Campfires in context hunter-gatherer fire technology and the archaeological record of the South High Plains, USA
The need to control and manipulate fire appears to be a fundamental human technology, as important today as it once was to our ancestors. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence for the human use of fire in discrete facilities, commonly known as campfires and hearths, is an often observed and necessarily recorded phenomenon during archaeological research. Despite the apparent ubiquity of such features, only limited research has been devoted to understanding the anthropogenic activities that generated them. In response, a research programme is initiated which focuses on the archaeological record of the small fire features or localised thermal features (LTFs) built by the prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups living on and around the Southern High Plains of North America. The aim of the programme is to examine the extent to which variation in the construction, use, and archaeological expression of these features is valuable for understanding the subsistence activities of human groups in the past. Four analytical strands of research (a taxonomic key, ethnographic research, experimental research, and fieldwork) are utilised to explore this topic. The generation of a taxonomic key results in a common vocabulary
Backhouse, Paul Nathan
Archaeology
Campfires in context hunter-gatherer fire technology and the archaeological record of the South High Plains, USA. The need to control and manipulate fire appears to be a fundamental human technology, as important today as it once was to our ancestors. It is therefore unsurprising that evidence for the human use of fire in discrete facilities, commonly known as campfires and hearths, is an often observed and necessarily recorded phenomenon during archaeological research. Despite the apparent ubiquity of such features, only limited research has been devoted to understanding the anthropogenic activities that generated them. In response, a research programme is initiated which focuses on the archaeological record of the small fire features or localised thermal features (LTFs) built by the prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups living on and around the Southern High Plains of North America. The aim of the programme is to examine the extent to which variation in the construction, use, and archaeological expression of these features is valuable for understanding the subsistence activities of human groups in the past. Four analytical strands of research (a taxonomic key, ethnographic research, experimental research, and fieldwork) are utilised to explore this topic. The generation of a taxonomic key results in a common vocabulary
context hunter_gatherer fire technology archaeological_record south high usa need control manipulate fire appear fundamental_human technology important today ancestor therefore unsurprising evidence human use fire discrete facility commonly_know hearth often observe necessarily record phenomenon archaeological_research despite apparent ubiquity feature limit devote anthropogenic activity generate them response programme initiated focus archaeological_record small fire feature localise thermal feature build prehistoric hunter_gatherer group live around southern high north_america aim programme examine_extent variation construction use archaeological expression feature valuable subsistence activity human group past analytical strand taxonomic key ethnographic experimental fieldwork utilise explore topic generation taxonomic key common vocabulary