Fire history and human activities during the last 3300 cal yr BP in Spain's Central Pyrenees: The case of the Estany de Burg

International audienceThe study of macroscopic charcoal particles from peat bogs has led to a better understanding of climate,vegetation and fire history, and human impacts. To determine the relationship between human activities andthe role of fire events in vegetation change during the last 3300 cal yr BP, we present the results of a multiproxyapproach based on the analysis of sediment characteristics, sedimentary charcoal, organic matter andpollen, as well as historical sources. This multi-proxy research permits high resolution palaeoenvironmentaland fire history reconstruction of a mountain area located in the southern central Pyrenees (Spain). In thePyrenees, fire is typically attributed to human activities since the beginning of the Bronze Age and may becorrelated with slash-and-burn cultivation, metallurgy and pasturing activities.The data indicate a good linkage between high fire signals and Poaceae and Cerealia pollen, which reveals theimpact of agro-pastoral practices. This study also shows two periods, 2900–2650 cal yr BP and 1850–1550 calyr BP, for which higher frequencies of fire occurred, suggested by high arboreal pollen (AP) concentrations,and confirming the need for arboreal biomass to sustain fires. From the beginning of the Middle Ages, it seemsthat a change occurred in the anthropogenic use of fire, from a tool for agro-pastoral forest clearance to ameans of maintaining open spaces