| 1. |
- Stephens, Lucas, et al.
(författare)
-
Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science. - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 365:6456, s. 897-902
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth’s surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present.Science, this issue p. 897; see also p. 865Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
|
|
| 2. |
- Cui, Qiao-Yu, et al.
(författare)
-
A case study of the role of climate, humans, and ecological setting in Holocene fire history of northwestern Europe
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Science China. Earth Sciences. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1674-7313 .- 1869-1897. ; 58:2, s. 195-210
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the major results from studies of fire history over the last 11000 years (Holocene) in southern Sweden, on the basis of palaeoecological analyses of peat sequences from three small peat bogs. The main objective is to emphasize the value of multiple, continuous sedimentary records of macroscopic charcoal (macro-C) for the reconstruction of local to regional past changes in fire regimes, the importance of multi-proxy studies, and the advantage of model-based estimates of plant cover from pollen data to assess the role of tree composition and human impact in fire history. The chronologies at the three study sites are based on a large number of C-14 dates from terrestrial plant remains and age-depth models are achieved using Bayesian statistics. Fire history is inferred from continuous records of macro-C and microscopic charcoal counts on pollen slides. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) for pollen-based quantitative reconstruction of local vegetation cover is applied on the three pollen records for plant cover reconstruction over the entire Holocene. The results are as follows: (1) the long-term trends in fire regimes are similar between sites, i.e., frequent fires during the early Holocene until ca. 9 ka BP, low fire frequency during the mid-Holocene, and higher fire frequency from ca. 2.5 ka BP; (2) this broad trend agrees with the overall fire history of northwestern and western Europe north of the Mediterranean area, and is due to climate forcing in the early and mid-Holocene, and to anthropogenic land-use in the late Holocene; (3) the LRA estimates of plant cover at the three sites demonstrate that the relative abundance of pine played a primordial role in the early and mid-Holocene fire history; and (4) the between-site differences in the charcoal records and inferred fire history are due to local factors (i.e., relative abundance of pine, geomorphological setting, and anthropogenic land-use) and taphonomy of charcoal deposition in the small peat bogs. It is shown that continuous macro-C records are most useful to disentangle local from regional-subcontinental fire history, and climate-induced from human-induced fire regimes, and that pollen-based LRA estimates of local plant cover are more adequate than pollen percentages for the assessment of the role of plant composition on fire history.
|
|
| 3. |
- Gaillard, Marie-José, 1953-
(författare)
-
Archaeological Applications
- 2013. - 2
-
Ingår i: The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 9780444536433 ; , s. 880-904
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
- Gaillard, Marie-José, et al.
(författare)
-
The potential of pollen-based quantitative vegetation reconstructions in studies of past human settlements and use of resources – examples from Europe
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a long tradition of collaboration between palaeoecologists and archaeologists in many parts of the world with the purpose of reconstructing the environment of humans through time and the study of the interactions between humans and their environment. Vegetation (i.e. vegetated landscapes and plants) has long been one of the most important parts of the environment for humans’ resources. Thanks to the interpretation of palaeoecological data such as pollen and plant macrofossils, it is well known that humans have used plants for their subsistence and formed many landscapes of the Earth through their activities over many millennia. Pollen analysis in particular has been used to reconstruct the landscapes of humans in order i) to learn something on their use of the landscape for building material, grazing and food (e.g. woods, grazed land, cultivated fields), and ii) to understand their influence on the landscape through deforestation in particular. Pollen data as proxy records of vegetation have been very useful to provide qualitative descriptions of cultural landscapes through time in terms of the presence of major tree, shrub and herb species, and the character of the landscape, wooded, “half-wooded” (or partly wooded), and primarily open (poorly wooded) (1). Efforts to calibrate pollen onto land-use in the 1990ies has made possible to provide more precise and detailed interpretation of pollen records in terms of land-use type (2). However, when it came to questions related to the size of cultivated land or grazed land in relation to wooded land, interpretation of pollen records has been problematic until recently. The non-linear relationship between pollen and vegetation due to inter-taxonomic differences in pollen productivity and pollen dispersion and deposition characteristics of plant taxa has long hampered estimation of the percentage cover of plant taxa or landscape units in the past. Thanks torecent developments in pollen-vegetation modelling, a new approach - the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) (3, 4) - makes it possible to estimate the cover of plant taxa or landscape units at both regional and local spatial scales using pollen records. The LRA has been tested and applied in various types of studies in Europe in particular. Examples from Europe and Scandinavia show that pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of vegetation cover, in combination with other palaeoecological records such as insect and plant macroremains, show the great potential of such studies to provide new insights on the use of landscapes and vegetation by humans in the past and its environmental consequences at both regional and local spatial scales (5, 6). These results provide a new environmental framework for the discussion and testing of hypotheses based on archaeological data.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hellman, Sofie, et al.
