here the hypothesis is that trees were burned to create groves of buttressed trees possibly for religious rituals. Has anyone ever heard of something similar? Any mentions of trees in pacific lore? Is there any good reading about these societies?
I'm sorry, but this is utter rubbish. The notion that anthropogenic soils (middens) were imported into forests to nourish and grow "monster" trees has no foundation in the anthropological literature. The article is chock full of misinformation such as that archaeologists know not what bedrock mortars were used for. Forests were no doubt manipulated by native Californians, but not in the way that this article portrays.