Anthromes 12K DGG: Global Human Land Use History Over 12,000 Years

Replication data for a 2021 PNAS study by Ellis et al. on long-term human shaping of terrestrial nature. The dataset contains anthrome classifications across a discrete global grid for three uncertainty levels. It is provided by Nicolas Gauthier of the University of Arizona.

Use Cases

• Mapping historical human land use patterns based on the discrete global grid polygons.
• Analyzing uncertainty in anthrome classifications using the provided baseline, lower, and upper estimates.
• Modeling long-term ecological impacts of human presence over a 12,000-year timeframe.
• Joining supplemental spatial data for integrated geospatial analysis as described in the repository.

Strengths

• Dataset is directly linked to a peer-reviewed PNAS publication from 2021.
• Includes data for three distinct uncertainty levels (baseline, lower, upper).
• Provides both tabular (.csv) and spatial (shapefile) data formats for mapping.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Replication data for Ellis et al. (2021) PNAS paper.

Collection Method

Likely derived from archaeological, historical, and paleoecological reconstructions.

Time Range

Covers at least the last 12,000 years.

Geography

Global terrestrial coverage, based on a discrete global grid.