Universität zu Köln

Lehndorff, Eva, Linstaedter, Joerg, Kehl, Martin ORCID: 0000-0003-4587-5858 and Weniger, Gerd-Christian (2015). Fire history reconstruction from Black Carbon analysis in Holocene cave sediments at Ifri Oudadane, Northeastern Morocco. Holocene, 25 (2). S. 398 - 403. LONDON: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD. ISSN 1477-0911

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Fire residues elucidate the where, when, and how of land use. Charcoal analysis provides insights into wood-burning practices, but is restricted by the size of identifiable particles. The present paper is the first to apply a black carbon (BC) method to archaeological sediment deposits. This method oxidizes charcoal and soot particles from the bulk sediment to benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCAs), independent of size. Our aim was to test the potential of BC analysis in order to elucidate the input from grass and wood fires and discuss the potential limitations of the method on sediments of the Ifri Oudadane rock shelter, Morocco. Sediments cover the cultural transition from hunter-gatherers to food-producing communities (Epipaleolithic to Neolithic period, 11-6 kyr cal. BP), which has previously been shown to affect the geochemical, palynological, and archaeological inventories of these sediments. We found respective changes in BC; specifically, content was highest during the Epipaleolithic, with an average of 35% BC in organic carbon (C-org) compared with Neolithic sediments with an average of 24% BC in C-org. The fire temperature (expressed by BPCA composition) changed significantly, which suggests that wood fires dominated in the Epipaleolithic and grass fires dominated in the Neolithic period. These findings agree with a previously suggested shift in usage. We are able to show here that BC analysis, when combined with other proxy data and archaeological findings, can contribute to a deepened understanding of past human activities.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Lehndorff, Eva UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Linstaedter, Joerg UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Kehl, Martin UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-4587-5858 UNSPECIFIED Weniger, Gerd-Christian UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-414237
DOI:	10.1177/0959683614558651
Journal or Publication Title:	Holocene
Volume:	25
Number:	2
Page Range:	S. 398 - 403
Date:	2015
Publisher:	SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Place of Publication:	LONDON
ISSN:	1477-0911
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language CENTENNIAL-SCALE; NE MOROCCO; CHARCOAL; SOILS; TRANSFORMATION; VEGETATION; QUALITY; AFRICA; ACIDS; C-14 Multiple languages Geography, Physical; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/41423