(författare)
-
Estimating the Relevant Source Area of Pollen in the past cultural landscapes of southern Sweden : A forward modelling approach
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. - : Elsevier. - 0034-6667 .- 1879-0615. ; 153:3-4, s. 259-271
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we estimate the Relevant Source Area of Pollen (RSAP) in past hypothetical landscapes of the Middle and Late Holocene in southern Sweden, in order to explore the possible effects of past changes in vegetation composition, openness and structure in terms of patch size and spatial distribution. The RSAP of small basins (bogs or lakes) in the past has to be estimated if quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation at the local spatial scale is to be achieved using Sugita's Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA). In this study we apply a forward modelling approach to estimate past RSAP using the computer simulation model HUMPOL The landscape designs are based on past landscape maps produced using a combination of palaeobotanical, archaeological and historical data, and the area's geology and soil characteristics. Four time windows characterised by different landscape/land-use were selected, i.e. Early Neolithic, Late Bronze Age, Viking Age, and Middle Ages. We found that RSAP estimates for hypothetical past landscapes in Skane differ by ca. 600 m to 1200 m between the selected time periods, whatever the size of the basin (lake or bog, 25250 m radius). The most probable explanation for the differences in RSAP between time slices is variable patch size and spatial distribution of patches in the landscape. The RSAPs vary between ca. 1200 and 2300 m for small basins (25 m and 70 m radius), and between ca. 2000 and 3000 m for larger basins (250 m radius). These values are within the range of earlier estimates of modern and past RSAPs for southern Scandinavia obtained using simulated or empirical data. These results suggest that, given the type of setting of that region in terms of taxa composition and traditional land-use, the RSAP for small-size lakes (25-250 m radius) will generally be in the range ca. 1200-3000 m. The forward modelling approach is found to be useful to assess the possible effects on RSAP of changes in vegetation/landscape characteristics between different periods of the past. Moreover, comparison of RSAP estimates obtained using both the forward and backward modelling approaches will be important to identify the most credible RSAP estimates for the past.
|
|
| 7. |
- Marchant, Rob, et al.
(författare)
-
Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa : Human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Earth-Science Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0012-8252 .- 1872-6828. ; 178, s. 322-378
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- East African landscapes today are the result of the cumulative effects of climate and land-use change over millennial timescales. In this review, we compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions, over the past 6000 years. Throughout East Africa there have been a series of relatively rapid and high-magnitude environmental shifts characterised by changing hydrological budgets during the mid- to late Holocene. For example, pronounced environmental shifts that manifested as a marked change in the rainfall amount or seasonality and subsequent hydrological budget throughout East Africa occurred around 4000, 800 and 300 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). The past 6000 years have also seen numerous shifts in human interactions with East African ecologies. From the mid-Holocene, land use has both diversified and increased exponentially, this has been associated with the arrival of new subsistence systems, crops, migrants and technologies, all giving rise to a sequence of significant phases of land-cover change. The first large-scale human influences began to occur around 4000 yr BP, associated with the introduction of domesticated livestock and the expansion of pastoral communities. The first widespread and intensive forest clearances were associated with the arrival of iron-using early farming communities around 2500 yr BP, particularly in productive and easily-cleared mid-altitudinal areas. Extensive and pervasive land-cover change has been associated with population growth, immigration and movement of people. The expansion of trading routes between the interior and the coast, starting around 1300 years ago and intensifying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE, was one such process. These caravan routes possibly acted as conduits for spreading New World crops such as maize (Zea mays), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), although the processes and timings of their introductions remains poorly documented. The introduction of southeast Asian domesticates, especially banana (Musa spp.), rice (Oryza spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and chicken (Gallus gallus), via transoceanic biological transfers around and across the Indian Ocean, from at least around 1300 yr BP, and potentially significantly earlier, also had profound social and ecological consequences across parts of the region. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of information and metadatasets, we explore the different drivers and directions of changes in land-cover, and the associated environmental histories and interactions with various cultures, technologies, and subsistence strategies through time and across space in East Africa. This review suggests topics for targeted future research that focus on areas and/or time periods where our understanding of the interactions between people, the environment and land-cover change are most contentious and/or poorly resolved. The review also offers a perspective on how knowledge of regional land-use change can be used to inform and provide perspectives on contemporary issues such as climate and ecosystem change models, conservation strategies, and the achievement of nature-based solutions for development purposes.
|
|
| 8. |
- Morrison, Kathleen D., et al.
