Hunting for humans in forest ecosystems : are the traces of Iron-age people detectable? : an investigation into the importance of Iron-age slash-an-burn agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal forests using compositional and demographic data and carbon isotope techniques
To what extent are humans responsible for the biological landscapes that we see today? We relate to recent phenomena such as urban environments and commercial farmlands as anthropogenically created landscapes, however historic anthropogenic influence may have been a lot more extensive than previously accepted (Gomez-Pompa & Kaus 1992, Bird 1995, Motzkin et a/1996). In southern Africa we are surrounded by landscapes influenced by humans to some degree (Hoffman 1997). It is now accepted that even wilderness landscapes previously labelled as "pristine" or "natural" are subject to constant change (Botkin 1990) and could well have been generated, or at least influenced, by humans in the past (Gomez-Pompa & Kaus 1992, Foster et a/1996, Bird & Cali 1998). This is certainly the case for many forest systems (Binford eta/ 1987, Balee 1989, Northrop & Horn 1996, Noble & Dirzo 1997, Ogden eta/ 1998, Lindbladh & Bradshaw 1998, Foster et a/1999). This thesis attempts to answer, for forest ecosystems, the question posed almost 20 years ago by Feely (1980): "Did Iron Age Man have a role in the history of Zululand's wilderness landscapes?" In doing so, I hoped to address the larger issue of "ecosystem virginity" and to what extent landscapes with a lengthy history of human habitation are dependant on human-ge·nerated disturbance.
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