De acordo com um novo estudo, os caçadores-coletores fizeram uso das condições da floresta aberta nos milênios antes da construção dos monumentos de Stonehenge.
Estudo de pesquisa investiga as condições de habitat encontradas pelos primeiros agricultores e construtores de monumentos.
Caçadores-coletores fizeram uso de condições de floresta aberta nos milênios antes dos monumentos de Stonehenge serem construídos, de acordo com um estudo de Samuel Hudson, da Universidade de Southampton, Reino Unido, e colegas que foi publicado em 27 de abril de 2022, na revista de acesso aberto PLO UM.
Muita pesquisa explorou a Idade do Bronze e a história neolítica da região ao redor de Stonehenge, mas pouco se sabe sobre os tempos anteriores nesta área. Isso deixa em aberto questões sobre como os povos antigos e a vida selvagem usavam essa área antes da construção dos famosos monumentos arqueológicos. Neste novo artigo, Hudson e seus colegas reconstroem as condições ambientais no local de Blick Mead, um local pré-neolítico de caçadores-coletores à beira do Patrimônio Mundial de Stonehenge.
Os autores combinam pólen, esporos, sedimentos[{” attribute=””>DNA, and animal remains to characterize the pre-Neolithic habitat of the site, inferring partially open woodland conditions, which would have been beneficial to large grazing herbivores like aurochs, as well as hunter-gatherer communities. This study supports previous evidence that the Stonehenge region was not covered in closed canopy forest at this time, as has previously been proposed.
A) Timeline of the Stonehenge landscape, including radiocarbon dates from Blick Mead and other significant Stonehenge World Heritage Archaeological Sites. B) A representation of the development of vegetation history at Blick Mead based on the palaeoenvironmental data. Credit: Hudson et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
This study also provides date estimates for human activity at Blick Mead. Results indicate that hunter-gatherers used this site for 4,000 years up until the time of the earliest known farmers and monument-builders in the region, who would also have benefited from the space provided in open environments. These results indicate that the first farmers and monument-builders in the Stonehenge area encountered open habitats already maintained and used by large grazers and earlier human populations.
Further study on similar sites will provide important insights into the interactions between hunter-gatherers and early farming communities in the U.K. and elsewhere. Furthermore, this study provides techniques for combining sedimentary DNA, other ecological data, and stratigraphic data to interpret the ancient environment at a site where such information is difficult to assess.
The authors add: “The Stonehenge World Heritage Site is globally recognized for its rich Neolithic and Bronze Age monumental landscape, but little is known of its significance to Mesolithic populations. Environmental research at Blick Mead suggests that hunter-gatherers had already chosen part of this landscape, an alluvial clearing, as a persistent place for hunting and occupation.”
Reference: “Life before Stonehenge: The hunter-gatherer occupation and environment of Blick Mead revealed by sedaDNA, pollen and spores” by Samuel M. Hudson, Ben Pears, David Jacques, Thierry Fonville, Paul Hughes, Inger Alsos, Lisa Snape, Andreas Lang and Antony Brown, 27 April 2022, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266789
Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. However, the corresponding author did receive funding from the University of Southampton for general fieldwork costs.
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