The DOI matches its Crossref record; 75 of the 77 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 13 of the 44 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium
Open accessAbstract
This study documents the use of fire to manipulate bison herds in the northern Great Plains, showing that burning by indigenous hunters combined with climate variability to shape historical fire patterns.
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Claims the paper makes
18 Own interpretation · 10 No full text of the sources · 8 Own result · 5 No basis given · 4 Supported so far · 4 Partly supported · 3 Sources not found · 3 Not checked yet · 2 Supported · 2 Own method · accuracy not yet measured
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“changes in socioeconomic organization can drive abrupt, climate-independent fire regime changes (17,64,65).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [17] 17. Bowman DMJS, et al. (2011) The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth. J Biogeogr 38:2223-2236. source
The ‘Humans and global fire activity’ section describes a pyric transition in which landscape fire activity rises abruptly and then falls as industrialization changes fuel use and burning practices. The ‘Model of global pyric phases’ section also describes changes in fire regimes following colonization and rural migration. These examples support the claim that changes in social and economic organization can drive abrupt fire-regime changes without a climate change being the driver; the paper does not claim that climate never interacts with human influences. (LLM, conf=0.87)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [64] 64. Pausas J, Keeley J (2014) Abrupt climate-independent fire regime changes. Ecosystems 17:1109-1120. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [65] 65. Coughlan MR, Petty AM (2012) Linking humans and fire: A proposal for a trans- disciplinary fire ecology. Int J Wildland Fire 21:477-487. source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Supported
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In the paper
“Spring burning (for a fall hunt) or fall burning (for a spring hunt) would have created attractive conditions for subsequent grazing by bison, who prefer to graze recently burned patches (30,48).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Results
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [30] 30. Higgins KF (1986) Interpretation and Compendium of Historical Fire Accounts in the Northern Great Plains. US Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Publication (US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Partly supportedcites [48] 48. Allred BW, Fuhlendorf SD, Engle DM, Elmore RD (2011) Ungulate preference for burned patches reveals strength of fire-grazing interaction. Ecol Evol 1:132-144. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results report that bison selected recently burned areas, supporting the claim that burns could attract subsequent grazing. The Methods describe burns in several seasons, but the paper does not test spring burns for fall hunts or fall burns for spring hunts; those specific seasonal and hunting scenarios are not established by this source. (LLM, conf=0.84)
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Not matched
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“Ethnographic (13,59,60) and ethnological research (7, 22, 23, 26, 61) makes clear that there is no universal”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [13] 13. Bliege Bird R, Bird DW, Codding BF, Parker CH, Jones JH (2008) The "fire stick farm- ing" hypothesis: Australian Aboriginal foraging strategies, biodiversity, and anthro- pogenic fire mosaics. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:14796-14801. source
The Discussion and Implications (page unavailable) says Martu burning depends on hunting activity, habitat diversity and distance from camps; human influence does not extend uniformly even across the studied arid zone. This supports the claim that hunter-gatherer fire use is not a universal, uniform practice. (LLM, conf=0.86)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [59] 59. Bliege Bird R, Tayor N, Codding BF, Bird DW (2013) Niche construction and Dreaming logic: Aboriginal patch mosaic burning and varanid lizards (Varanus gouldii) in Aus- tralia. Proc Biol Sci 280:20132297. source
- Not matchedcites [60] 60. Bliege Bird R, Tayor N, Codding BF, Bird DW (2016) Economic, social and ecological contexts of hunting, sharing and fire in the Western Desert of Australia. Why Forage? Hunters and Gatherers in the 21st Century, eds Codding BF, Kramer KL (Univ New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, NM), pp 213-230.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“In our study, distinguishing the human role in fire history is only possible because of linkages between the fire record and the archaeological record at comparable pyrogeographic scales (17,52).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [17] 17. Bowman DMJS, et al. (2011) The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth. J Biogeogr 38:2223-2236. source
In “Prehistoric human influence on fire regimes,” the paper says that reliably distinguishing human burning requires fire-regime changes to coincide in space and time with changes in human history known from archaeology and other sources. It also requires evidence from palaeoecological proxies and assessment of whether climate and fuels explain the changes; the citing sentence does not claim that the linkage alone is sufficient. (LLM, conf=0.90)
- Partly supportedcites [52] 52. Roos CI, et al. (2014) Pyrogeography, historical ecology, and the human dimensions of fire regimes. J Biogeogr 41:833-836. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The 'Human Pyrogeography in a Complex World' section says that distinguishing human-caused fire activity in palaeoenvironmental records is difficult with existing methods; the Conclusions likewise say current fire-history methods may be inadequate. The paper does not say that linking fire and archaeological records at comparable pyrogeographic scales is what makes the distinction possible. The citing authors' phrase 'in our study' describes their own study, not this source's finding. (LLM, conf=0.82)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Although many scholars treat climate and human activity as mutually exclusive influences on fire activity, our study indicates that human impacts on fire regimes are not so simple (52).”
