European Colonialism and the Anthropocene - A View from the Pacific Coast of North America (2013) (15 pages)

G Model ANCENE-12; No. of Pages 15 K.G. Lightfoot et al./Anthropocene xxx (2013) e1-e15 e7 seeds, as well as significant increases in the number of birds and mammals that were traditionally hunted (Lightfoot and Parrish, 2009:98-100). Fires also encouraged the production of young, straight sprouts and other useable raw materials that could have been incorporated into cordage, baskets, and other household materials. There is some controversy about the scale and magnitude of indigenous management practices in California (see Vale, 2002), but there is growing evidence that local groups employed various management techniques to enhance and maintain coastal prairies, valley oak savannas, montane meadows, and other local ecosystems (Anderson, 2005). On-going eco-archeological investigations in central California indicate that indigenous burning regularly took place in the Late Holocene and initial Colonial times (AD 1000-1700s) to create and maintain rich coastal prairie communities composed of grasses (Poaceae), tarweeds (Madia spp.), clover (Trifolium spp.), composites (Asteraceae), and other forbs, along with potentially dense stands of hazel (Corylus cornuta) (Cuthrell et al., 2012:166-169). There is now some evidence that extensive swaths of coastal prairies may have paralleled the coastline, extending from southern British Columbia into northern California (Weiser and Lepofsky, 2009:185-186). Field investigations at Ebey’s Prairie on Whidbey Island and the Ozette Prairies of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington indicate that some of these prairies may have been maintained by indigenous burning practices beginning about 2300-2000 years ago (Weiser and Lepofsky, 2009:202-204). It is possible that the grassland habitats detected on the central coast of California were part of this larger ecological manifestation created by Pacific Coast hunter-gatherers in Late Holocene times. The growing evidence for landscape management practices among hunter-gatherers and other “low level” food producers in Late Holocene times in California, the Northwest Coast, and elsewhere in North America, the Amazon, and beyond (Deur and Turner, 2005; Erickson, 2006; Lepofsky and Lertzman, 2008; Rowley-Conwy and Layton, 2012; Smith, 2001, 2011) is relevant to current discussions about the Anthropocene. Ruddiman’s (2003: 265-268) argument for an early start date for the Anthropocene is based on the detection of anomalous CO 2 levels beginning about 8000 years ago, which increased steadily in value through the Late Holocene to about 2000 BP. He argued that this distinctive rise in greenhouse gases may have been the product of ancient land clearance practices associated with early agrarian production. More recently, Dull et al. (2010) presented convincing paleoenvironmental and archeological data sets to argue for extensive anthropogenic burning in the Neotropics of the Americas in the Late Holocene, which they believe must have greatly increased CO concentrations in the atmosphere. They contended that early colonial encounters beginning about A.D. 1500, which brought disease, accelerated violence and death to the Neotropics, lead to a marked decrease in indigenous burning. This significant transformation in the regional fire regime, coupled with the reforestation of once cleared lands, reversed the amount of COz and other gases being emitted into the atmosphere. It is possible, as articulated by Dull and others, that these changes in greenhouse gas emissions may have amplified the cooling conditions of the Little Ice Age from AD 1500-1800. We believe that estimates for anthropogenic carbon emissions described by Ruddiman (2003:277-279) and Dull et al. (2010) may, in fact, be underestimating the degree to which CO, and other greenhouse gases were being introduced into the atmosphere in Late Holocene times. Both studies, by focusing primarily on anthropogenic burning by native farmers, do not fully consider the degree to which hunter-gatherers and other low level food producers were involved in prescribed burning, landscape management practices, and the discharge of greenhouse gases, as exemplified by recent research on the Pacific Coast of North America. For example, recent studies along the central coast of California have identified fire regimes in the Late Holocene with “fire return intervals” at a frequency considerably greater than that expected from natural ignitions alone (Greenlee and Langenheim, 1990; Keeley, 2002; Stephens and Fry, 2005). These findings support a recent synthesis for the state that estimates that six to 16 percent of California (excluding the southern deserts) was annually burned in prehistoric times, an area calculated to be somewhere between two million to five million hectares. The annual burns are argued to have produced emissions at levels high enough to produce smoky or hazy conditions in the summer and fall months in some areas of the state (i.e., Great Central Valley), not unlike what we experience today (Stephens et al., 2007). Clearly, the findings of anthropogenic burning from California, the Northwest Coast, and elsewhere in Late Holocene times will need to be taken into account in reworking Ruddiman’s (2003:278) calculations upwards for human-derived greenhouse gas emissions centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution. The implications of hunter-gatherer burning will also need to be fully considered in evaluating the hypothesis presented by Dull et al. (2010) that changing fire regimes in Late Holocene and early Colonial times may have been important catalysts