Neanderthals and Hunter-Gatherers Engineered European Landscapes Before Farming

Pre-Agricultural Humans: The Original Ecosystem Engineers of Europe

A groundbreaking new study is fundamentally reshaping our understanding of human impact on the environment, revealing that significant landscape modification in Europe began not with the advent of agriculture, but tens of thousands of years earlier. The research confirms that Neanderthals and subsequent Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were powerful ecological forces, using tools like fire and strategic hunting to actively shape the European environment long before the Neolithic Revolution brought farming to the continent.

This finding challenges the long-held paradigm that the major transformation of European landscapes only began around 8,000 years ago when Neolithic farmers cleared forests for crops. Instead, early human populations, even in small numbers, acted as ecosystem engineers, creating the biodiverse, open landscapes that characterized much of pre-historic Europe.

The Mechanisms of Change: Fire and Megafauna Hunting

The study, which synthesized vast amounts of archaeological, paleoenvironmental, and paleoclimatic data, pinpointed two primary methods by which early humans exerted control over their environment:

1. Intentional Fire Use

While natural wildfires occurred, the evidence suggests that both Neanderthals and Mesolithic groups intentionally used fire as a land management tool. These anthropogenic fires (fires caused by humans) were used to clear dense undergrowth, manage forest structure, and create open areas. Why?

• Attracting Game: Fresh growth after a burn attracts grazing animals, making hunting easier and more predictable.
• Improving Visibility: Clearing dense forests provided better lines of sight for hunting and defense.
• Resource Management: Promoting the growth of specific edible plants that thrive in disturbed areas.

2. Strategic Hunting and Megafauna Decline

During the Paleolithic era, Europe was home to massive herbivores—megafauna—including elephants, woolly rhinoceroses, and giant bison. While climate change certainly played a role in their eventual decline, intense hunting pressure from human groups was a critical factor.

By targeting and reducing populations of large herbivores, early humans indirectly altered the vegetation. These large animals were natural grazers and browsers that kept forests open. Their decline allowed certain types of vegetation to flourish, but the continued human use of fire prevented the landscape from reverting to dense, closed forests, instead favoring a mosaic landscape of patchy woodland and grassland.

The Creation of the Mosaic Landscape

This continuous, low-level intervention by hunter-gatherers resulted in a highly valuable ecological structure known as a mosaic landscape. This was not a pristine wilderness untouched by human hands, but a dynamic environment managed by human activity and natural processes.

Key Characteristics of the Pre-Neolithic Landscape:

• Patchwork Ecology: Areas of open grassland interspersed with dense forest patches, riparian zones, and scrubland.
• Biodiversity Hotspots: This varied environment supported a greater diversity of plant and animal species than uniform dense forests.
• Resilience: The landscape was resilient to minor climatic shifts because of its varied structure.

This research emphasizes that the shift from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic—a period marked by the retreat of the Ice Age—saw human populations adapting their strategies, but maintaining their role as landscape managers. The Mesolithic people, in particular, perfected the use of fire to maintain these open, productive ecosystems, ensuring a reliable supply of game and resources.

Re-evaluating the Anthropocene Timeline

This study adds significant weight to the argument that the history of human-environment interaction is far longer and more complex than previously thought. For decades, the Anthropocene (the proposed geological epoch defined by human impact) was often linked to the Industrial Revolution or, at the earliest, the Neolithic period.

By demonstrating that human activity was a primary driver of ecological change—altering vegetation structure and contributing to megafauna extinction—tens of thousands of years ago, the research suggests that the concept of “pristine wilderness” in Europe is largely a myth. Human influence is deeply embedded in the continent’s ecological history.

“The cumulative impact of these activities—fire use and hunting—over millennia meant that even small, mobile groups of people had a profound and lasting effect on the environment,” noted researchers involved in the study. “This requires us to re-examine the timeline of human ecological dominance.”

This perspective is crucial for modern conservation efforts, suggesting that many of the biodiverse ecosystems we value today are, in fact, legacies of ancient human management, rather than purely natural formations.

Key Takeaways for Understanding Early European History

• Early Influence: Human populations, including Neanderthals, were active agents of ecological change in Europe, not just passive inhabitants.
• Tools of Transformation: The primary tools used for landscape management were intentional fire and strategic hunting of large herbivores (megafauna).
• Mosaic Creation: These activities prevented the formation of continuous, dense forests, instead fostering a highly biodiverse mosaic landscape of open areas and woodlands.
• Pre-Neolithic Shift: Significant landscape alteration occurred well before the arrival of agriculture, challenging the traditional view that the Neolithic era marked the beginning of human-driven environmental change.
• Conservation Context: Understanding that current ecosystems may be the result of ancient human management is vital for developing effective, historically informed conservation strategies today.

Conclusion: A Deeper History of Human-Environment Coexistence

The evidence presented in this research compels historians, archaeologists, and ecologists to acknowledge the deep historical roots of human influence on the planet. The picture of pre-agricultural Europe is not one of untouched wilderness, but a landscape actively shaped and managed by intelligent, resourceful hunter-gatherers. Their legacy is the very structure of the European environment, a structure that allowed for greater biodiversity and resilience, demonstrating a sophisticated, long-term relationship between early humans and their surroundings.