Tasmania: Evidence early human use fire to alter the landscape
Some of the first humans to reach Tasmania over 41,000 years ago used fire to shape the landscape. This is around 2,000 years earlier than was previously thought.
A team of researchers from the UK and Australia analysed charcoal and pollen in ancient mud to determine how the indigenous people in Tasmania shaped their surroundings. This is the first record of humans using fire on the island.
Early human migration from Africa to the southern hemisphere was already well underway during the early part of the last ice age. There is evidence of people in northern Australia from around 65,000 years ago. When the first Palawa/Pakana, the native people of Tasmania, reached the island, known to them as Lutruwita, it had been further south than humans had ever reached.
These early communities used fire to penetrate and modify the dense wet forests for their use. A sudden increase in charcoal found in ancient mud from 41,600 years ago indicates that. The researchers say that these results, published in the journal Science Advances, help us to better understand how humans shaped the planet’s environment for tens of thousands of years.
But they also help in understanding the long-term connection between native people in Australia and the landscape. This is considered to be vital for landscape management in Australia today.
“Australia is home to the world’s oldest Indigenous culture, which has endured for over 50,000 years,” said Dr Matthew Adeleye from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, the study’s lead author. “Earlier studies have shown that Aboriginal communities on the Australian mainland used fire to shape their habitats, but we haven’t had similarly detailed environmental records for Tasmania.”
Tasmania is around 240 kilometres of the southeast Australian coast, separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait. During the last ice age, it was connected. This allowed people to reach it by foot. The land bridge disappeared around 8,000 years ago when the last ice age ended, resulting in rising sea levels cutting it off from the mainland.
Stay tuned to EyeOnLondon for the latest news and expert opinions.