- Also stated in: § Significance · hedged
“This study indicates that climate and human activities are not mutually exclusive factors in fire histories; even relatively small groups of hunter-gatherers can enhance climate impacts.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [52] 52. Roos CI, et al. (2014) Pyrogeography, historical ecology, and the human dimensions of fire regimes. J Biogeogr 41:833-836. source
In “Human Pyrogeography in a Complex World” (article pp. 833–836), the paper explicitly says climate and culture are not mutually exclusive explanations of changes in past fire regimes. It also calls treating them as mutually exclusive a mistake. (LLM, conf=0.94)
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Significance · hedged
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“This practice would have increased the predictability of locating bison in the gathering basin for a particular driveline complex, effectively enhancing encounter rates (13) as hunters-gatherers do across the globe (22).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Results
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [13] 13. Bliege Bird R, Bird DW, Codding BF, Parker CH, Jones JH (2008) The "fire stick farm- ing" hypothesis: Australian Aboriginal foraging strategies, biodiversity, and anthro- pogenic fire mosaics. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:14796-14801. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The section on anthropogenic landscapes reports that burning during Martu small-game hunts increased hunting returns and reduced hunt failures. The paper does not establish that grassland burning made bison more predictable at a driveline gathering basin, or that this effect occurs among hunter-gatherers across the globe. It also reports no significant immediate return-rate benefit when burning was used while hunting larger prey. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [22] 22. Scherjon F, Bakels C, MacDonald K, Roebroeks W (2015) Burning the land: An eth- nographic study of off-site fire use by current and historically documented foragers and implications for the interpretation of past fire practices in the landscape. Curr Anthropol 56:299-326. source
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“compared with decadal variability in PDSI by using 10-y averages of antecedent moisture conditions (27), a proxy for fuel production (B).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [27] 27. Bliege Bird R, Bird DW, Codding BF (2016) People, El Niño southern oscillation and fire in Australia: Fire regimes and climate controls in hummock grasslands. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371:20150343. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Methods (page unavailable) use cumulative 24-month antecedent rainfall as a measure of fuel load and say rainfall affects fuel growth. This supports the general idea that prior moisture can proxy fuel production, but the paper does not use PDSI or 10-year averages. (LLM, conf=0.87)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“More than half of all charcoal layers coincide with modest pluvial episodes”
- Also stated in: § Results · plain
“However, the remaining seven charcoal deposits correspond to modest or short wet periods, which should have lower fire activity.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Results · plain
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Furthermore, although decadal-scale pluvial episodes persist after 1650 CE, comparable charcoal layers did not form at either of these localities.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Results
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Radiocarbon-dated charcoal layers from alluvial and colluvial deposits associated with driveline complexes indicate that peak fire activity over the past millennium occurred coincident with the use of these features (ca.1100-1650 CE).”
