Man and vegetation in the Mediterranean area during the last 20,000 years

Abstract

Chronological ecology based on studies of plant macro remains, especially prehistoric charcoal, provides evidence concerning the changes in western Mediterranean vegetation during the past millennia. Comparisons are based on present vegetation zones as defined by Ozenda (1975). From the last glacial period to the present time, climatic differences between warm and cool vegetation zones were of about 8°C in the south of France but less extreme in more southern regions. Pines and junipers were characteristic of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (late Paleolithic and part of Mesolithic). The late Mesolithic and the early Neolithic are periods of forest optimum. During the Neolithic, deciduous and evergreen oaks had a role of varying importance among all the present Mediterranean zones. Man’s influence on the vegetation became significant in the middle Neolithic (south of France) or earlier (south of Spain) and may be characterized by the presence of plants such as Buxus sempervirens, Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis and Erica. The Chalcolithic, the Roman period, and the Middle Ages are also important periods of man’s influence.