https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.abj5567
15 Dec 2021
Landscape modification by Last Interglacial Neanderthals
Abstract
Little is known about the antiquity, nature, and scale
of Pleistocene hunter-gatherer impact on their ecosystems,
despite the importance for studies of conservation and
human evolution. Such impact is likely to be limited,
mainly because of low population densities, and
challenging to detect and interpret in terms of
cause-effect dynamics. We present high-resolution
paleoenvironmental and archaeological data from the Last
Interglacial locality of Neumark-Nord (Germany). Among
the factors that shaped vegetation structure and
succession in this lake landscape, we identify a distinct
ecological footprint of hominin activities, including
fire use. We compare these data with evidence from
archaeological and baseline sites from the same region.
At Neumark-Nord, notably open vegetation coincides with
a virtually continuous c. 2000-year-long hominin presence,
and the comparative data strongly suggest that hominins
were a contributing factor. With an age of c. 125,000
years, Neumark-Nord provides an early example of a
hominin role in vegetation transformation.
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