History of the forest in Central Europe

The history of the forest in Central Europe is characterised by thousands of years of exploitation by people. Thus a distinction needs to be made between the botanical natural history of the forest in pre- and proto-historical times - which falls mainly into the fields of natural history and Paleobotany - and the onset of the period of sedentary settlement which began at the latest in the Neolithic era in Central Europe - and thus the use of the forest by people, which is covered by the disciplines of history, archaeology cultural studies and ecology.

The term Central Europe is generally used both geographically and ecologically to describe the area that lies roughly between the North Sea, the Alps, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

Historical and contemporary human activity has profoundly influenced the composition of forests in the densely populated region of Central Europe. Remaining forest in Central Europe today is not generally considered natural forest, but rather a cultural landscape created over thousands of years which consists almost exclusively of replacement communities. The oldest evidence of human and forest interaction in Central Europe is about 500 000 years ago, whenfrom some hand axes have been found. The degree of hemeroby (human influence) and the extent of the original natural state from so long ago are difficult to estimate. It is believed that during glacial times during the ongoing ice age Central Europe was largely deforested and, in the period of "natural" re-emergence of the forest, since the end of the last glacial period, the Würm glaciation (about 11 700 years BP), people began to play a part transforming the potential natural vegetation. Sedentary, Neolithic farmers of the Linear Pottery Culture, about 7 500 years ago, began to change the forested landscape massively.

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