Humans have impacted the Earth for thousands of years, according to a study

But a new global study has collected evidence that humans have significantly altered their land, contributing to Earth's transformation 10,000 years ago. Agriculture particularly affected the land 3,000 years ago. The study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The definition of land use can encompass everything from hunting and gathering activities to agriculture, to grazing animals.

Foraging, also known as hunting and gathering, was once a common practice around the world. 3,000 years ago, pastoralism or livestock breeding dissipated from Southwest Asia to Eurasia and North Africa there are about 4 000 years. Agriculture is also prevalent between 3000 and 6000 years ago. But in some parts of the world, agriculture and foraging have simultaneously been complementary.

"About 12,000 years ago, humans fed mainly, which means they did not interact with their environment as intensively as farmers," says Gary Feinman, one authors of the study and curator of MacArthur Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago. "And now, we find that 3,000 years ago, people are practicing a truly invasive agriculture in many parts of the world."

In order to cultivate the land, the forests have been cleared for planting. Domestication and animal husbandry also required clearing. In the case of these activities, it is not the pace that has changed the earth, but the widespread activity, said the researchers.

"We have witnessed an accelerated trajectory of environmental impact," said Ryan Williams, co-author of the study and associate curator and head of anthropology at the Field Museum. "While the pace at which the environment is evolving is much more radical, we are seeing the effects of human impacts on the Earth thousands of years ago."

Understanding the transformations of the planet due to the largest number of ancient civilizations has also enabled researchers to look for solutions that have also been created to prevent water scarcity or the negative impact of forest clearing.

"While modern rates and scales of global anthropogenic change are much larger than those of the deep past, the long-run cumulative changes made by early food producers are more important than many realize," he said. said Andrea Kay, author of the study at the Max Planck Institute. for the science of human history and the University of Queensland, lead author of the study. "Even small-scale or changing agriculture can bring about global change if it is contemplated on a large scale and over long periods of time," she adds.

Data from the mass has enabled researchers to assess and understand areas that have not been as deep in the past. The authors of the study hope that it is only the beginning of the study of regions that have been closed due to transportation problems, war, hostile environments or others. factors.

"What really brought me here is not so much the results, although I think the results provide a foundation to support what many archaeologists suspected," Feinman said. "But I think the most innovative aspect of it all was the design of the research.Gather information from 250 academics and make sure everyone was covered, it's really something thing."

Climate and environmental changes are occurring today at a faster pace and have more widespread effects. Research like this can help understand how this works and find ways to mitigate harmful changes.

"Contemporary science insists so much on the fact that the present is different from the past, I think this study provides a counterweight to this by showing that, yes, land use changes have been accelerated more recently, but humans have been doing it for a long time, and patterns begin 3000 years ago, "says Feinman. "This shows that the problems we face today are deeply rooted and that they will need more than simple solutions to solve them – they can not be ignored."