This new understandings comes as the result of recent research revealing the extent to which Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers shaped European landscapes. This impact started long before agriculture developed. Conducted by researchers Jens-Christian Svenning and Anastasia Nikulina, the study highlights how these ancient humans utilized fire and hunting practices to impact vegetation patterns during two critical warm periods: the Last Interglacial period (approximately 125,000–116,000 years ago) and the Early Holocene (12,000–8,000 years ago).
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, challenges previous notions that climate change and natural events solely influenced the prehistoric landscapes of Europe. Instead, it only exposes how human activities were inextricably tied to these changes. Those discoveries stem from the most advanced computer modeling. This extensive new spatial data collected from Europe over the span of thousands of years provided the basis for this modeling.
Neanderthals and Their Megafauna Environment
At the height of the Last Interglacial period, Europe was home to a vibrant and rich assemblage of megafauna. Huge mastodons reached 13 tons, and herds of woolly rhinoceros, bison, aurochs, horses, and deer cruised down the plains. Neanderthals prospered in this lush environment, using their advanced hunting techniques to hunt down herds of large game animals.
“The Neanderthals did not hold back from hunting and killing even giant elephants. Hunting also had a strong indirect effect. Fewer grazing animals meant more overgrowth and thus more closed vegetation,” – Jens-Christian Svenning
The absence of these large herbivores greatly impacted the balance in this unique ecosystem. The Neanderthal population was small enough that they could not wipe out these species entirely, or their ecological function. This made them less effective than later Homo sapiens.
The other finding of the study is that Neanderthals had a big impact on vegetation patterns. Changes to plant distribution now attributed to them from their hunting practices and use of fire ranged from 6%. They dramatically impacted herbage cover, perhaps by as much as 14%.
Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers’ Influence
In the wake of the Neanderthals, Mesolithic foragers rose during the Early Holocene and helped define the European landscape. Their practice of intensive foraging and hunting created complex changes on the environments they lived in.
“Our simulations show that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers could have influenced up to 47% of the distribution of plant types,” – Anastasia Nikulina
Our research clearly shows that both Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were active co-creators of Europe’s ecosystems. Their cumulative work brought about shifts in vegetation patterns thousands of years before human societies adopted any form of agriculture.
For thousands of years, these two groups worked together, developing a complex symbiotic relationship with the environment. What really makes them stand out is their creativity and flexibility with the resources they have at their disposal.
Human Impacts in Historical Context
Using state-of-the-art computer simulations, the scientists were able to interpret the ancient pollen data. Ultimately, they found climate change, large herbivores, and natural wildfires insufficient explanations for the shifts in vegetation they were seeing. They argued that human factors should play a central role in analyses of prehistoric landscapes.
“It became clear to us that climate change, large herbivores, and natural fires alone could not explain the pollen data results. Factoring humans into the equation— and the effects of human-induced fires and hunting—resulted in a much better match,” – Svenning
The study used a specific AI-derived optimization algorithm, the genetic algorithm. This amazing tool allowed researchers to dive deep into different scenarios of how ancient populations adapted to, and modified their environments. This novel method allowed for a more direct and nuanced understanding of how humans have affected where vegetation is distributed over millennia.
The study opens avenues for future exploration into how landscapes were shaped by different human populations around the world. Researchers are looking forward to doing similar simulations in North and South America, and Australia. One, they want to juxtapose landscapes that have been obviously affected by human impact with those that are completely unmarked.
“It would be interesting to do computer simulations of other time periods and parts of the world. North and South America and Australia are particularly interesting because they were never populated by earlier hominin species before Homo sapiens,” – Nikulina and Svenning