November 28 – Treescapes: An arboreal history from the ice age to the present

 

There have been several ice advances over the past 1 million years. In response to each ice advance, trees and wildlife retreated south from Northern Europe to ice-free refuges in Spain, Italy or the Balkans. In this talk Alan Hunton will chart how our familiar oak and other trees slowly moved north as the climate began to warm 15000 years ago. The low sea level allowed trees to move unhindered into Britain until, in the middle of the Mesolithic period the English Channel suddenly formed. From this point onwards we see that humans began to shape the landscape through farming and deforestation and the introduction of new species from all over the world.