Human impacts on the natural environment during the later part of the Holocene (beginning about 4,000 years ago) complicate investigations into environmental change during that period because the signals produced by human-and climate-induced change are sometimes difficult to separate. For example, in the later Holocene, one indicator of increased aridity due to climate change is an increase in pollen from grasses, as forest vegetation gives way to grassland. Such a change in vegetation could alternatively be attributed to human impact in the form of agricultural development. Examples of such human impact from 4,000 years ago would be small-scale, however, since the broad ecosystem changes brought about by the widespread adoption of agricultural technologies occurred later.