Effects of the climate-related changes to the vegetation and fauna on human activities in the circum-Mediterranean area during the Late Pleistocene
Published 2017-03-24
Keywords
- man and environment,
- late Ple,
- climate change impacts
Copyright (c) 2017 Italian Journal of Forest and Mountain Environments
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The climate variations which occurred during the Late Pleistocene led to significant changes in the vegetation and fauna in the circum-Mediterranean study area, made up of Southern Europe, South-West Asia and North-Eastern Africa. These changes had knock-on effects for the many human activities carried out in the area first by Homo erectus and then by H. sapiens, who left Africa for Asia 100 ka BP and for Europe 40 ka BP. These activities included harvesting of bulbs, fruits, shoots and roots, hunting and fishing, construction of dwellings, making of clothes and stone tools of various shapes and for various purposes. Finally, they also included some true artistic masterpieces, the like of which had never previously been seen.