18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Neanderthals caused ecosystems to change 125,000 years ago

Researchers say Neanderthals changed the ecosystem by turning forests into grasslands 125,000 years ago.

Around 125,000 years ago, these close human relatives transformed a largely forested area bordering two central European lakes into a relatively open landscape, says archaeologist Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University in the Netherlands, and his colleagues.

They discovered a clear imprint of Neanderthal activity in the area around the Neumark-Nord site, a dig location in the Geisel Valley in Saxony-Anhalt that dates back about 125,000 years, according to a study published Wednesday in Science Advances.

According to their results, activities including hunting, animal processing, toolmaking, and fire use may explain why the region’s woods were removed during this era compared to vegetation surrounding other neighboring lakes.

‘The question is, of course, whether it became open because of the arrival of hominins, or whether hominins came because it was open? However, we have found sufficient evidence to conclude that hunter-gatherers kept the area open for at least 2,000 years.’ Comparative research conducted by Leiden palaeobotanist Professor Corrie Bakels has shown that at similar lakes in the area, where the same animals roamed, but where there are no traces of Neanderthals, the dense forest vegetation remained largely intact.

Numerous stone artifacts such as these, unearthed at the Neumark-Nord site in Germany, contributed to a reconstruction of Neandertals’ environment-altering behaviors over a span of around 2,000 years.
Numerous stone artifacts such as these, unearthed at the Neumark-Nord site in Germany, contributed to a reconstruction of Neandertals’ environment-altering behaviors over a span of around 2,000 years. Photo: EDUARD POP/LEIDEN UNIVERSITY 

The researchers compared the data with two other nearby locations that are also located in the eastern region of the Harz Mountains in Germany, they said.

While pollen composition and levels at these other locations imply a closed, wooded environment, pollen measurements from Neumark-Nord show more open vegetation, a pattern that contradicts the rest of the region, according to the researchers.

The findings, when combined with charcoal data and earlier evidence of the existence of Neanderthals in the area, implying that early human hunter-gatherers left a lasting impression on the region’s ecology, according to the researchers.

Until recently, it was widely assumed that people began to influence their environment around 10,000 years ago, when they began to cultivate agriculture, for example, by chopping down forests to make fields. Many archaeologists believe it began much earlier, on a lesser scale, and Neumark-Nord is the first evidence of such intervention, according to Roebroeks.

According to Roebroeks, the new study findings are crucial not just for archaeology but also for fields such as ecological restoration. ‘ It also contributes to our understanding of early hunter-gatherer behavior. They weren’t just “primal hippies” roaming the countryside gathering fruit and hunting animals. They helped shape their landscape.

W. Roebroeks et alLandscape modification by Last Interglacial NeanderthalsScience Advances. Published online December 15, 2021. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5567.

Cover Photo: WIL ROEBROEKS/LEIDEN UNIVERSITY

Related Articles

Iron Age Warriors Bend the Swords of Their Defeated Enemies

22 April 2021

22 April 2021

Archaeologists from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) announced that a metal detector has discovered “one of the largest Iron Age...

A 4,500-year-old rope remains were discovered at Turkey’s Seyitömer mound

26 December 2021

26 December 2021

In the rescue excavation carried out in the mound, which is located within the license border of Çelikler Seyitömer Electricity...

Archaeologists Discovered “Temple of the Emperors” in the Agora of the Ancient City of Nikopolis, Greece

30 May 2024

30 May 2024

The Greek Ministry of Culture declared that fresh discoveries had been made during archaeological excavations at the ancient Nikopolis Agora...

An Ancient Site Found in UAE may be Sixth-Century Lost City of Tu’am

18 June 2024

18 June 2024

Ruins from the sixth century have been discovered during excavations in the United Arab Emirates Umm Al Quwain region, which...

Evidence of Necromancy during Roman era in the Te’omim Cave, Jerusalem Hills: Oil Lamps, Spearheads, and Skulls

14 July 2023

14 July 2023

Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem Hills may once have served as a local oracle where people communed with the dead...

Climate and Archaic humans caused the extinction of giant camels that lived in Mongolia 27,000 years ago, a study says

3 April 2022

3 April 2022

Camelus knoblochi, a species of giant two-humped camel, survived in Mongolia alongside modern humans—and perhaps Neanderthals and Denisovans—until about 27,000...

Prehistoric Cave Art Handprints With Missing Fingertips Point to Ritual Amputation

3 January 2024

3 January 2024

Researchers who examined prehistoric cave art in France and Spain, a new interpretation of Paleolithic cave art proposes that prehistoric...

DNA from 20,000-year-old deer-tooth pendant reveals woman who wore it

4 May 2023

4 May 2023

A pendant made of a deer tooth that was exposed to DNA about 20,000 years ago has yielded clues about...

Experts say that the Stone of Destiny was a doorstep

2 May 2024

2 May 2024

The Stone of Destiny’s recorded links to Scottish royalty date back almost 1000 years, and its origins are shrouded in...

A Unique 2000-Year-Old Oil Lamp Found in Israel

5 May 2021

5 May 2021

Archaeologists have discovered a rare 2,000-year-old oil lamp in David, Jerusalem. Archaeologists have discovered a rare oil lamp, shaped like...

After 1,300 years, water to again flow from monumental fountain in the City of Gladiators in Turkey

30 December 2022

30 December 2022

The approximately 2,000-year-old monumental fountain in the ancient city of Kibyra in Golhisar, Burdur in southwestern Turkey will start flowing...

Rare textiles and dwellings discovered in the submerged Neolithic settlement near Rome

6 June 2023

6 June 2023

Underwater archaeologists have discovered rare, well-preserved textiles, basketry, and cordage from the early Neolithic period in an area near Rome,...

Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

16 September 2023

16 September 2023

Shrubbery intended to illuminate a corner of a nondescript parking lot in Japan’s Nara prefecture turned out to be hiding...

The earliest manuscript of Gospel about Jesus’s childhood discovered in Germany

14 June 2024

14 June 2024

A newly deciphered manuscript dating back 1,600 years has been determined to be the oldest record of Jesus Christ’s childhood,...

Karahantepe; It will radically change the way we look at the Neolithic Age

1 June 2022

1 June 2022

Findings on settled village life in the ongoing excavations in Karahantepe will profoundly change our knowledge of the Neolithic Age....