Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use

TLDR

Human land use began leaving lasting impacts on Earth's surface around 10,000–8,000 years ago. Stephens et al. compiled a global Holocene land‑use trajectory through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists worldwide. Hunter‑gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists reshaped Earth earlier and more extensively than previously thought, with a global transformation by ~3000 BP.

Abstract

A synthetic history of human land use Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth's surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present. Science , this issue p. 897 ; see also p. 865