- Also stated in: § Results · hedged
“Dated fire deposits indicate that unusually high prairie fire activity occurred between 1100 and 1650 CE, approximately coeval with the Old Women's phase archaeology of the Two Medicine valley (ca.900-1650 CE; SI Appendix, Fig. S1).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Abstract
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Results · hedged
- It may state two separate claims as one. 16
- Probably not a substantial claim. 7
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“Climate variability provides the context for human decisions to burn relative to some specific goal, and that agency may result in human activities enhancing (53) or buffering (14, 15) climate impacts on fire regimes at different scales.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [53] 53. Holz A, Veblen TT (2011) The amplifying effects of humans on fire regimes in tem- perate rainforests in western Patagonia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 311: 82-92. source
- Supportedcites [14] 14. Bliege Bird R, Codding BF, Kauhanen PG, Bird DW (2012) Aboriginal hunting buffers climate-driven fire-size variability in Australia's spinifex grasslands. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109:10287-10292. source
The Abstract reports that Aboriginal hunting fires remain small even when climate variation produces huge fires in lightning-dominated areas. The Discussion says Martu hunting fires mediate climate-driven effects on fire size. This supports the buffering part of the citing sentence, for which this source is cited. (LLM, conf=0.93)
- Supportedcites [15] 15. Swetnam TW, et al. (2016) Multiscale perspectives of fire, climate and humans in western North America and the Jemez Mountains, USA. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371:20150168. source
The citation is attached to the claim that human activities can buffer climate impacts on fire regimes. The Discussion and conclusions says climate controls can be “swamped out by high-intensity land uses,” while the Introduction describes human land uses reducing fuel connectivity and fire spread despite broad-scale climate influences. (LLM, conf=0.90)
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The sources with a verdict support this claim; the rest weren’t checked yet, have no full text we could read, or their verdicts aren’t rated yet.
In the paper
“our study lends support to the growing body of work that indicates that coupled human-natural fire regimes should be understood as integral parts of food webs (27,49,68).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [27] 27. Bliege Bird R, Bird DW, Codding BF (2016) People, El Niño southern oscillation and fire in Australia: Fire regimes and climate controls in hummock grasslands. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371:20150343. source
The Fire ecology and climate in Australian grasslands section links hunting fires to vegetation, animal populations and subsistence hunting. The Discussion describes fire regimes as emerging from interactions among people and climate. Together, these passages support the citing sentence’s broad characterization, although the paper does not use the term “food webs.” (LLM, conf=0.86)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [49] 49. Fuhlendorf SD, Engle DM, Kerby J, Hamilton R (2009) Pyric herbivory: Rewilding landscapes through the recoupling of fire and grazing. Conserv Biol 23:588-598. source
- Supportedcites [68] 68. Bowman DMJS, et al. (2016) Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire re- gimes in food webs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371:20150169. source
The Abstract argues that fire regimes are linked to food webs through feedbacks with biodiversity and ecological processes, and that humans shape those regimes both directly and indirectly. The Introduction’s Figure 1 description explicitly depicts fire regimes as embedded in food webs and humans as influencing the system. The citing authors’ statement about what their own study supports is not attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.93)
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Supported
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“As fire activity and fuels respond to previous moisture, decadal variability in the PDSI record was measured by creating a 10-y antecedent average of annual PDSI values (PDSI ant10 ).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [27] 27. Bliege Bird R, Bird DW, Codding BF (2016) People, El Niño southern oscillation and fire in Australia: Fire regimes and climate controls in hummock grasslands. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371:20150343. source
The Methods describe prior rainfall as affecting short-term fuel moisture and longer-term fuel growth, and use 24-month antecedent rainfall as a measure of fuel load. The Results report that prior rainfall predicts aspects of fire activity and that total area burned covaries with antecedent rainfall. The citing paper’s choice of a 10-year PDSI average is its own method, not a finding attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.92)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, the remaining seven charcoal deposits correspond to modest or short wet periods, which should have lower fire activity.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Results
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Excluding a recent historic occupation, dates from the Kutoyis site are more representative of its total use and span 1200-1800 CE with peak probabilities between 1400 and 1650 CE (SI Appendix, Fig. S1).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The stream terrace at KAP 2 is inset into an older terrace (KAP 3).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Stratigraphic excavations at the Kutoyis bison bone bed and processing site revealed five thermal features (66) and at least three discrete layers of burned bison bone deposits.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [66] 66. Bethke B, Zedeño MN, Jones G, Pailes M (2018) Complementary approaches to the identification of bison processing for storage at the Kutoyis complex, Montana. J Archaeol Sci Rep 17:879-894. source
