Evidence of slash-and-burn cultivation during the Mesolithic

Phys dot org ^ | May 17, 2022 | Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

[SunkenCiv]

As early as 9,500 years ago, people in Europe used slash-and-burn methods to make land usable for agriculture. This is shown by environmental data generated by scientists from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (S-HEP) at the University of Tübingen on the basis of two drill cores from the Ammer Valley. The data were then correlated with results from the Mesolithic scattered finds from Rottenburg-Siebenlinden excavated by the Baden-Wuerttemberg Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (State Office for Monument Preservation). In their study, published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, the scientists investigate to what extent climate or anthropogenic factors played a role in the development of the vegetation landscape of the Ammer Valley over the past 11,500 years. The researchers paid particular attention to fires used by Stone Age hunters and gatherers.

The Mesolithic began with the Holocene, the present warm period, about 11,700 years ago—and the climatic change at that time also brought about reforestation, especially with pine, birch, and hazel. The herds of ice-age steppe animals such as reindeer or mammoth were replaced by forest animals, e.g., deer and wild boar. "Typical for the Mesolithic are so-called microliths—small flint implements, which at the beginning of the Mesolithic were mostly made in a triangular and later a quadrangular fashion. Numerous artifacts of this type have been recovered from the Mesolithic scattered finds of Rottenburg-Siebenlinden near Tübingen, Germany," explains Shaddai Heidgen, a Ph.D. student at S-HEP, and she continues, "In our recent study, we explored how the landscape of the Ammer Valley changed during the Mesolithic period—and who was responsible for this change, in particular for the numerous fires during that period."

[SunkenCiv]

the rest of the Mesolithic keyword:

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• Archaeologists excavate traces of 10,000-year-old Mesolithic settlements [09/18/2021]
• This Wooden Sculpture Is Twice as Old as Stonehenge and the Pyramids [03/26/2021]
• Archaeologists Find 13,000-Year-Old Engraved Mammoth Tusk in Siberia [09/28/2020]
• Tooth decay was major problem for our ancestors 9,000 years ago [07/18/2020]
• Iranian cave estimated to date over 63,000 years [Kaldar Cave] [07/07/2020]
• Testing the DNA of cave art [07/02/2020]
• Scientists Find Possible Traces of 'Lost' Stone Age Settlement Beneath the North Sea [05/29/2019]
• Ancient chewing gum reveals Scandinavia's oldest human DNA [05/16/2019]
• We should gene-sequence cave paintings to find out more about who made them [02/16/2019]
• What Chewed-Up Gum Reveals About Life in the Stone Age [DNA] [12/19/2018]
• Life was good for Stone Age Norwegians along Oslo Fjord [06/04/2018]
• This Strange, Wooden Idol Is Twice as Old as Egyptian Pyramids [04/30/2018]
• Giant Wooden Sculpture Unearthed In 1894 Found To Be Over 11,000 Years Old [04/27/2018]
• Scientists reconstruct the face of 'angry' Mesolithic girl [01/23/2018]
• Neolithic girl's reconstructed face unveiled at Athens Acropolis Museum on January 19th [01/18/2018]
• Beaver's teeth 'used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the world' [07/10/2017]
• Archaeology suggests no direct link between climate change and early human innovation [07/06/2016]
• 'Pristine' Landscapes Haven't Existed For Thousands Of Years Due To Human Activity [06/18/2016]
• Cave art trove found in Spain 1,000 feet underground [05/29/2016]
• Stunning cave paintings found 300 metres below Spain [05/27/2016]
• Earliest evidence of humans in Ireland [03/21/2016]
• Mysterious Graves Discovered at Ancient European Cemetery [02/16/2016]
• 200,000 fish bones suggest ancient Scandinavian people were more complex than thought [02/08/2016]
• Hazelnut shells found at Skye Mesolithic site [10/25/2015]
• Mesolithic site on Skye to be investigated [09/04/2015]
• Mysterious Russian Statue Is 11,000 Years Old - Twice As Old As The Pyramids [08/30/2015]
• World's oldest wooden statue is TWICE as old as the pyramids: New analysis reveals Shigir Idol is... [08/29/2015]
• Prehistoric settlers in Scotland similar to first peoples of North America or Australia... [06/05/2015]
• Ancient underwater forest discovered off Norfolk coast [01/31/2015]
• Archaeologists say Stonehenge was "London of the Mesolithic" in Amesbury investigation [05/10/2014]
• 'How Britain's Atlantis' and its tribes were wiped out by a TSUNAMI triggered by a landslide [05/02/2014]
• A Mesolithic face from Southern Europe [03/12/2014]
• Ancient Astronomical Calendar Discovered in Scotland Predates Stonehenge by 6,000 Years [08/07/2013]
• Shellfish and the rise of modern human behaviour [06/23/2013]
• Snails Reveal Ancient Human Migration from France to Ireland [06/23/2013]
• Stonehenge 5,000 Years Older Than Thought [04/20/2013]
• Mesolithic People Adapted Their Environment In Severn Estuary [01/17/2013]
• Ancient Mariners: Did Neanderthals Sail to Mediterranean? [11/24/2012]
• Anthropologist suggests Mediterranean islands inhabited much earlier than thought [11/16/2012]
• 'Britain's Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea [07/06/2012]
• CSIC recovers part of the genome of 2 hunter-gatherer individuals from 7,000 years ago [06/30/2012]
• Seafaring in the Aegean: new dates [03/02/2012]
• Neanderthals were ancient mariners [03/02/2012]
• Complex Fish Traps Over 7,500 Years Old Found in Russia [01/26/2012]
• The Netherlands: Archaeologists Find Habitation Sites in Port of Rotterdam [11/17/2011]
• Dig reveals human skulls mounted on stakes (Sweden) [09/20/2011]
• Mesolithic 'rest stop' found at new Sainsbury's site [07/23/2011]
• Mesolithic beads found at Welsh dolmen site [02/21/2011]
• The moment Britain became an island [02/14/2011]
• Cretan tools point to 130,000-year-old sea travel [01/03/2011]
• Stone Age remains are Britain's earliest house [08/10/2010]
• On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners [02/17/2010]
• Ancient hominids may have been seafarers [01/14/2010]
• Exploration of underwater forest [Loch Tay] [07/16/2008]
• Undersea slide set off giant flow [11/22/2007]
• Paleolithic Residency Traced in Bushehr Province [08/25/2007]
• Lepenski Vir: a Mesolithic Paradise: The birth of town planning, the birth of sculpture [08/23/2007]
• Stone Age Site Surfaces After 8,000 Years [08/06/2007]
• Perthshire Rock Art Sheds Light On Scotland's Prehistoric Past [08/05/2007]
• Lost World Warning From (Under) North Sea [04/23/2007]
• Dating A Massive Undersea Slide (8,100 Year Ago) [01/05/2007]
• ARCHAEOLOGY: Stone Age World Beneath the Baltic Sea [12/09/2006]
• 'Farming in India began much earlier' [12/05/2006]
• Semi-News: Neanderthals Lived in Iranian Cave [05/04/2006]
• Neanderthals Lived In Iran's Kermanshah Caves [04/27/2006]
• Scientists Discover Lost World (8,000 Years Old) [02/15/2004]
• Stone Age Sites Found Under North Sea (8,000BC) [12/09/2003]
• Stone Age Settlements Found Underwater In Britain [09/11/2003]
• Giant Wave Hit Ancient Scotland [09/07/2001]

