The reconstruction of Holocene northwestern Mongolian fire history based on high-resolution multi-site macro-charcoal analyses

Abstract

In palaeoecology, multi-site macro-charcoal analyses provide information on climate–fire–vegetation linkages, their spatial and temporal extent, and the impact of prehistoric human practices. Our multi-site study comprises eight macro-charcoal records from two highly continental forest-steppe regions in western and north-central Mongolia, covering the Holocene. In addition to reviewing macro-charcoal influxes and comparing macro-charcoal morphotype results with arboreal/non-arboreal pollen ratios, our dataset provides the first fire frequency synthesis for two regions in Mongolia. During the early and mid-Holocene, the fire history in western and north-central Mongolia was controlled by the regional climate variability, whereas the fire intensities were higher in the Mongolian Altai. In general, fire frequencies are lower in northern Khangai. Increases in the fire frequency correlate with the potential beginning of a rise in the nomadic population of the Mongolian Altai after 1,100 cal yr BP. In both areas, individual macro-charcoal peaks, a marked site-to-site variability, and a generally very low impact on the forest-steppe distribution may mostly be explained by a strictly local nomadic disturbance.