We review palaeoenvironmental proxies and combinations of these relevant for understanding hunter-gatherer niche construction activities in pre-agricultural Europe. Our approach consists of two steps: (1) identify the possible range of hunter-gatherer impacts on landscapes based on ethnographic studies; (2) evaluate proxies possibly reflecting these impacts for both the Eemian (Last Interglacial, Middle Palaeolithic) and the Early–Middle Holocene (Mesolithic). We found these paleoenvironmental proxies were not able to unequivocally establish clear-cut differences between specific anthropogenic, climatic and megafaunal impacts for either time period in this area. We discuss case studies for both periods and show that published evidence for Mesolithic manipulation of landscapes is based on the interpretation of comparable data as available for the Last Interglacial. If one applies the ‘Mesolithic’ interpretation schemes to the Neanderthal record, three common niche construction activities can be hypothesised: vegetation burning, plant manipulation and impact on animal species presence and abundance. Our review suggests that as strong a case can be made for a Neanderthal impact on landscapes as for anthropogenic landscape changes during the Mesolithic, even though the Neanderthal evidence comes from only one high-resolution site complex. Further research should include attempts (e.g. by means of modelling studies) to establish whether hunter-gatherer impact on landscapes played out at a local level only versus at a larger scale during both time periods, while we also need to obtain comparative data on the population sizes of Last Interglacial and Holocene hunter-gatherers, as these are usually inferred to have differed significantly.

我们回顾了古环境代理和这些相关的组合，以了解前农业欧洲的狩猎 - 采集者生态位建设活动。我们的方法包括两个步骤：（1）根据人种学研究确定狩猎采集者对景观的可能影响范围；(2) 评估可能反映 Eemian（末次间冰期，旧石器时代中期）和早-中全新世（中石器时代）的这些影响的代理。我们发现这些古环境代理无法明确确定该地区任一时期的特定人为、气候和巨型动物影响之间的明确差异。我们讨论了这两个时期的案例研究，并表明已发表的中石器时代景观操纵证据是基于对最后一次间冰期可用的可比数据的解释。如果将“中石器时代”解释方案应用于尼安德特人的记录，则可以假设三种常见的生态位建设活动：植被燃烧、植物操纵以及对动物物种存在和丰度的影响。我们的评论表明，尼安德特人对景观的影响与中石器时代人为景观变化一样有力，尽管尼安德特人的证据仅来自一个高分辨率的遗址综合体。进一步的研究应该包括尝试（可以假设三种常见的生态位建设活动：植被燃烧、植物操纵以及对动物物种存在和丰度的影响。我们的评论表明，尼安德特人对景观的影响与中石器时代人为景观变化一样有力，尽管尼安德特人的证据仅来自一个高分辨率的遗址综合体。进一步的研究应该包括尝试（可以假设三种常见的生态位建设活动：植被燃烧、植物操纵以及对动物物种存在和丰度的影响。我们的评论表明，尼安德特人对景观的影响与中石器时代人为景观变化一样有力，尽管尼安德特人的证据仅来自一个高分辨率的遗址综合体。进一步的研究应该包括尝试（例如，通过建模研究）来确定狩猎采集者对景观的影响在两个时间段内是否仅在局部水平上发生，而在更大范围内发生，同时我们还需要获得关于末次间冰期和全新世人口规模的比较数据狩猎采集者，因为它们通常被推断有显着差异。