TY - JOUR
T1 - The Palaeoanthropocene - The beginnings of anthropogenic environmental change
AU - Foley, Stephen F.
AU - Gronenborn, Detlef
AU - Andreae, Meinrat O.
AU - Kadereit, Joachim W.
AU - Esper, Jan
AU - Scholz, Denis
AU - Pöschl, Ulrich
AU - Jacob, Dorrit E.
AU - Schöne, Bernd R.
AU - Schreg, Rainer
AU - Vött, Andreas
AU - Jordan, David
AU - Lelieveld, Jos
AU - Weller, Christine G.
AU - Alt, Kurt W.
AU - Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Sabine
AU - Bruhn, Kai Christian
AU - Tost, Holger
AU - Sirocko, Frank
AU - Crutzen, Paul J.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - As efforts to recognize the Anthropocene as a new epoch of geological time are mounting, the controversial debate about the time of its beginning continues. Here, we suggest the term Palaeoanthropocene for the period between the first, barely recognizable, anthropogenic environmental changes and the industrial revolution when anthropogenically induced changes of climate, land use and biodiversity began to increase very rapidly. The concept of the Palaeoanthropocene recognizes that humans are an integral part of the Earth system rather than merely an external forcing factor. The delineation of the beginning of the Palaeoanthropocene will require an increase in the understanding and precision of palaeoclimate indicators, the recognition of archaeological sites as environmental archives, and inter-linking palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironmental changes and human development with changes in the distribution of Quaternary plant and animal species and socio-economic models of population subsistence and demise.
AB - As efforts to recognize the Anthropocene as a new epoch of geological time are mounting, the controversial debate about the time of its beginning continues. Here, we suggest the term Palaeoanthropocene for the period between the first, barely recognizable, anthropogenic environmental changes and the industrial revolution when anthropogenically induced changes of climate, land use and biodiversity began to increase very rapidly. The concept of the Palaeoanthropocene recognizes that humans are an integral part of the Earth system rather than merely an external forcing factor. The delineation of the beginning of the Palaeoanthropocene will require an increase in the understanding and precision of palaeoclimate indicators, the recognition of archaeological sites as environmental archives, and inter-linking palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironmental changes and human development with changes in the distribution of Quaternary plant and animal species and socio-economic models of population subsistence and demise.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899414327&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ancene.2013.11.002
DO - 10.1016/j.ancene.2013.11.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899414327
VL - 3
SP - 83
EP - 88
JO - Anthropocene
JF - Anthropocene
SN - 2213-3054
ER -