Since the Late Pleistocene Humans Were Already Radically Transforming the Earth

By Jackson Landers | Smithsonian Magazine | June 7, 2016

“The idea of trying to restore things to a pristine state is not possible,” says Melinda Zeder, senior research scientist and curator of old world archaeology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

“Humans are very much a part of nature,” Zeder says. “The ways in which we modify nature are part of a package of behaviors that we inherited from other species. Look at what beavers do, or what ants do. Manipulating the environment in a way that is favorable. Humans are the ultimate niche constructors.”

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