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Neanderthals and Early Humans: Europe's Original Ecological Engineers

10/24/2025

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Summary

Story summary

An international team found that Neanderthals shaped European landscapes through fire management and hunting during the Last Interglacial.
In the Early Holocene, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers affected nearly 47% of plant distributions, signaling strong ecological influence.
The findings challenge the notion of a pristine wilderness in pre-agricultural Europe and frame early humans as ecological engineers.
As a consequence, researchers urge reevaluating conservation strategies to account for historic human influences on ecosystems.

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Story summary

An international team found that Neanderthals shaped European landscapes through fire management and hunting during the Last Interglacial.
In the Early Holocene, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers affected nearly 47% of plant distributions, signaling strong ecological influence.
The findings challenge the notion of a pristine wilderness in pre-agricultural Europe and frame early humans as ecological engineers.
As a consequence, researchers urge reevaluating conservation strategies to account for historic human influences on ecosystems.