Fire, vegetation, and Ancestral Puebloans: A sediment record from Prater Canyon in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA

A sediment core from Prater Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, reveals that Ancestral Puebloan occupation and climate shifts significantly influenced fire frequency and vegetation over the past 1500 years. The study found two distinct periods of fire activity: before 4080 cal. yr BP, fires occurred at a rate of 2.5–12 per 200 years, while from 4060 cal. yr BP to present, this dropped to 0–2 fires per 200 years. Charcoal deposition increased during Ancestral Puebloan occupation and under moist but increasingly dry conditions, peaking during the transition between the 20th and 21st centuries. The research combines sediment, charcoal, and pollen records to demonstrate the interplay between human activity, climate, and landscape modification in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Herring, E. M., Anderson, R. S., & San Miguel, G. L. (2014). Fire, vegetation, and Ancestral Puebloans: A sediment record from Prater Canyon in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. The Holocene, 24(7), 853–863. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683614530440