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The glacial till that is parent material for the alluvial and colluvial sediments in our study includes inherited ancient charcoal, thereby potentially contaminating bulk and aggregated radiocarbon dates and making them artificially older (SI Appendix).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Northwestern Plains foragers continued to use prairie fires as a tool and as a weapon but did not generate the same type of fire record as during the Old Women's phase.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: With the introduction of the horse in the early 1700s, hunters became much more mobile even as social and economic complexity persisted.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Past and present foragers vary widely in their home environments, as well as their social, economic, and political structures (62,63).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [62] 62. Kelly RL (1995) The Foraging Spectrum (Smithsonian Inst Press, Washington, DC).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [63] 63. Arnold JE (1996) The archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers. J Archaeol Method Theory 3:77-126. source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Pyric herbivory for bison hunting would be useful only if the hunters could predict with a reasonable degree of certainty where bison were going to graze in the next hunting season.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“This temporarily elevated the population density, fostered increased economic and political complexity (29,35), and concentrated the impacts of anthropogenic burning.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [29] 29. Oetelaar GA (2014) Better homes and pastures: Human agency and the construction of place in communal bison hunting on the Northern Plains. Plains Anthropol 59:9-37. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [35] 35. Zedeño MN, Ballenger JAM, Murray JR (2014) Landscape engineering and organiza- tional complexity among late prehistoric bison hunters of the Northwestern Plains. Curr Anthropol 55:23-58. source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“This appears to have occurred in our study area first with the transition to intensive, place-based bison procurement and pemmican processing for trade (35,66), followed by the adoption of the horse and transition to equestrian bison hunting (67).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [35] 35. Zedeño MN, Ballenger JAM, Murray JR (2014) Landscape engineering and organiza- tional complexity among late prehistoric bison hunters of the Northwestern Plains. Curr Anthropol 55:23-58. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [66] 66. Bethke B, Zedeño MN, Jones G, Pailes M (2018) Complementary approaches to the identification of bison processing for storage at the Kutoyis complex, Montana. J Archaeol Sci Rep 17:879-894. source
- Not matchedcites [67] 67. Ewers JC (1955) The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture, with Comparative Material from Other Western Tribes (Smithsonian Inst Press, Washington, DC).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“It is important to note that the Old Women's phase involved intensified, communal bison hunting using stationary landscape features and was associated with seasonal aggregation of hunting bands.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [29] 29. Oetelaar GA (2014) Better homes and pastures: Human agency and the construction of place in communal bison hunting on the Northern Plains. Plains Anthropol 59:9-37. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [35] 35. Zedeño MN, Ballenger JAM, Murray JR (2014) Landscape engineering and organiza- tional complexity among late prehistoric bison hunters of the Northwestern Plains. Curr Anthropol 55:23-58. source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In our study, the use of pyric herbivory in communal bison hunts enabled indigenous foragers to leverage even minor climate opportunities to burn, thus amplifying the effects that these wet periods had on prairie fire regimes and creating a stronger apparent climate-fire relationship.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Humans and fire both respond to climate influences, but not necessarily in the same way or to the same effect.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Fires, both natural and anthropogenic, persisted after this date in the historic record (30), and charcoal is commonly dispersed in the alluvium, colluvium, and soils that postdate this time.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Results
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [30] 30. Higgins KF (1986) Interpretation and Compendium of Historical Fire Accounts in the Northern Great Plains. US Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Publication (US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Future paleofire studies should be mindful that the presence of a strong climate-fire signal does not rule out the possibility of human influence, nor should archaeologists expect that anthropogenic burning will necessarily be independent of climate effects on local fire regimes.”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although the test excavations at regional bone bed sites are probably biased toward the younger deposits”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Methods
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Changes in ecosystem structure associated with human uses of fire have important impacts on biodiversity (i.e., pyrodiversity) that have trophic consequences, only some of which have direct bearing on human economies and diets at the time (69).”
§ Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [69] 69. Zeanah DW, Codding BF, Bliege Bird R, Bird DW (2017) Mosaics of fire and water: The co-emergence of anthropogenic landscapes and intensive seed exploitation in the Australian arid zone. Aust Archaeol 83:2-19. source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
With the introduction of the horse in the early 1700s, hunters became much more mobile even as social and economic complexity persisted.
“With the introduction of the horse in the early 1700s, hunters became much more mobile even as social and economic complexity persisted.”
Citations
Cites
IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP
Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Ramsey, C. B., Buck, C. E., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Friedrich, M., et al. (2013) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947 · Cited by 14,591
IntCal13とMarine13放射性炭素年代較正曲線0-50,000年cal BP
Reimer, P. J., Bard, É., Bayliss, A., Warren, B. J., Blackwell, P. G., Bronk, R., Buck Caitlin, E., Cheng, H., Lawrence, E. R., Michael, F., et al. (2013) · Radiocarbon · Cited by 5,676
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Balch, J. K., Artaxo, P., Bond, W. J., Carlson, J. M., Cochrane, M. A., D’Antonio, C. M., DeFries, R. S., Doyle, J. C., Harrison, S. P., et al. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1163886 · Cited by 3,351
Self-citationLong-Term Aridity Changes in the Western United States
Cook, E. R., Woodhouse, C. A., Eakin, C. M., Meko, D. M., & Stahle, D. W. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1102586 · Cited by 1,580 · cited 2×
“the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) reconstruction for grid point 83 in the North American Drought Atlas (NADA) version 2a (50), the nearest grid point in NADA to our study area (Fig.”
BackgroundThe human dimension of fire regimes on Earth
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Balch, J., Artaxo, P., Bond, W. J., Cochrane, M. A., D’Antonio, C. M., DeFries, R., Johnston, F. H., Keeley, J. E., Krawchuk, M. A., et al. (2011) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02595.x · Cited by 1,230
Self-citationClimate and human influences on global biomass burning over the past two millennia
Marlon, J. R., Bartlein, P. J., Carcaillet, C., Gavin, D. G., Harrison, S. P., Higuera, P. E., Joos, F., Power, M. J., & Prentice, I. C. (2008) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo313 · Cited by 823
Long-term perspective on wildfires in the western USA
Marlon, J. R., Bartlein, P. J., Gavin, D. G., Long, C. J., Anderson, R. S., Briles, C. E., Brown, K. J., Colombaroli, D., Hallett, D. J., Power, M. J., et al. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1112839109 · Cited by 629
Pyric Herbivory: Rewilding Landscapes through the Recoupling of Fire and Grazing
FUHLENDORF, S. D., ENGLE, D. M., KERBY, J., & HAMILTON, R. (2009) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01139.x · Cited by 587 · cited 2×
“In contemporary practice, this use of fire to manipulate grazer behavior is called pyric herbivory (49).”
BackgroundResult(1982) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 558
Bliege Bird, R., Bird, D. W., Codding, B. F., Parker, C. H., & Jones, J. H. (2008) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0804757105 · Cited by 494
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- HT Lewis, TA Ferguson, Yards, corridors, and mosaics: How to burn a boreal forest. Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest, ed R Boyd (Oregon State Univ Press, Corvallis, OR), pp. 164–184 (1999).
