Humans have been altering landscapes for much longer than often assumed. While farming is often seen as the beginning of our environmental impact, hunter-gatherers impacted their landscapes already during the Last Interglacial period (~130,000–116,000 years ago, when Neanderthals occupied Europe) and the Early Holocene (~11,700–8000 years ago, when Mesolithic Homo sapiens lived).
To explore the starting point of human impact on European landscapes, a new computer model called HUMLAND (HUMan impact on LANDscapes) was developed in this study. This model simulates how hunter-gatherer activities (vegetation burning and animal hunting) shaped vegetation patterns. It combines different datasets, including topography, water sources, estimates of how much vegetation animals consumed and vegetation reconstructions based on pollen records and climate data. This model, together with the datasets, makes it possible to distinguish human influences from other factors affecting vegetation...
Show moreHumans have been altering landscapes for much longer than often assumed. While farming is often seen as the beginning of our environmental impact, hunter-gatherers impacted their landscapes already during the Last Interglacial period (~130,000–116,000 years ago, when Neanderthals occupied Europe) and the Early Holocene (~11,700–8000 years ago, when Mesolithic Homo sapiens lived).
To explore the starting point of human impact on European landscapes, a new computer model called HUMLAND (HUMan impact on LANDscapes) was developed in this study. This model simulates how hunter-gatherer activities (vegetation burning and animal hunting) shaped vegetation patterns. It combines different datasets, including topography, water sources, estimates of how much vegetation animals consumed and vegetation reconstructions based on pollen records and climate data. This model, together with the datasets, makes it possible to distinguish human influences from other factors affecting vegetation, such as climate, wildfires, and animal plant consumption.
The results show that climate and animals were not the only factors shaping European vegetation during the study periods. Fires set by hunter-gatherers and their hunting pressure on animals also played a key role. Fires not only changed vegetation directly but also created fresh growth that attracted herbivores. Hunting reduced animal numbers, which in turn lowered animal pressure on plants.
In short, European landscapes were changed by Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers well before the emergence of agriculture. On average, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers transformed about a quarter of European landscapes, with the possible maximum reaching nearly half.
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