Ancient Agricultural Activity Caused Lasting Environmental Changes
Anthropology faculty member, Dr. Paul Szpak, part of global study
Agricultural activity by humans more than 2,000 years ago had a more significant and lasting impact on the environment than previously thought. The finding— discovered by a team of international researchers including Trent faculty member Dr. Paul Szpak — is reported in a new study published today in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers found that an increase in deforestation and agricultural activity during the Bronze Age in Ireland reached a tipping point that affected Earth’s nitrogen cycle— the process that keeps nitrogen, a critical element necessary for life, circulating between the atmosphere, land and oceans.
“People are increasingly aware of the fact that humans are having a profound impact on the planet, but when people think about these impacts, they are usually thinking about global climate change, large-scale species extinctions, and widespread contamination of various ecosystems with pollutants,” explains Professor Szpak, Anthropology professor at Trent and Canada research chair in Environmental Archaeology. “What we are seeing more and more is that the environments that we assumed were 'pristine' when the Industrial Revolution kicked off had already been impacted by humans in major ways. One of the most important reasons for this is the tendency of western societies like ours to view culture (and humans) as separate from nature, rather than a part of it.”
For the study, the researchers performed stable isotope analyses on 712 animal bones collected from at least 90 archaeological sites in Ireland. The researchers found significant changes in the nitrogen composition of soil nutrients and plants that made up the animals’ diet during the Bronze Age. The researchers believe the changes were the result of an increase in the scale and intensity of deforestation, agriculture and pastoral farming.
“These kinds of studies make us rethink how we deal with concepts like restoration, conservation and our relationship with the environment in general,” Prof. Szpak explains.
The study, “Anthropogenic changes to the Holocene nitrogen cycle in Ireland,” was co-authored by researchers at the Institute of Technology Sligo, Trent University, the University of Oxford, Queen’s University Belfast, and Simon Fraser University. The study’s lead author, Eric Guiry, is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in UBC’s department of anthropology but plans to join Dr. Szpak at Trent in the fall as Trent’s first Banting postdoctoral fellow.