<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Fire cultivation is possibly the agricultural land-use method of the longest duration in Estonia; yet still it has attracted little attention from researchers. The aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to discuss the latest stage of historical bushland management via fire cultivation as it appears in historical sources, and secondly to look for ways in which the natural historical research methods can be combined with those of the humanities in search of more complex understanding of land-use dynamics. The material analysed are the 19th century agrarian laws and ethnographic data. These sources show that researchers have so far rather under- than overestimated the persistence and spread of fire use - a number of fire cultivation cases are reported even from the early 20th century from different parts of Estonia. Thus we suggest that bushland management with fire cultivation methods has continued longer than previously assumed. Analysis of the 19th century Livonian agrarian laws shows that legislation of the period directed the land-use pattern away from the earlier practice of a mosaic or scattered patchwork of wooded areas and cleared fields, towards bigger wooded areas and more compact cultivated areas, thus bringing about changes in the landscape.</abstract>

Fire cultivation is possibly the agricultural land-use method of the longest duration in Estonia; yet still it has attracted little attention from researchers. The aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to discuss the latest stage of historical bushland management via fire cultivation as it appears in historical sources, and secondly to look for ways in which the natural historical research methods can be combined with those of the humanities in search of more complex understanding of land-use dynamics. The material analysed are the 19th century agrarian laws and ethnographic data. These sources show that researchers have so far rather under- than overestimated the persistence and spread of fire use - a number of fire cultivation cases are reported even from the early 20th century from different parts of Estonia. Thus we suggest that bushland management with fire cultivation methods has continued longer than previously assumed. Analysis of the 19th century Livonian agrarian laws shows that legislation of the period directed the land-use pattern away from the earlier practice of a mosaic or scattered patchwork of wooded areas and cleared fields, towards bigger wooded areas and more compact cultivated areas, thus bringing about changes in the landscape.

Tracing fire cultivation in Estonia

Estonian National Museum, Veski 32, Tartu, Estonia

Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Ravila 14a, Tartu 50411, Estonia

Institute of History, University of Tallinn, Rüütli 6, Tallinn 10130, Estonia

Valga Museum, Vabaduse 8, Valga 68204, Valgamaa, Estonia

Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu 51014, Estonia

Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Lossi 3, Tartu, Estonia

Forestry Studies

{"article-title":"Tracing fire cultivation in Estonia"}

Fire cultivation is possibly the agricultural land-use method of the longest duration in Estonia; yet still it has attracted little attention from researchers....

Tracing fire cultivation in Estonia

Published Online: Mar 24, 2011

Page range: 53 - 65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10132-011-0089-3

Keywords
fire cultivation, bushland, slash-and-burn, historical land use, Estonia

This content is open access.

Tracing fire cultivation in Estonia

Published Online: Mar 24, 2011

Page range: 53 - 65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10132-011-0089-3

Keywordsfire cultivation, bushland, slash-and-burn, historical land use, Estonia

This content is open access.

Keywords
fire cultivation, bushland, slash-and-burn, historical land use, Estonia