The Influence of People - Gower - page 50

Oncetheicehadfinallydisappeared,around10,000yearsago,plantcommunitiesdominatedbygrass
and sedge spread north. Many of the plants that are now found in Gower, in the heathland or limestone
grassland, grew in these open communities, but woodland plants rapidly replaced them as forests also
movednorth.Byabout8,500yearsagoforestsofoak Quercus spp.,pine Pinus spp.,birch Betula spp.and
elm Ulmus spp.,withanunderstoreyofhazel,probablycoveredmostofthepeninsula.Thespreadoftrees
was assisted byaclimate that was warmer than at present. Some ecologists think that there were noclear-
ings, as many of the large browsing or grazing animals present in earlier warm periods had disappeared.
Others have suggested that these forests were in fact pasture-woodlands with many glades and open areas
created by native herbivores, including bison Bison bonasus , auroch Bos primigenius and the wild horse
or tarpan Equus ferus. There is also the intriguing possibility that, since the early hunters contributed to
the extinction of many of the large grazing animals, they may have actually assisted the development of
forests.
Whateverthevegetationinland,coastalhabitatswereanattractivelocation,favouredbytheMesolith-
ic groups that are known to have fished and gathered shellfish. During this period the sea level was rising
rapidly and was only 15 to 20 metres below its present level, with the shoreline only a few kilometres
beyond its present position. Although Mesolithic people were only present in Gower in small numbers
they probably influenced the vegetation significantly, mainly through the use of fire to create clearings
around their campsites, to clear underbrush and to drive game animals. Repeated burning of the forests
would have led to an increase in fire-resistant species such as pine and hazel, and it has been suggested
that the known abundance of hazel during this period occurred as a result, possibly benefiting people by
increasing the crop of hazel nuts. The pollen records from Gower are not continuous, but evidence from
the Glamorgan uplands suggests that during the Mesolithic period there were fairly large areas of heath-
land. Certainly the existence of a Mesolithic flint-working site on Burry Holms, close to Rhossili Down
and Llanmadoc Hill, and the similarity in soils, topography and vegetation between these hills and the
uplands, suggests that clearances using fires could have allowed heathland vegetation to spread to these
areas from its refuges on exposed coastal sites. It may be that parts of Rhossili Down have remained as
heathland for over 8,000 years.
THE INTRODUCTION OF FARMING
Around6,000yearsago,followingtheintroductionoffarmingfromthecontinent,Neolithiccommunities
arrived in Gower, accidentally bringing with them harvest mice Micromys minutus. The species is pre-
dominantlyeasterninitsdistributionandwhileitspreadnaturallyintoeasternEuropeinpostglacialtimes
thereisevidencetoshowthattheanimal'ssubsequentspreadintowesternEuropeisduetothemovements
of people and clearance of woodlands. The removal of this habitat was necessary for the introduction of
domesticated plants and animals, which themselves required a more settled existence. These clearances
by Neolithic people were assisted by the open heathland created in the Mesolithic period. There is little
surviving evidence of domestic activity in this period other than a scattering of flint tools, fragments of
pottery and animal bones, and Gower is no exception in this respect. One of the most characteristic arte-
facts of the Neolithic period is, however, the polished stone axe, examples of which have been found at
Paviland, Oystermouth and Barland. With this tool the Neolithic farmers were able to efficiently and per-
manently clear the forest covering the fertile soils. It is unlikely, however, that they would have felled the
forest of oak, birch and alder that grew on the poorly drained and infertile soils which are now commons,
whenbetterlandwasavailableinotherpartsofthepeninsula.Limestonewoodlandprobablyremainedon
the steeper and poorer soils where it survives today.