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Hearths and Combustion Features

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Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definitions

Hearth. A structured and spatially discrete fire, typically of wood, built on the ground surface or a prepared substrate and intentionally lit by people.

Combustion feature. A concentrated deposit of burned materials in an archaeological site.

Introduction

Humans have interesting and complicated relationships with fire. The production and control of fire is a behavior that many believe increased the evolutionary fitness of our hominin ancestors and allowed our species to colonize and survive in the extreme northern and southern latitudes of our planet. Ethnographic and historical studies reveal many ways in which humans utilize fire as a technology for landscape modification; personal heating and heating of spaces; production of materials such as ashes or charcoal; transformation of materials from one state to another in the form of cooking, firing, smelting, or cremation; and the production of light and smoke. Humans also use fire in less tangible ways as a form of...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Susan M. Mentzer

  2. School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Susan M. Mentzer

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  1. Susan M. Mentzer
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Correspondence to Susan M. Mentzer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

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Mentzer, S.M. (2017). Hearths and Combustion Features. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_133

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