Māori transformation of the New Zealand landscape through the use of fire
An understanding of prehistoric peoples and their influence on the environment is a central theme in geography and a topic of heated debate in North America. In most parts of the world, assessment of landscape modification is complicated by the need for precise information on prehistoric activities, as well as a record of environmental change that can distinguish human impacts from natural ones. This challenge is seldom met, because the debate over whether preEuropean landscapes were pristine or heavily modified is generally waged in places where human presence and environmental change have long joint histories. New Zealand is a rare exception and affords an unparalleled opportunity to study (1) human transformation of a forested landscape in the absence of major climate change, and (2) the consequences of fire in an ecosystem that had not previously experienced burning. Māori arrived and settled New Zealand in the 13th century, and soon thereafter reduced the original closed forest cover by nearly 40%. This event is one of the most rapid and complete landscape conversions recorded anywhere in the world.
The investigation is examining how deforestation was achieved and maintained on the South Island of New Zealand. The key questions are: Was landscape burning a frequent, purposeful activity designed to maintain an open vegetation cover? Or, were some areas more vulnerable to accidental, occasional fire than others, which led to forest demise in some regions and less severe consequences in others? To answer these questions, the latest techniques in charcoal and microfossil analysis are being applied at lake sites within a single watershed to generate a detailed reconstruction of fire frequency and vegetation change spanning the period from pre-human conditions to Māori arrival and finally European settlement. The investigation builds upon and complements an existing New Zealand-funded project that takes a more regional approach. Together, these projects should provide critical insights into how prehistoric people and later Europeans controlled the landscape, how management strategies evolved over time, and how local activities led to regional ecological transformation.
The paradox of Māori settlement and widespread forest clearance
The clearance by fire of between one third and one half of the forested New Zealand landscape within a few hundred years of Māori settlement was one of the most spectacular pre-industrial ecological transformations anywhere in the world 1. It was unique in the speed and completeness with which the landscape was converted from dense forest to open grassland, fern and scrub. Paradoxically, the extent to which forest was removed shows no broad-scale relationship with human population density. While densely settled areas invariably had associated forest clearance for gardening, dwellings, tracks, etc., virtually unoccupied areas often suffered even greater forest loss. For instance, densely populated, garden-suitable Northland and Bay of Plenty districts lost much less forest than the thinly settled, eastern South Island where gardening was marginal. The relationship between Māori activity and forest loss on the wider landscape is therefore problematic. Hunting, improvement of wild food sources, access, and security have all been plausibly suggested as reasons for broad-scale deforestation. We need a much more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of Māori and European settlement and their respective impacts on the natural environment. This project will help address this need through answering fundamental questions concerning New Zealand's landscape history.
Our hypothesis is that, in all areas, frequent fires were set by Māori throughout prehistory, and that a largely deforested landscape was preferred. To test this hypothesis, we will develop detailed post-Māori charcoal and pollen chronologies in contrasting South Island sites. While the eastern South Island was largely deforested, the number and dates of archaeological sites, and historic records of usage, suggest that Māori occupation was highly variable in space and time7. We will compare charcoal records from sites of known high usage (river mouths, coastal settlements and inland lakes) with those with little evidence of human activity (remote inland valleys, uplands and high plains). The timing of initial burn-off, number of fire episodes, and the relation between burning and vegetation change will be examined in these contrasting areas to develop a clear idea of how the deforested state was achieved and maintained. The main focus will be on the key question of whether or not broad-scale forest clearance was a deliberate policy. If our null hypothesis is correct, forest loss occurred because of regular, widespread, purposeful burning for access or food gathering. However, if, when compared with densely settled areas, burning in sparsely used areas was relatively infrequent and irregular, and characterised by large devastating fires, and occurred early rather than late in prehistory, it is much more likely that deforestation had a large accidental component, and was the inevitable consequence of human presence in a fragile landscape. Our results will provide the first detailed look at how fire frequency changed over major human transitions, that is between initial settlement and later prehistory, and in those crucial few decades after first European contact when Māori rapidly adjusted traditional ways to a myriad of new influences.