for environmental changes. The rapid colonization of California by agents from mission and managerial colonies had a devastating impact on the landscape Management practices of local hunter-gatherer groups. As we outline elsewhere (Lightfoot et al., 2013:94-95), the development of the agrarian-ranching economies by Spanish-Mexican and Russian colonists had reverberating consequences for huntergatherers living in outlying lands. As missionaries and merchants built up their colonial settlements, field systems, and livestock herds, they increasingly encroached on the anthropogenic landscapes of local indigenous populations. The onslaught of alien weeds, free-range cattle, sheep, and pigs, and changes in local hydrology due to irrigation systems disrupted local ecosystems that were the livelihood of California Indians. Furthermore, it did not take long for the colonial intruders to implement policies prohibiting indigenous burning of the landscape. Once colonial infrastructures were established whether extensive mission complexes or a trade outpost with outlying fields and ranchesthey were very vulnerable to fires that they did not control. Prohibitions against Indian fires were put into place by the Spanish as early as 1793 (Timbrook et al., 1993:129-134), and these restrictions were upheld into the nineteenth century by the Mexican government, as exemplified by the order issued by General Mariano Vallejo prohibiting the use of fire by Indians in the north San Francisco Bay area. The cumulative effect of this long period of native fire cessation was the loss of intimate knowledge about the use of fire for managing landscapes by later generations of some Indian groups (Peri et al., 1985:91). There is little doubt that the coming of managerial and mission colonies (as well as later settler colonies) harkened major changes in indigenous landscape management practices, particularly for those involving prescribed fires. Although native peoples remained a crucial component of the post-colonial world in California, their relationships with the environment underwent modifications as their numbers thinned dramatically from diseases, overwork, and violence and many increasingly became incorporated into colonial programs as seasonal or full-time laborers (Lightfoot et al., 2013:95-98). As outlined elsewhere, there is solid archeological evidence that Native Californians who participated in the Spanish mission system and the RAC mercantile enterprise maintained a close connection with local ecosystems and resources and continued to employ modified forms of their hunter-gatherer practices (Lightfoot, 2013). However, there is little question that Please cite this article in press as: Lightfoot, K.G., et al., European colonialism and the Anthropocene: A view from the Pacific Coast of North America. Anthropocene (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2013.09.002

G Model ANCENE-12; No. of Pages 15 K.G. Lightfoot et al./Anthropocene xxx (2013) e1-e15 e7 seeds, as well as significant increases in the number of birds and mammals that were traditionally hunted (Lightfoot and Parrish, 2009:98-100). Fires also encouraged the production of young, straight sprouts and other useable raw materials that could have been incorporated into cordage, baskets, and other household materials. There is some controversy about the scale and magnitude of indigenous management practices in California (see Vale, 2002), but there is growing evidence that local groups employed various management techniques to enhance and maintain coastal prairies, valley oak savannas, montane meadows, and other local ecosystems (Anderson, 2005). On-going eco-archeological investigations in central California indicate that indigenous burning regularly took place in the Late Holocene and initial Colonial times (AD 1000-1700s) to create and maintain rich coastal prairie communities composed of grasses (Poaceae), tarweeds (Madia spp.), clover (Trifolium spp.), composites (Asteraceae), and other forbs, along with potentially dense stands of hazel (Corylus cornuta) (Cuthrell et al., 2012:166-169). There is now some evidence that extensive swaths of coastal prairies may have paralleled the coastline, extending from southern British Columbia into northern California (Weiser and Lepofsky, 2009:185-186). Field investigations at Ebey’s Prairie on Whidbey Island and the Ozette Prairies of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington indicate that some of these prairies may have been maintained by indigenous burning practices beginning about 2300-2000 years ago (Weiser and Lepofsky, 2009:202-204). It is possible that the grassland habitats detected on the central coast of California were part of this larger ecological manifestation created by Pacific Coast hunter-gatherers in Late Holocene times. The growing evidence for landscape management practices among hunter-gatherers and other “low level” food producers in Late Holocene times in California, the Northwest Coast, and elsewhere in North America, the Amazon, and beyond (Deur and Turner, 2005; Erickson, 2006; Lepofsky and Lertzman, 2008; Rowley-Conwy and Layton, 2012; Smith, 2001, 2011) is relevant to current discussions about the Anthropocene. Ruddiman’s (2003: 265-268) argument for an early start date for the Anthropocene is based on the detection of anomalous CO 2 levels beginning about 8000 years ago, which increased steadily in value through the Late Holocene to about 2000 BP. He argued that this distinctive rise in greenhouse gases may have been the product of ancient land clearance practices associated with early agrarian production. More recently, Dull et al. (2010) presented convincing