Archaeology from the Ashes is a film short about wildfire and archaeology in California. It focuses on the San Diego back country, where a complex topography and a convoluted wildland/urban interface together with older fire suppression practices which are now widely questioned contributed to the ferocity of a string of wildfires between 2000 and 2010. One of the lesser explored stories about the wildfires that are endemic to the American West in general is the impact that they have on archaeology and historic or otherwise valued cultural sites. In this film the subject is explored in the Peninsular ranges of southern California especially around the Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains, and Palomar Mountain. This area takes in public lands under the management of several agencies as well as tribal and private lands, where fire destroyed cherished facilities and cultural sites including sacred sites, historic homes and youth camps.
These fires cause great losses of course, but also interestingly they often also reveal- previously unknown sites and specific types of archaeological finds. In their aftermath archaeologists are often able to see the historic and prehistoric landscape more clearly, at least temporarily. As one archaeologist explained, she sees the fires on wild land at least as being in some ways like the tides of the ocean, rolling in and out, regularly revealing things which are soon covered over by vegetation again. To observe this is not to ignore the damage that big fires can cause to the ecology of the land, to wildlife, to mature trees, to human habitations and general infrastructure.
Archaeological work also sometimes reveals the fire footprints and fire management practices of the past.
Few realise the role that archaeologists play in keeping the fire services informed about sites that need protection or special handling when possible during fires, or in doing post fire assessment of impact on the cultural resources of burned areas.
The original film short has been through a few iterations and may become a longer piece one day. However versions of the original, which was part of my MA dissertation at the University of Bristol in 2011 have been screened at Cambridge University, and at the University of Southern California as well as for several international festivals and events in recent years.
Light on a burned landscape.
