Mid-holocene adaptations and later Mesolithic forest disturbance in Northern England

The Holocene period saw the gradual replacement of tundra vegetation by, first, pine—hazel woodland and then by thermophilous deciduous forest. Within these environments the Mesolithic cultures of the British Isles developed their foraging economy. In the Later Mesolithic (c 8500-5300 bp) we find that palaeoecological investigations provide evidence of disturbance of the forest vegetation, usually associated with the presence of fire. Although there is no direct evidence of human involvement in the cycle of disturbance and regeneration, it seems more probable to invoke the activity of human subsistence-related activities than natural autogenic processes. We suggest that in both uplands and lowlands, population pressure in the Later Mesolithic forced the adoption of more intensive use of game and vegetable resources, particularly deer and hazel nuts. Eventually, the adoption of cultivated cereals and probably of domestic animals can be seen as a shift in economy well within the scale of previous changes in subsistence strategy; there was no need for a change in social—ecological structures. Thus, the historic British tradition of reform rather than revolution seems to have had quite an early start.