This scholarly volume examines long-term environmental change in Western Europe, focusing on the balance, instability, and transformation of ecosystems over roughly the last 20,000 years. Bringing together research from paleogeography, paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and archaeology, it considers how natural climatic shifts and human activity shaped landscapes, habitats, and biological communities from the late Pleistocene into the Holocene. The book treats ecological systems as dynamic rather than fixed, tracing periods of continuity alongside episodes of rupture. Its interdisciplinary approach connects evidence from sedimentary records, fossil assemblages, excavated sites, and landscape history to reconstruct how environments responded to changing conditions. Intended for researchers and students in environmental history, Quaternary studies, and archaeology, the volume offers a detailed framework for understanding the deep history of Western European ecosystems.

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