2500 Years of Palaeoecology: A Note on the Work of Xenophanes of Colophon (Circa 570-475 BCE)

The year 2016 CE marked the centennial of palynology as a scientific discipline after Lennart von Post introduced it in lectures in Kristiania (now Oslo) and Stockholm in 1916. However, palynology is only one of many disciplines within the broad field of palaeoecology. The 100th birthday of palynology raised the question of when palaeoecological research was actually conducted for the first time. The first rudimentary application seems to go back to Xenophanes of Colophon (circa 570-475 BCE), who concluded from observations of shells and marine fossils on lands that these in the past must have been covered by a sea. Although the exact date when Xenophanes formulated his ideas is unknown, celebration of another milestone after the Von Post year may be appropriate: that of 2500 years of palaeoecology.