What is regarded by many scientists as the Sixth Extinction’s first wave, which I described in the previous two essays in this series, was an earth-shaking event and the ecological aftershocks must have had a profound impact on the subsequent course of history. This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Read Part 1hereand Part 2here.
The first wave of the “Sixth Extinction” outlined in the previous two parts of this trilogy – the elimination of many species of megafauna by ancient human hunters – would unravel the global web of life in profound ways. This ecological aftershock, plausibly triggered in part by human/wildlife conflict, must have also affected the subsequent course of history in its broadest sense, both human and animal. This unfolding environmental drama has given rise to a relatively new branch of scientific scrutiny that is yielding fresh insights into the Anthropocene.
But their historical consequences have received virtually no attention. One useful vantage point to scour this terrain from is through the prism of the “longue duree”. This refers to an approach pioneered by the Annales school of history which looks at history over a long duration to connect the dots in a way that is not apparent over shorter periods of time.
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This also serves to blend “pre-history” and “history” onto the same broad canvas. The result is a more compelling portrait of our past that brings our present into sharper focus, helping to frame potential visions of the future. “I see no value in the artificial separation of our human story into something called ‘history’ and something else called ‘pre-history’,” notes the historian of ancient Africa Christopher Ehret.
“Whatever human beings have done in the past is history.” To that observation one might add that whatever animals have done in the past is also part of our shared history, and its ancient roots include inter-species conflict, the megafaunal extinctions, and the way these ultimately helped shape the world as we know it today. I am just scratching the surface here, but there are at least two major historical trends – and no doubt many more – that emerged from the megafaunal extinctions at the hands of our ancestors. The first is that they left an unnatural abundance of forest cover over the Americas and Europe that must have blazed historical trails beneath the boughs that branched out in ways we would not recognise today. It is simply inconceivable that the history of these regions – and by extension, others – would have proceeded in the way they did if the landscape had continued to be shaped by the presence of elephants and other megafaunal species.
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