Fuel use in ancient Southwest Asia based on wood charcoal and seed data from fire installations
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
article
Volume
62
Start Page
1
End Page
22
Abstract
This study synthesizes a large dataset of published and new charcoal and seed data from archaeological fire installations in southwest Asia to gain an understanding in regional and temporal variation in fuel use through the last 10,000 years. It considers wood (charcoal) fuel, and its underlying selection and management, as well as agropastoral by-products, and the role of population pressure. It focusses on regional diachronic trends, as well as zooms in on three regions: The Middle Euphrates, Faynan and Kinet Hoyük region. From the late 4th millennium BC onwards, marked changes in fuel use took place, with alternative fuels like dung and jift/pomace increasingly used. This change coincides with population pressure, which seems to have
caused the progressive exhaustion of local wood resources, and economic changes, which may have made wood fuel alternatives more plentiful. The Southern Middle Euphrates, for example, saw a shift towards increased use of imported, possibly reused or remnant, coniferous fuel wood in the 2nd millennium BC. In the long term, we do not see much evidence for sustainability of exploitation, but there are some indications for possible intentional sustainable behavior like coppicing and/or pollarding in the Middle Euphrates during the Early Bronze Age, using pruning remains especially in the Levant, and more centrally organized woodland management in Southern Mesopotamia. We found indications for ’least effort’ and ’opportunistic’ behavior in former fuel collection but also of selection towards higher quality fuels when choice was possible. Our results demonstrate the capacity for large scale comparative analyses of this type to shed light on the complex decision-making processes underlying fuel use.
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