What do you think?
Rate this book
Cambridge World Archaeology
The First Farmers of Europe
Knowledge of the origin and spread of farming has been revolutionised in recent years by the application of new scientific techniques, especially the analysis of ancient DNA from human genomes. In this book, Stephen Shennan presents the latest research on the spread of farming by archaeologists, geneticists and other archaeological scientists. He shows that it resulted from a population expansion from present-day Turkey. Using ideas from the disciplines of human behavioural ecology and cultural evolution, he explains how this process took place. The expansion was not the result of 'population pressure' but of the opportunities for increased fertility by colonising new regions that farming offered. The knowledge and resources for the farming 'niche' were passed on from parents to their children. However, Shennan demonstrates that the demographic patterns associated with the spread of farming resulted in population booms and busts, not continuous expansion.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2018
13 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 5, 2024
Rating 3.5 stars. Very valuable overview of how agriculture gradually spread across Europe 9,000 years ago. Archaeologist Stephen Shennan (University College London) offers a rather dense approach and delves deeply into models and theories from the social sciences, which makes this book rather unsuitable for the general public. Shennan also benefits from the first wave of research on ancient DNA extracted from prehistoric skeletons, resulting in archeo-genetics. As a result, it is now clear that the spread across Europe was mainly a matter of migration, in a 'boom and bust' model: rapid expansion, followed by a demographic explosion, then stagnation and decline and then another wave of expansion, and so on. At the same time, we must remain cautious, because not all the fog in the prehistoric debate has been cleared up. More about that in my History account on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read
October 22, 2024For more than a century now the introduction of agriculture to Europe in the Neolithic has been intensively studied by archaeologists and prehistory-historians. There soon was a consensus that this introduction started from the Near East, more specifically from Anatolia (modern Turkey) and gradually moved west and north, a process of no less than 3 millennia, spread between 6,800 and 3,800 BCE. But since the 1960’s a fierce battle has been raging about how this happened: through migration or through diffusion, that is, through the influx of people and groups who had already mastered agriculture, or through native groups (hunter-gatherers) taking over agricultural technology. Only with the introduction of archaeogenetics, the research of DNA material from ancient human remains, does that battle seem to have been settled in favor of the first thesis, i.e. migration. Stephen Shennan lists it all in great detail, in a sometimes very dense text, with a lot of attention to theoretical aspects of archaeological research.
Fortunately, his story is nuanced: it is not that farmers from Anatolia flooded Europe in one wave and wiped the hunter-gatherers off the map. Through archaeological material it was already known that there were roughly two major movements: a spread via continental Europe, starting from Northern Greece and the Balkans, and a second one that followed the Mediterranean route, from the Dalmatian coast to Italy, the Mediterranean islands, and so on to Iberia. And we also knew that the spread happened in steps, sometimes with quite some time between different waves of expansion, so that the British Isles and southern Scandinavia were only reached by the 5th millennium. Archaeogenetics confirms that story, but also allows for a much more detailed reconstruction, as Shennan shows.
But, as said, the most important thing is that it proves that the arrival of agriculture did not happen through (cultural) takeover, but simply through demographic replacement, i.e. migration, because the genetic material of the farmers predominantly bore an Anatolian stamp. At the same time, more recent genetic research also introduces an important nuance: in the 2nd phase of agricultural spread, in the 6th and 5th millennium, more 'native' DNA suddenly resurfaces. This suggests that possibly remnants of hunter-gatherers who had been pushed to the margins eventually mixed with farmers.
But here too a warning is appropriate: there is a risk of distortion in the interpretation of the genetic findings. Remains that are found and from which DNA material could be extracted pre-eminently belong to sedentary communities, and by definition most of them were farmers. And so it remains a matter of remaining careful and taking all source material into account in a balanced manner. Or how even methodological revolutions will never allow a complete, certain reconstruction of prehistoric life.
This is a superb, but quite dense book! Rating 3.5 stars
Fortunately, his story is nuanced: it is not that farmers from Anatolia flooded Europe in one wave and wiped the hunter-gatherers off the map. Through archaeological material it was already known that there were roughly two major movements: a spread via continental Europe, starting from Northern Greece and the Balkans, and a second one that followed the Mediterranean route, from the Dalmatian coast to Italy, the Mediterranean islands, and so on to Iberia. And we also knew that the spread happened in steps, sometimes with quite some time between different waves of expansion, so that the British Isles and southern Scandinavia were only reached by the 5th millennium. Archaeogenetics confirms that story, but also allows for a much more detailed reconstruction, as Shennan shows.
But, as said, the most important thing is that it proves that the arrival of agriculture did not happen through (cultural) takeover, but simply through demographic replacement, i.e. migration, because the genetic material of the farmers predominantly bore an Anatolian stamp. At the same time, more recent genetic research also introduces an important nuance: in the 2nd phase of agricultural spread, in the 6th and 5th millennium, more 'native' DNA suddenly resurfaces. This suggests that possibly remnants of hunter-gatherers who had been pushed to the margins eventually mixed with farmers.