paleoenvironmental and archeological data sets to argue for extensive anthropogenic burning in the Neotropics of the Americas in the Late Holocene, which they believe must have greatly increased CO concentrations in the atmosphere. They contended that early colonial encounters beginning about A.D. 1500, which brought disease, accelerated violence and death to the Neotropics, lead to a marked decrease in indigenous burning. This significant transformation in the regional fire regime, coupled with the reforestation of once cleared lands, reversed the amount of COz and other gases being emitted into the atmosphere. It is possible, as articulated by Dull and others, that these changes in greenhouse gas emissions may have amplified the cooling conditions of the Little Ice Age from AD 1500-1800. We believe that estimates for anthropogenic carbon emissions described by Ruddiman (2003:277-279) and Dull et al. (2010) may, in fact, be underestimating the degree to which CO, and other greenhouse gases were being introduced into the atmosphere in Late Holocene times. Both studies, by focusing primarily on anthropogenic burning by native farmers, do not fully consider the degree to which hunter-gatherers and other low level food producers were involved in prescribed burning, landscape management practices, and the discharge of greenhouse gases,

as exemplified by recent research on the Pacific Coast of North America. For example, recent studies along the central coast of California have identified fire regimes in the Late Holocene with “fire return intervals” at a frequency considerably greater than that expected from natural ignitions alone (Greenlee and Langenheim, 1990; Keeley, 2002; Stephens and Fry, 2005). These findings support a recent synthesis for the state that estimates that six to 16 percent of California (excluding the southern deserts) was annually burned in prehistoric times, an area calculated to be somewhere between two million to five million hectares. The annual burns are argued to have produced emissions at levels high enough to produce smoky or hazy conditions in the summer and fall months in some areas of the state (i.e., Great Central Valley), not unlike what we experience today (Stephens et al., 2007). Clearly, the findings of anthropogenic burning from California, the Northwest Coast, and elsewhere in Late Holocene times will need to be taken into account in reworking Ruddiman’s (2003:278) calculations upwards for human-derived greenhouse gas emissions centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution. The implications of hunter-gatherer burning will also need to be fully considered in evaluating the hypothesis presented by Dull et al. (2010) that changing fire regimes in Late Holocene and early Colonial times may have been important catalysts for environmental changes. The rapid colonization of California by agents from mission and managerial colonies had a devastating impact on the landscape Management practices of local hunter-gatherer groups. As we outline elsewhere (Lightfoot et al., 2013:94-95), the development of the agrarian-ranching economies by Spanish-Mexican and Russian colonists had reverberating consequences for huntergatherers living in outlying lands. As missionaries and merchants built up their colonial settlements, field systems, and livestock herds, they increasingly encroached on the anthropogenic landscapes of local indigenous populations. The onslaught of alien weeds, free-range cattle, sheep, and pigs, and changes in local hydrology due to irrigation systems disrupted local ecosystems that were the livelihood of California Indians. Furthermore, it did not take long for the colonial intruders to implement policies prohibiting indigenous burning of the landscape. Once colonial infrastructures were established whether extensive mission complexes or a trade outpost with outlying fields and ranchesthey were very vulnerable to fires that they did not control. Prohibitions against Indian fires were put into place by the Spanish as early as 1793 (Timbrook et al., 1993:129-134), and these restrictions were upheld into the nineteenth century by the Mexican government, as exemplified by the order issued by General Mariano Vallejo prohibiting the use of fire by Indians in the north San Francisco Bay area. The cumulative effect of this long period of native fire cessation was the loss of intimate knowledge about the use of fire for managing landscapes by later generations of some Indian groups (Peri et al., 1985:91). There is little doubt that the coming of managerial and mission colonies (as well as later settler colonies) harkened major changes in indigenous landscape management practices, particularly for those involving prescribed fires. Although native peoples remained a crucial component of the post-colonial world in California, their relationships with the environment underwent modifications as their numbers thinned dramatically from diseases, overwork, and violence and many increasingly became incorporated into colonial programs as seasonal or full-time laborers (Lightfoot et al., 2013:95-98). As outlined elsewhere, there is solid archeological evidence that Native Californians who participated in the Spanish mission system and the RAC mercantile enterprise maintained a close connection with local ecosystems and resources and continued to employ modified forms of their hunter-gatherer practices (Lightfoot, 2013). However, there is little question that Please cite this article in press as: Lightfoot, K.G., et al., European colonialism and the Anthropocene: A view from the Pacific Coast of North America. Anthropocene (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2013.09.002