Reconciling 22,000 years of landscape openness in a renowned wilderness

Fletcher, Michael-Shawn; Romano, Anthony; Lisé-Pronovost, Agathe; Mariani, Michela; Henriquez, William; Gadd, Patricia; Heijnis, Hendrik; Hodgson, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3841-3746; Blaauw, Maarten; Sculthorpe, Andry. 2024 Reconciling 22,000 years of landscape openness in a renowned wilderness. Geographical Research, 62 (4). 503-525. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12658

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© 2024 The Author(s). Geographical Research published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Institute of Australian Geographers. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Abstract/Summary

Here, we explore the profound impact of the Tasmanian Aboriginal (Palawa) people on Tasmanian landscapes by examining a 22,000-year record of landscape change from Lake Selina in western Tasmania, Australia. We analysed a sediment core for palaeoecological proxies, namely, pollen (vegetation), charcoal (fire), and geochemical data (landscape weathering). This study reveals that the contemporary landscape is a product of Palawa people’s intentional and strategic fire management practices characterised by fire-dependent buttongrass moorland and the absence of climax rainforest. Specifically, our data show that rainforest failed to re-establish a dominance at Lake Selina following the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, as temperature and moisture increased as a result of Palawa cultural fire for at least 18,000 years. This finding challenges the long-held notion that Tasmania’s wilderness is a product of the absence of human activity. Rather, archaeological sites across western and central Tasmania demonstrate long term presence, with some of the highest artefact and faunal bone densities in the world. The study contributes to the recognition of Tasmania’s west as a cultural landscape shaped by generations of Aboriginal care for Country and fire practices.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12658
ISSN:	1745-5863
Additional Keywords:	Aboriginal Australia, cultural burning, cultural landscape, fire, Tasmania, wilderness
Date made live:	15 Jul 2024 09:31 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/537713

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12658

ISSN:

1745-5863

Additional Keywords:

Aboriginal Australia, cultural burning, cultural landscape, fire, Tasmania, wilderness

Date made live:

15 Jul 2024 09:31 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/537713