History of countryside and agriculture 4000 BC

UK Countryside history - 4,000 BC

About 6500 years ago the first farmers started clearing the native wildwood and converting the land to agriculture. Trees were killed by "ringing" (either with an axe or by animals browsing) and eventually the stumps rotted away allowing farming to begin. We cannot be certain how agriculture arrived in the UK but it is likely that it was a result of both "idea transfer" and the arrival of new settlers from continental Europe.

Population
About 80,000 in small farming families and groups organised into farmsteads and hamlets along similar lines to that we see today - namely that the lowland south east of the country was best suited to the production of crops while the more upland areas elsewhere were suited to pastoral farming.
Crops
Wheat and barley were most important (grown for flour, stock feed and straw) but some other minor crops were also grown. Soil preparation was by scratching the ground with an ard (a primitive plough that is still in use throughout parts of the world today). Harvested crops were stored in pits which allowed surplus produce to be used at times of need. Storage, more than anything else allowed the development of farming and ultimately civilisation.
Livestock
Sheep, goats, cattle and pigs. Dogs were kept in farmsteads and used to hunt deer and other animals.
Farming Systems
Systems were based upon a "slash and burn" style of agriculture. New land was cleared and farmed until fertility was exhausted (about 20 years) at which point the farmers moved to clear new land and start afresh. Land that was abandoned then reverted to scrub and woodland before it was cleared again.
Woodland & Hedges
Dense woodland still covering most of the country.
Social Economy
The period of the early farmers was characterised by small settlements, plain pottery, improved stone tools and woodmanship (coppicing produced regularly sized timber). Neolithic society was also developing with the earliest long barrows and causewayed enclosures dating from this period. Trade in flints, pottery and farmed produce was common.
Climate
At the beginning of the period the climate was at an optimum for the generation of deciduous woodland but over the following 1500 years it gradually cooled.

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