Major Purposes of Fire Use in Prehistory by Cultural Period

The major reasons American Indians used fire in each of 4 prehistoric cultural periods.

Cultural Period	Characteristic use of fire
Clovis (12,500-10,500 BP)	hunting megafauna
Paleo-Indian (10,500-9,500 BP)	hunting
Archaic (8,000-2,800 BP)	hunting, clearing fields, and maintaining ecotones
Woodland (2,800-1,300 BP)	preparing seed beds, encouraging pioneer species
Mississippian (1,300-400 BP)	clearing maize fields

 

(adapted from Buckner 2000)