[SunkenCiv]

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Those bastards!

[seowulf]

But, I thought people back then were at one with nature and the Earth goddess didn’t weep.

In fact we are at one with nature and have always done what comes naturally, which is manipulate our environment to our advantage; and it’s just as natural as any anthill.

[moovova]

[Repeal The 17th]

“...slash and burn...”
-
If you are going to “burn it”,
why go to the effort of “slashing it” first?
I think it was just plain old “burn it”.

[dljordan]

You slash it and let it dry. Green stuff doesn’t burn very well.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

SLASH and burn. Not LOOT and burn. One is prehistoric behavior to improve agricultural lands. The other is prehistoric behavior to destroy your own neighborhood. Actually, the prehistoric people weren’t that stupid.

[Repeal The 17th]

Plenty of dead stuff naturally on the ground in a mesolithic forest...

[TigersEye]

14,400-Year-Old BREAD: The Oldest Ever Discovered | Ancient Architect Ancient Architects channel, video 5:41

[BenLurkin]

Antediluvian bump

[GaryCrow]

Plenty of dead stuff naturally on the ground in a mesolithic forest...

You don't grow crops in a forest, you grow them in fields. They weren't slashing and burning in forests, they were doing it in open fields so they could get rid of the weeds and refuse that had grown since the prior year's crop. Once that dried they set fire to it leave a clean field for sowing their crops.

Many farmers burn their fields and pastures today, it's the same principle.

[nicollo]

Why does this article remind me of that French girl I once knew?

[GaltAdonis]

"Once that dried they set fire to it leave a clean field for sowing their crops."

Nothing much has changed, really.

In Linn county Oregon 'Grass Seed Capitol of the World' they burn over the grass fields
so that the seeds produced in the newly sown fields are all of the same variety.
Can't have the wrong variety of grass seeds in the bags, can we?
That would be false advertising!