Introduction

Human-induced modification of the environment started with the use of fire,much earlier than any form of agriculture. Fire opened up the land for hunting and early forms of horticulture and agriculture and pastoralism. The subsequent process of agrarianization has already been described in Chapter 2. The agrarian regime saw a series of tools and practices, including the adaptation of new crops and the domestication of animals. Animal domestication and a more sedentary existence influenced population growth. Parts of the natural environment – good soil, sources of water and wood, mineral deposits – became a ‘resource’. New forms of social organization came into existence. Pockets of natural landscapes became dominated by humans as control over the natural environment increased. With populations growing in size, other human groups became the largest adversary and hunting tools and domesticated animals became increasingly also weapons of war, conquest and suppression. More peaceful ways of exchange intensified too: trade.

One of the most immediate and important aspects of the natural environment is the provision of food. Food is the human-environment interaction par excellence. As the environment with its geography, climate, water, soils and vegetation is the key factor in the supply of food, the focus on the emergence and forms of agriculture is natural in the present context. There are still many open questions (Messerli 2000;Walker 1993; Gunn 2000; Diamond 1997). Are there favourite sites for human societies to evolve – ecotones, interlocks of environmental zones such as hill-plain areas or river basins at medium elevation? Which factors made certain environments feasible and attractive for human habitation? How did agricultural cropping, animal herding and the use of trees for wood and fodder start – as a response to deteriorating conditions for a gathering-hunting way of life or simply, in some locations, as a more rewarding alternative strategy, or even both? Did the first farmers clearing ‘pristine’ forests, for crops, wood and fodder, result in more widespread environmental change?