Archaeologists: Neanderthals destroyed forests in Germany 125,000 years ago

Have to leave Neanderthals Archaeologists led by the University of Leiden in the Netherlands have unearthed an archeological site called Newmark Nord, 20 miles west of Leipzig, Germany..

According to the British Daily Mail, the results confirm that modern humans are not the first to make a significant impact on their environment..

During the Amiens, also known as the “Last Winter” 130,000 to 115,000 years ago, researchers reported that the area around Leipzig was filled with smaller lakes as glaciers retreated from the northern European plains..

Archaeological excavations in Newmark North since the mid-1980s have revealed evidence of Neanderthals living in the area for about 2,000 years, allowing the retreat of glaciers to return hominins to these previously abandoned lands..

In their study, Will Robrooks and colleagues at the University of Leiden examined paleo environmental data, including pollen and charcoal samples from sediments on two other similar former lakes in the New York North and East Horse Mountains..

“Initially it was a forest, then Newmark North, open when the Neanderthals arrived, it was open for about 2,000 years,” Professor Robrux told the Wall Street Journal, describing the deforestation as “the environmental impact of hominins.”