Anthropogenic heathlands: disturbance ecologies and the social organisation of past super-resilient landscapes

Løvschal, Mette

doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.46

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Limited yet important research from Denmark (Odgaard & Rostholm, 1987;Odgaard, 1994) and Germany (Behre, 2000a(Behre, , 2000b provides a corrective to such narratives; there, cooperation between archaeologists and palaeoecologists has revealed the role of pastoralism in the persistence of heathlands. Moreover, the study of archaeological settlement patterns may indicate that prehistoric societies were organized in a way that differs from those of historic times, for example through collective governance or open property regimes (Oosthuizen, 2013;Løvschal, 2015).…”

Section: Narratives and Approaches Informed By Historical Inferencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, a range of historical and contemporary documentation exists for comparable heathland communities managing the heaths for winter grazing or other purposes, such as the provision of fuel, building, thatching, and bedding materials, and soil improvement (Kaland, 2014). Their great chronological depth bears witness to complex deep-time entanglement and dependence on human commitment (Løvschal, 2021).…”

Section: The Dry Atlantic Heathsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, the archaeological record shows that forms of organization associated with heathland use were radically different from those of the historical single farm, such as the villages of western Jutland; the latter were probably based on other principles of collaboration and forms of commoning pertaining to demographically larger communities (Løvschal, 2015). Through further exploration of such organizations, we may also develop alternative narratives to explain prehistoric heathlands, rather than use narratives built on historical documentation.…”

Section: Points For Potential and Future Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our review emerges from the ERC-funded project ‘Anthropogenic Heathlands: The Social Organisation of Super-Resilient Past Human Ecosystems’ (ANTHEA), which investigates the emergence of heathland regimes in late prehistoric northern Europe (Løvschal, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic Heathlands in Prehistoric Atlantic Europe: Review and Future Prospects

Ombashi

Løvschal

2022

Eur. j. archaeol

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Heathlands are unique cultural landscapes that once existed across vast stretches of northern Europe. Their deep-time persistence has formed an intrinsic part of economic and cultural practices. Such a complex interaction requires interdisciplinary approaches, including archaeology, across multiple regions to fully grasp all its aspects. The authors of this article review how research has been conducted in prehistoric heathlands across six nations in north-western Europe and outline the heaths’ general characteristics. They discuss the major issues in that research, namely recurring narratives derived from history, an overall absence of consideration of the cultural aspects of heathlands, and a paucity of cross-regional initiatives. They suggest a series of theoretical and methodological approaches to improve this situation across expanded geographical and temporal scales.

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Section: Narratives and Approaches Informed By Historical Inferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Dry Atlantic Heathsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Points For Potential and Future Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic Heathlands in Prehistoric Atlantic Europe: Review and Future Prospects

Ombashi

Løvschal

2022

Eur. j. archaeol

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“…Heathland longevity depends on the long‐term persistence of relationships within socio‐ecological systems in which stability and disturbance are intrinsically linked; heathlands require a certain level of (non)human disturbance to recalibrate and regain their relative instability and quantities (Løvschal, 2021 ). Moreover, the persistence of a given ecosystem—what Mitchell et al ( 2000 ) call ‘stability’ and what Holling calls ‘resilience’ ( 1973 )—cannot be adequately measured without taking longer time frames into consideration than are normally applied in the ecological realm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the ecological resilience of Atlantic postglacial heathlands

Løvschal

Damgaard

2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Anthropogenic heathlands are semi‐natural ecosystems with a unique cultural and biodiversity value, considered worthy of preservation across most of the world. Their rate of loss, however, is alarming. Currently, we know little about the heathlands' actual span of resilience affordances and their association with abiotic and anthropogenic factors, including how much additional intervention they need to persist. Consequently, we are missing out on vital knowledge for conservation, management and the historical persistence of heathlands. This paper develops a method to assess the ecological resilience affordances of Atlantic postglacial heaths in the absence of human management. We use 12 existing cases of heathland succession to establish a four‐step resilience grade for each site, which we regress onto a series of explaining factors and use it in predicting heath resilience across postglacial Atlantic Northern Europe. We find that temperature, humidity, elevation and sandiness have a positive correlation with high heathland resilience. Our predictive mapping shows an uneven distribution of ecological heath resilience across Atlantic Northern Europe within an area of 1,000 × 1,200 km of 5 × 5 km resolution. Historic heathland distributions far exceed areas that afford high heath resilience, suggesting that heath distribution and persistence depend on both abiotic and anthropogenic factors. Policy implications: The map predicting the ecological resilience of Atlantic postglacial heaths can be used by managers working towards heath preservation and restoration to prioritize conservation efforts and to plan management practices across Atlantic Northern Europe. Together with the predictive model, it provides an important initial screening tool to assess heathland resilience in the absence of management as well as the impact of atmospheric nitrogen. The results are equally relevant for scholars who are interested in humans' role in increasing and decreasing ecosystem resilience. Our predictive method can be applied in other regions across the world by adding regionally specific variables.

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Creation of Cultural Landscapes – Decision-Making and Perception Within Specific Ecological Settings

Dörfler,

Dreibrodt,

Eriksen

et al. 2024

Quantitative Archaeology and Archaeological Modelling

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This chapter starts with a theoretical introduction to the concept of the creation and perception of cultural landscapes. Niche construction theory and human agency, often treated as controverse concepts are discussed as complementary aspects of human environment relations. The DPSIR framework (the concept of Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) is applied as valuable approach for the explanation of the transformations in human behaviour in reaction to environmental developments. Aspects of intended and unintended reactions to human agency and action are discussed as well as the temporal and spatial scales of transformations that consequently occured. Therefore, four examples are presented from case studies within the CRC 1266. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic use of natural resources will have left visible but short-lived traces in the landscape as first steps towards a cultural landscape. The role of humans in the spread of plants and the influence of human action on the plant distribution and composition are discussed in this context. The Neolithic transformation shows a new dimension of changes in the landscape. The producing economy leads to a wide range of resource extractions that enable a much higher population being nourished by the manipulated environment with anthropogenic open land as a new landscape element or niche. Bronze Age progression and intensification of land use in many areas lead to soil degradation and the widespread expansion of heathlands. Even though the process was too slow to be perceived consciously, associated economic adaptations to this new type of cultural landscape are observable. The fourth example explains an unexpected positive aspect of deforestation. In the context of Neolithic Trypillian megasites the soil developed towards a deep and fertile Chernozem. The role of earthworms is discussed as key factor for the soil development in the transition from a forest and forest steppe towards the agrarian steppe of today. The difference between human agency and human action is discussed for the presented examples as the awareness of the consequences of human behaviour very much depends the velocity of changes and human perception.

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Anthropogenic heathlands: disturbance ecologies and the social organisation of past super-resilient landscapes

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 11 publications

References 4 publications

Anthropogenic Heathlands in Prehistoric Atlantic Europe: Review and Future Prospects

Anthropogenic Heathlands in Prehistoric Atlantic Europe: Review and Future Prospects

Mapping the ecological resilience of Atlantic postglacial heathlands

Creation of Cultural Landscapes – Decision-Making and Perception Within Specific Ecological Settings

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