaviors. It is often assumed that anthropogenic burning is linearly related to population density and not different cultural practices. Here we take an off-site geoarchaeology strategy to reconstruct variability in historical fire regimes (<1000 years ago) at geographic scales that match the archaeological, ethnohistorical, and oral tradition evidence for variability in the intensity of Indigenous land use by two different cultural groups (Ancestral Pueblo and Western Apache). We use multiple, independent proxies from three localities in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in east-Central Arizona to reconstruct fire regime variability during four phases of cultural use of different intensities. Elevated charcoal with domesticate pollen (Zea spp.) but otherwise unchanged forest pollen assemblages characterized intensive land use by Ancestral Pueblo people during an early phase, suggesting fire use to support agricultural activities. By contrast, a phase of intensive pre-reservation Western Apache land use corresponded to little change in charcoal, but had elevated ash-derived phosphorus and elevated grass and ruderal pollen suggestive of enhanced burning in fine fuels to promote economically important wild plants.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/qua.2022.61

Cites

74 of 74 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Ndee traditional territory is unique in the Southwest for being an area with abundant pine forests that were continuously occupied by one culturally and linguistically related population throughout the period of greatest tree-ring sample depth (after 1600 CE) as well as for the depth of ethnographic and cultural knowledge about fire stewardship.

    “Ndee traditional territory is unique in the Southwest for being an area with abundant pine forests that were continuously occupied by one culturally and linguistically related population throughout the period of greatest tree-ring sample depth (after 1600 CE) (27, 31) as well as for the depth of ethnographic and cultural knowledge about fire stewardship (32).”

    From Tree rings reveal persistent Western Apache (Ndee) fire stewardship and niche construction in the American Southwest (2025) · cites this paper as [27]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In alluvial stratigraphic records of the Forestdale Valley in the Carrizo Band territory of the Cibecue group on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, Roos et al. identified evidence for Ndee burning that enhanced the abundance of sunflower family plants and grasses for centuries that persisted until the establishment of the reservation in 1870 CE.

    “In alluvial stratigraphic records of the Forestdale Valley in the Carrizo Band territory of the Cibecue group on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, Roos et al. identified evidence for Ndee burning that enhanced the abundance of sunflower family plants and grasses for centuries (27) that persisted until the establishment of the reservation in 1870 CE.”

    From Tree rings reveal persistent Western Apache (Ndee) fire stewardship and niche construction in the American Southwest (2025) · cites this paper as [27]

    Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Several studies indicate that while Indigenous fire stewardship might not be distinguishable from lightning fire regimes in terms of frequency, Indigenous burning might be evident in altered fire-climate associations, burn patch size or synchroneity, and ecological impacts.

    “Nevertheless, several studies indicate that while Indigenous fire stewardship might not be distinguishable from lightning fire regimes in terms of frequency, Indigenous burning might be evident in altered fire–climate associations (20, 21), burn patch size or synchroneity (22–25), and ecological impacts (26, 27).”

    From Tree rings reveal persistent Western Apache (Ndee) fire stewardship and niche construction in the American Southwest (2025) · cites this paper as [27]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 21

  1. Allen, C.D., 2002. Lots of lightning and plenty of people: an ecological history of fire in the upland Southwest. In: Vale, T.R. (Ed.), Fire, Native Peoples, and the Natural Landscape. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp. 143-193.
  2. Ferguson, T.J., Hart, E.R., 1985. A Zuni Atlas. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
  3. Gifford, E.W., 1940. Apache-Pueblo. University of California Press, Berkeley.
  4. Graves, M.W., 1982. Apache adaptation to the mountains. In: Reid, J.J. (Ed.), Cholla Project Archaeology. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 161. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, pp. 193-215.
  5. Haury, E.W., 1985a [1940]. Excavations in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona, Mogollon Culture in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 135-279.
  6. Haury, E.W., 1985b. The Forestdale Valley Cultural Sequence, Mogollon Culture in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 375-407.
  7. Haury, E.W., 1985c. Mogollon Culture in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
  8. Haury, E.W., Sayles, E.B., 1985 [1947]. An Early Pit House Village of the Mogollon Culture, Forestdale Valley, Arizona, Mogollon Culture in the Forestdale Valley, East-Central Arizona. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp. 220-371.
  9. Hereford, R., 2002. Valley-fill alluviation during the Little Ice Age (ca. A.D. 1400-1880), Paria River Basin and Southern Colorado Plateau, United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 1550-1563.
  10. Huckell, L.W., 1999. Paleoethnobotany. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, pp. 459-504.
  11. Janitsky, P., 1986b. Particle-size analysis. In: Singer, M., Janitsky, P. (Eds.), Field and Laboratory Procedures Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study.
  12. Kaldahl, E.J., Dean, J.S., 1999. Climate, vegetation, and dendrochronology. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson.
  13. Machette, M., 1986. Calcium and magnesium carbonates. In: Singer, M.J., Janitsky, P. (Eds.), Field and Laboratory Procedures Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, pp. 30-33.
  14. Martin, P.S., 1963. The Last 10,000 Years. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
  15. Mills, B.J., 1999. The reorganization of Silver Creek communities from the 11th to 14th centuries. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, AZ, pp. 505-511.
  16. Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., 1999. Chronology of the Mogollon Rim region. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, pp. 269-293.
  17. Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Kaldahl, E.J., Newcomb, J.M., Riggs, C.R., Van Dyke, R.M., 1999a. Excavations at Pottery Hill. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, pp. 117-148.
  18. Mills, B.J., Van Keuren, S., Stinson, S.L., Graves, W.M., III, Kaldahl, E.J., Newcomb, J.M., 1999b. Excavations at Bailey Ruin. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993- 1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, AZ, pp. 149-242.
  19. Newcomb, J.M., 1999. Silver Creek settlement patterns and paleodemography. In: Mills, B.J., Herr, S.A., Van Keuren, S. (Eds.), Living on the Edge of the Rim: Excavations and Analysis of the Silver Creek Archaeological Research Project 1993-1998. Arizona State Museum, Tucson, pp. 31-52.
  20. Rankin, A.G., 1980. Pollen analytical studies in Corduroy Creek. In: Stafford, C.R., Rice, G.E. (Eds.), Studies in the Prehistory of the Forestdale Region, Arizona. Office of Cultural Resource Management, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, pp. 333-373.
  21. Veblen, T.T., Baker, C.M., Montenegro, G., Swetnam, T.W. (Eds.), Fire and Climate Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas. Springer, New York, pp. 158-195.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Roos, C. I., Laluk, N. C., Reitze, W., & Davis, O. K.
Affiliations
  • University of Arizona (US)
  • Bureau of Land Management (US)
Corresponding author
Roos, Christopher I.
ORCID
Venue
Quaternary Research
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2022-12-19
Volume
113
Pages
69-86
ISSN
  • 0033-5894 (ISSN-L)
  • 1096-0287
DOI
10.1017/qua.2022.61
OpenAlex
W4313403916
Cited by
11
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3
FWCI
0.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
correction (2022-12-19)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Quaternary Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
Keywords
anthropogenic burning, Ancestral Puebloans, Western Apache, ponderosa pine forests, ponderosa pine, geoarchaeology, charcoal, pollen analysis, land use intensity, Mogollon Rim, wild plant harvesting

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review