- EG Walker, An overview of prehistoric communal bison hunting on the Great Plains. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains, eds G Cunfer, B Waiser (Texas A&M Univ Press, College Station, TX), pp. 122–155 (2016).
- M Kornfeld, GC Frison, ML Larson Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Great Plains and Rockies (Univ Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 2010).
- TR Peck Bison ethology and native settlement patterns during the Old Women’s phase on the Northwestern Plains. PhD dissertation (Univ Calgary Calgary AB). (2001).
- B Haig Peter Fidler’s Journal 1792-93 (Historical Research Center, Lethbridge, AB, 1990).
- R Bliege Bird, N Tayor, BF Codding, DW Bird, Economic, social and ecological contexts of hunting, sharing and fire in the Western Desert of Australia. Why Forage? Hunters and Gatherers in the 21st Century, eds BF Codding, KL Kramer (Univ New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, NM), pp. 213–230 (2016).
- BJ Mills, Prescribed burning and hunter-gatherer subsistence systems. Haliksa’i UNM Contrib Anthropol 5, 1–26 (1986).
- RL Kelly The Foraging Spectrum (Smithsonian Inst Press, Washington, DC, 1995).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers
McLauchlan, K. K., Higuera, P. E., Miesel, J., Rogers, B. M., Schweitzer, J., Shuman, J. K., Tepley, A. J., Varner, J. M., Veblen, T. T., Adalsteinsson, S. A., et al. (2020) · Journal of Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13403 · Cited by 729
“We also recognize humans as central components of fire regimes, as described effectively in recent work (Maezumi et al., 2018; Roos, Zedeno, Hollenback, & Erlick, 2018).”
The importance of Indigenous cultural burning in forested regions of the Pacific West, USA
Long, J. W., Lake, F. K., & Goode, R. W. (2021) · Forest Ecology and Management · doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119597 · Cited by 153
“In a study in the Northern Great Plans that involved the Blackfeet Nation, Roos et al. (2018) concluded that small groups of Indigenous bison hunters used fire in response to favorable climate conditions, thereby enhancing climate impacts in ways that might be difficult to distinguish from…”
BackgroundInfluentialTargeting the sarcomere in inherited cardiomyopathies
Lehman, S. J., Crocini, C., & Leinwand, L. A. (2022) · Nature Reviews Cardiology · doi:10.1038/s41569-022-00682-0 · Cited by 135
Evidence of Ice Age humans in eastern Beringia suggests early migration to North America
Vachula, R. S., Huang, Y., Longo, W. M., Dee, S. G., Daniels, W., & Russell, J. M. (2018) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.12.003 · Cited by 113
Collapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA
Murchie, T. J., Monteath, A., Mahony, M. E., Long, G. S., Cocker, S. L., Sadoway, T. R., Karpinski, E., Zazula, G. D., MacPhee, R. D. E., FROESE, D. G., et al. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27439-6 · Cited by 111
Metadata
- Authors
- Roos, C. I., Zedeño, M. N., Hollenback, K. L., & Erlick, M. M. H.
- Affiliations
- Southern Methodist University (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Utah State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Roos, Christopher I.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2018-07-23
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 32
- Pages
- 8143-8148
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC6094123
- OpenAlex
- W2883170767
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 4.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (BCS-0918081, BCS-1266118)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Keywords
- fire regimes, Great Plains, prairie fires, bison hunting, charcoal layer, paleofire, fire-climate relationships, Palmer Drought Severity Index, human impact on fire, geoarchaeology, north-central Montana, last millennium
- MeSH terms
- Wildfires, Animals, Charcoal, Climate, Ecology, Fires, Geography, Humans, Montana, North America, Population Dynamics, Time Factors, United States, Bison, Ecosystem, Geologic Sediments, History, 15th Century, History, 16th Century, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, History, Medieval, Radiometric Dating, Droughts, Climate Change, Geographic Mapping, Grassland
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.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
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 ›
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