(författare)
-
Mapping past human land use using archaeological data : A new classification for global land use synthesis and data harmonization
- 2021
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 16:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.
|
|
| 9. |
- Nikulina, Anastasia, et al.
(författare)
-
Tracking Hunter-Gatherer Impact on Vegetation in Last Interglacial and Holocene Europe : Proxies and Challenges
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Journal of archaeological method and theory. - : Springer Nature. - 1072-5369 .- 1573-7764. ; 29, s. 989-1033
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We review palaeoenvironmental proxies and combinations of these relevant for understanding hunter-gatherer niche construction activities in pre-agricultural Europe. Our approach consists of two steps: (1) identify the possible range of hunter-gatherer impacts on landscapes based on ethnographic studies; (2) evaluate proxies possibly reflecting these impacts for both the Eemian (Last Interglacial, Middle Palaeolithic) and the Early-Middle Holocene (Mesolithic). We found these paleoenvironmental proxies were not able to unequivocally establish clear-cut differences between specific anthropogenic, climatic and megafaunal impacts for either time period in this area. We discuss case studies for both periods and show that published evidence for Mesolithic manipulation of landscapes is based on the interpretation of comparable data as available for the Last Interglacial. If one applies the 'Mesolithic' interpretation schemes to the Neanderthal record, three common niche construction activities can be hypothesised: vegetation burning, plant manipulation and impact on animal species presence and abundance. Our review suggests that as strong a case can be made for a Neanderthal impact on landscapes as for anthropogenic landscape changes during the Mesolithic, even though the Neanderthal evidence comes from only one high-resolution site complex. Further research should include attempts (e.g. by means of modelling studies) to establish whether hunter-gatherer impact on landscapes played out at a local level only versus at a larger scale during both time periods, while we also need to obtain comparative data on the population sizes of Last Interglacial and Holocene hunter-gatherers, as these are usually inferred to have differed significantly.
|
|
| 10. |
- Trondman, Anna-Kari, et al.
(författare)
-
Are pollen records from small sites appropriate for REVEALS model-based quantitative reconstructions of past regional vegetation? : An empirical test in southern Sweden
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 25:2, s. 131-151
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we test the performance of the Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites (REVEALS) model using pollen records from multiple small sites. We use Holocene pollen records from large and small sites in southern Sweden to identify what is/are the most significant variable(s) affecting the REVEALS-based reconstructions, i.e. type of site (lakes and/or bogs), number of sites, site size, site location in relation to vegetation zones, and/or distance between small sites and large sites. To achieve this objective we grouped the small sites according to (i) the two major modern vegetation zones of the study region, and (ii) the distance between the small sites and large lakes, i.e. small sites within 50, 100, 150, or 200 km of the large lakes. The REVEALS-based reconstructions were performed using 24 pollen taxa. Redundancy analysis was performed on the results from all REVEALS-model runs using the groups within (i) and (ii) separately, and on the results from all runs using the groups within (ii) together. The explanatory power and significance of the variables were identified using forward selection and Monte Carlo permutation tests. The results show that (a) although the REVEALS model was designed for pollen data from large lakes, it also performs well with pollen data from multiple small sites in reconstructing the percentage cover of groups of plant taxa (e.g. open land taxa, summer-green trees, evergreen trees) or individual plant taxa; however, in the case of this study area, the reconstruction of the percentage cover of Calluna vulgaris, Cyperaceae, and Betula may be problematic when using small bogs; (b) standard errors of multiple small-site REVEALS estimates will generally be larger than those obtained using pollen records from large lakes, and they will decrease with increasing size of pollen counts and increasing number of small sites; (c) small lakes are better to use than small bogs if the total number of small sites is low; and (d) the size of small sites and the distance between them do not play a major role, but the distance between the small sites and landscape/vegetation boundaries is a determinant factor for the accuracy of the vegetation reconstructions.
|
|
