What is Fire-stick farming?
'''Fire-stick farming''' are words used by [[Australia]]n [[Archeology|archaeologist]] [[Rhys Jones (archaeologist)|Rhys Jones]] in 1969. They describe the way that [[Indigenous Australians]] used [[fire]] regularly to burn the land. This helped hunting by herding the animals into particular areas, and also caused new grass to grow which attracted more animals. Over many years it changed the types of plants and animals that lived in an area. Fire-stick farming had turned [[scrubland|scrub]] into [[grassland]], which increased the number of grass eating animals such as the [[kangaroo]]. [[Scientist]]s say that the changes caused by fire-stick farming caused the extinction of the [[Australian megafauna]].<ref>Prideaux, G.J. et al. 2007. An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia. ''Nature'' 445:422-425</ref> In the forests, fire-stick farming opened up clear areas and let more plants grow at ground level. This increased the number of animals that could feed on these plants, such as the [[herbivore]] [[marsupial]]s. == Related pages == * [[Slash-and-burn]] ==References== *Jones, R. 1969. Fire-stick Farming. ''Australian Natural History'', 16:224 *Miller, G. H. 2005. Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction. ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'', 309:287-290 {{reflist}} [[Category:Indigenous Australian culture]] [[Category:Agriculture in Australia]] [[Category:History of agriculture]]