Which events and processes in the past might have been important for an understanding of the use and management of biodiversity and ecosystems today?
What does history tell us about the degree of freedom and constraints of humans in
their environment?
Is the timeline of putative important events and processes in environmental history
influenced by recent environmental perception and problems?
Did our perception of the environment change with the increased secularization of
society?
How is environmental perception, including environmental stress and fear,
connected with knowledge, social behaviour and risk management?
It is impossible to disentangle this complex issue in a short discussion, as it
necessarily involves many different disciplines, including at least climatology,
evolutionary ecology, biogeography, environmental psychology, ethics, disaster
sociology, economy. This chapter can, thus, only attempt to provide an overview
of the basic issues.
To answer the questions it is necessary to use empirical data. The following date
specifications, and age or duration data represent recent knowledge. However, many
time specifications have changed in recent decades and it is clear that many will have
to be adjusted again in the future.
2 Environmental Effects on Humans and Human Influence
on Nature
It is unknown when exactly humans began to alter the structure of landscapes. On the
other hand, human influence was simply not possible before people actually
occurred in a region. Thus, we can assume that the first important step towards the
influence on different regions and ecosystems in the world was the migration and
dispersal of humans.
Several million years ago early humans (hominins) evolved in Africa. Different
species of humans dispersed to Europe, Asia and Indonesia between two million and
600,000 years ago and arrived in Australia, S America and N America c. 65,000,
33,000 and 12,000 years BP, respectively (Reed et al. 2004; Wood and Strait 2004;
Wood and Richmond 2000; Macchiarelli et al. 1999). On the basis of their morphology, the ancestors of modern humans (Homo sapiens) were described as archaic
species such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo
neanderthalensis, and others. It is now known that Homo neanderthalensis and
Homo sapiens were living together about 60,000 years ago in the Middle East, and
that they were able to interbreed. Modern humans carry traces of Neanderthal DNA
and probably of other archaic humans in their genome (Green et al. 2010;
Sankararaman et al. 2014; McCoy et al. 2017).
Thus, the terminology of modern vs. archaic humans has recently became a little
outdated. Knowledge of the skull morphology and genetics of early humans does not
Environmental History
5
What does history tell us about the degree of freedom and constraints of humans in
their environment?
Is the timeline of putative important events and processes in environmental history
influenced by recent environmental perception and problems?
Did our perception of the environment change with the increased secularization of
society?
How is environmental perception, including environmental stress and fear,
connected with knowledge, social behaviour and risk management?
It is impossible to disentangle this complex issue in a short discussion, as it
necessarily involves many different disciplines, including at least climatology,
evolutionary ecology, biogeography, environmental psychology, ethics, disaster
sociology, economy. This chapter can, thus, only attempt to provide an overview
of the basic issues.
To answer the questions it is necessary to use empirical data. The following date
specifications, and age or duration data represent recent knowledge. However, many
time specifications have changed in recent decades and it is clear that many will have
to be adjusted again in the future.
2 Environmental Effects on Humans and Human Influence
on Nature
It is unknown when exactly humans began to alter the structure of landscapes. On the
other hand, human influence was simply not possible before people actually
occurred in a region. Thus, we can assume that the first important step towards the
influence on different regions and ecosystems in the world was the migration and
dispersal of humans.
Several million years ago early humans (hominins) evolved in Africa. Different
species of humans dispersed to Europe, Asia and Indonesia between two million and
600,000 years ago and arrived in Australia, S America and N America c. 65,000,
33,000 and 12,000 years BP, respectively (Reed et al. 2004; Wood and Strait 2004;
Wood and Richmond 2000; Macchiarelli et al. 1999). On the basis of their morphology, the ancestors of modern humans (Homo sapiens) were described as archaic
species such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo
neanderthalensis, and others. It is now known that Homo neanderthalensis and
Homo sapiens were living together about 60,000 years ago in the Middle East, and
that they were able to interbreed. Modern humans carry traces of Neanderthal DNA
and probably of other archaic humans in their genome (Green et al. 2010;
Sankararaman et al. 2014; McCoy et al. 2017).
Thus, the terminology of modern vs. archaic humans has recently became a little
outdated. Knowledge of the skull morphology and genetics of early humans does not
Environmental History
5