With Reference to at Least Two Case Studies, from Different Continents, Describe the Environmental Impact of Two Ancient Civilizations.

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From the beginning of human life, people have been impacting their surrounding environments. The civilizations established within the Mediterranean of classical times had profound influences upon their environment. Population intensification resulted in increased agricultural production ultimately leading to erosion of the upper landscapes and subsequent deposition in the low lying areas. Similarly the establishment of ancient Yemen’s unique and complex agricultural system allowed the landscapes and surrounding environments to be significantly altered. Their human influences allowed them to avoid the desert conditions that would normally be expected from their latitude. Therefore in this essay I plan to investigate how ancient civilizations are an important variable in the evolution of landscapes and modifications to the global environment. Human impacts have always resulted in alterations to the landscape. It can be seen that the classical civilizations established within the Mediterranean Basin between 800BC and 600AD had significant effects upon their environments. During the Holocene period, Soil erosion events derived from human exploitation of the land, determined the layout of the landscape in ancient Greece. These modifications to the environment, due to the processes of soil erosion seem to appear 500 to 1000 years after the introduction of agriculture in ancient Greece. The increased population pressure of ancient Greece has resulted in varying impacts upon the surroundings. In order to support its growing population agriculture became more exhaustive and technological advancements meant that the natural vegetation was replaced by permanent fields. Therefore beginning the adjustment of the features environment. However this lead to a decrease in the organic content of the soil and in some places resulted in the transformation of geomorphologic

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