New Perspectives on People and Forests, World Forests 9,DOI 10.1007/97 - PDF document

New Perspectives on People and Forests, World Forests 9,DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1150-1_2, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011Landscapes can be considered as the cradle of culture, but culture has also formed these landscapes In the cultural landscapes of Europe, forests are often regarded as the last wild places and vestiges of untouched nature. However, forests have been affected by human activity from the early beginning of human settlement. In fact, the availability of forests and their products has been an essential precondition for the development of human culture and civilization. One of the most important transitions in human history is the change from hunter-gatherer cultures to the early agricultural activities of Neolithic people (Edwards ). This change in human culture is closely related to an increasing exploitation of forests, and while agriculture marks the rise of modern civilization, it was often the overuse of forests that contributed to the downfall of cultures (e.g., Thirgood ). Hence, many regions of Europe have repeatedly been subject to deforestation, abandonment and afforestation (Behre ). Russell () divides the history of forest use into three stages:hunting, gathering and shifting cultivationprimarily agricultural usescommercial intensive use for industrial products and processesIn the following, human impact on forest ecosystems in Europe is described from the Upper Palaeolithic period to the introduction of agriculture in the Neolithic period and during early historic times. Consequences for forest distribution and species composition are discussed along with the growing awareness of people of the protection of this natural resource. Department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University, Sohngaardsholmsvej 57,9000 Aalborg, Denmarke-mail: er@civil.aau.dkChapter 2Forests in Landscapes – The Myth of Untouched WildernessEva Ritter