The first thing that should be considered is the environment in which these structures were erected. Today it is largely open moorland but in the Mesolithic these upland areas were largely forested. The first farmers started to change the environment and a process of deforestation started to take place. Initially Mesolithic clearances would have started to cause forest recession on higher ground. Later there would have been clearings on lower land with otherwise continuous forest. Much of Dartmoor would have been forested at the time these monuments started to be erected.
Until recently the only stone row on Dartmoor to undergo a detailed archaeological dig was the Cholwich Town stone row which was excavated in 1961 prior to being buried underneath waste from the china clay works. The pollen evidence suggested it was constructed in a clearing of grassland or heath land within a forest of alder, oak and hazel.