An understanding of prehistoric peoples and their influence on the environment is a central theme in geography and a topic of heated debate in North America. In most parts of the world, assessment of landscape modification is complicated by the need for precise information on prehistoric activities, as well as a record of environmental change that can distinguish human impacts from natural ones. This challenge is seldom met, because the debate over whether preEuropean landscapes were pristine or heavily modified is generally waged in places where human presence and environmental change have long joint histories. New Zealand is a rare exception and affords an unparalleled opportunity to study (1) human transformation of a forested landscape in the absence of major climate change, and (2) the consequences of fire in an ecosystem that had not previously experienced burning. Māori arrived and settled New Zealand in the 13th century, and soon thereafter reduced the original closed forest cover by nearly 40%. This event is one of the most rapid and complete landscape conversions recorded anywhere in the world.
The investigation is examining how deforestation was achieved and maintained on the South Island of New Zealand. The key questions are: Was landscape burning a frequent, purposeful activity designed to maintain an open vegetation cover? Or, were some areas more vulnerable to accidental, occasional fire than others, which led to forest demise in some regions and less severe consequences in others? To answer these questions, the latest techniques in charcoal and microfossil analysis are being applied at lake sites within a single watershed to generate a detailed reconstruction of fire frequency and vegetation change spanning the period from pre-human conditions to Māori arrival and finally European settlement. The investigation builds upon and complements an existing New Zealand-funded project that takes a more regional approach. Together, these projects should provide critical insights into how prehistoric people and later Europeans controlled the landscape, how management strategies evolved over time, and how local activities led to regional ecological transformation.
The paradox of Māori settlement and widespread forest clearance
The clearance by fire of between one third and one half of the forested New Zealand landscape within a few hundred years of Māori settlement was one of the most spectacular pre-industrial ecological transformations anywhere in the world 1. It was unique in the speed and completeness with which the landscape was converted from dense forest to open grassland, fern and scrub. Paradoxically, the extent to which forest was removed shows no broad-scale relationship with human population density. While densely settled areas invariably had associated forest clearance for gardening, dwellings, tracks, etc., virtually unoccupied areas often suffered even greater forest loss. For instance, densely populated, garden-suitable Northland and Bay of Plenty districts lost much less forest than the thinly settled, eastern South Island where gardening was marginal. The relationship between Māori activity and forest loss on the wider landscape is therefore problematic. Hunting, improvement of wild food sources, access, and security have all been plausibly suggested as reasons for broad-scale deforestation. We need a much more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of Māori and European settlement and their respective impacts on the natural environment. This project will help address this need through answering fundamental questions concerning New Zealand's landscape history.
Our hypothesis is that, in all areas, frequent fires were set by Māori throughout prehistory, and that a largely deforested landscape was preferred. To test this hypothesis, we will develop detailed post-Māori charcoal and pollen chronologies in contrasting South Island sites. While the eastern South Island was largely deforested, the number and dates of archaeological sites, and historic records of usage, suggest that Māori occupation was highly variable in space and time7. We will compare charcoal records from sites of known high usage (river mouths, coastal settlements and inland lakes) with those with little evidence of human activity (remote inland valleys, uplands and high plains). The timing of initial burn-off, number of fire episodes, and the relation between burning and vegetation change will be examined in these contrasting areas to develop a clear idea of how the deforested state was achieved and maintained. The main focus will be on the key question of whether or not broad-scale forest clearance was a deliberate policy. If our null hypothesis is correct, forest loss occurred because of regular, widespread, purposeful burning for access or food gathering. However, if, when compared with densely settled areas, burning in sparsely used areas was relatively infrequent and irregular, and characterised by large devastating fires, and occurred early rather than late in prehistory, it is much more likely that deforestation had a large accidental component, and was the inevitable consequence of human presence in a fragile landscape. Our results will provide the first detailed look at how fire frequency changed over major human transitions, that is between initial settlement and later prehistory, and in those crucial few decades after first European contact when Māori rapidly adjusted traditional ways to a myriad of new influences.
