Fire plays a central role in many technological, behavioural, and social aspects of the human past. As fire is multi-functional, pyroarchaeology is multi-faceted. Pyroarchaeological research encompasses both natural as well as archaeological fire, while we recognize the latter and its traces as artefacts. The field relies on a large variety of methods to obtain environmental and behavioural proxies informing us on technology, diet, cultural activities and settlement patterns.
Despite its significance, the remains of fire themselves are often overlooked or are subsumed under other areas of research. This commission recognizes that recent methodological advances over the past decade have greatly improved our ability to study fire remains as artefacts in their own right. Therefore, the aims of the commission are to 1) promote research pertaining to human interaction with fire; 2) provide a platform for the exchange of ideas between various specialists working on the topic from a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives and in different time periods; 3) to establish links between methodological techniques and broader theoretical debates about the origins and nature of fire-related behaviour; and 4) to promote the interaction between researchers studying fire remains in the Palaeolithic and those focusing on later time periods.