But here too a warning is appropriate: there is a risk of distortion in the interpretation of the genetic findings. Remains that are found and from which DNA material could be extracted pre-eminently belong to sedentary communities, and by definition most of them were farmers. And so it remains a matter of remaining careful and taking all source material into account in a balanced manner. Or how even methodological revolutions will never allow a complete, certain reconstruction of prehistoric life.
This is a superb, but quite dense book! Rating 3.5 stars
April 28, 2024
This short (and rather dense) book gives a thorough description of our current understanding of how farming evolved in the Levant and spread into Europe. I liked the fact that the book set out to cover a specific subject, and did not deviate from that at all. This makes the learning precise and uncluttered.
It also makes the book quite dense, and I found myself skimming past a number of paragraphs once I understood the basic gist of it [Because, really, does one really need to know how many times sheep were transported between Cyprus and Anatolia?].
Some important points the book raises:
1. The spread of farming through Europe was rather "stop-start". Once it spread to a certain region, it did not spread further for another 200-300 years. Moreover, the incoming farmers rarely interacted (i.e. mated) with the hunter-gatherers who lived there. This seems to indicate that farming was not too attractive for the average hunter-gatherer.
2. In societies which took up farming, the population rose for a few hundred years before hitting a wall, and then declining. This "boom-bust" cycle repeats itself in each region where farming spread, and the author does a good job of explaining why this might happen.
3. The study of Ancient DNA continues to make great progress, answering a number of questions in Archaeology, while also debunking many myths. It is truly fascinating to see how the subject will continue to inform our understanding of our past in the years to come.
It also makes the book quite dense, and I found myself skimming past a number of paragraphs once I understood the basic gist of it [Because, really, does one really need to know how many times sheep were transported between Cyprus and Anatolia?].
Some important points the book raises:
1. The spread of farming through Europe was rather "stop-start". Once it spread to a certain region, it did not spread further for another 200-300 years. Moreover, the incoming farmers rarely interacted (i.e. mated) with the hunter-gatherers who lived there. This seems to indicate that farming was not too attractive for the average hunter-gatherer.
2. In societies which took up farming, the population rose for a few hundred years before hitting a wall, and then declining. This "boom-bust" cycle repeats itself in each region where farming spread, and the author does a good job of explaining why this might happen.
3. The study of Ancient DNA continues to make great progress, answering a number of questions in Archaeology, while also debunking many myths. It is truly fascinating to see how the subject will continue to inform our understanding of our past in the years to come.
December 31, 2019
I really like the systematic structure and the density of empirical evidences, but I have difficulties in keeping up with the anthropological terms and archeological sites. It basically tries to adds genetic evidences to the many archeological findings about the appearance of farming community in Europe along with evolutionary perspectives (Malthusian), which I surprised have yet to be incorporated to anthropology and archeology. Heavily academic.
November 30, 2022
It seems to me this short yet extremely dense and somewhat niche book entails insightful observations into the very nature of the entire human civilization, including its modern incarnation. After demonstrating the repeating patterns of boom & bust in societal development and population, the book seems to conclude on a somewhat ominous tone by introducing readers to the aptly named "invisible cliff model" by Puleston.
August 8, 2020
A brief but comprehensive overview of the arrival of Neolithic civilizations in Europe. It is full of information I had not known about, presented in an easy to follow structure. I am not aware of any other book covering the early prehistory of Europe in such a concise and accessible fashion.
November 23, 2020
I found this book very interesting. The amount of painstaking research by many teams across Europe to build this picture of our past is amazing and there are still questions to be answered.
October 5, 2023
Quite a challenging read, this is not popular science. But rewarding. There is a lot of new DNA research the last years that gives us a clear picture on how the hunter/gatherer culture of Europe was pushed out by settlers who originated in present day Eastern Anatolia.
The book sets out the facts about the the first agriculture without presenting any grand theory, just suggestions and possible explanations. This allows plenty of room for the readers to think for themselves. It is very interesting to read about the early farming societies being a boom and bust-concept, closely related to climatic conditions. But it always seems to be the warmer climate periods (often warmer than today) that gives rise to agricultural and demographic peaks. That is food for thought for our present discussion about global warming. At least higher temperature seems to have some favourable effects for humans, and maybe also the environment in general. It is not a black and white picture.
On the downside, the illustrations in these book are not very elaborated and often confusing. It is mostly graphs and maps. I miss more information on how these settlement actually looked. For instance the author uses very much time to eleborate about enclosures around properties. But we get little explanation of the nature of these enclosures. To me it was unexplained if they where more like solid fences or more like fortifications. And he doesn´t go in to details on how the houses actually where used. I assume this is written for acamedic readers, expecting they know about these things from elsewhere.
The book sets out the facts about the the first agriculture without presenting any grand theory, just suggestions and possible explanations. This allows plenty of room for the readers to think for themselves. It is very interesting to read about the early farming societies being a boom and bust-concept, closely related to climatic conditions. But it always seems to be the warmer climate periods (often warmer than today) that gives rise to agricultural and demographic peaks. That is food for thought for our present discussion about global warming. At least higher temperature seems to have some favourable effects for humans, and maybe also the environment in general. It is not a black and white picture.
On the downside, the illustrations in these book are not very elaborated and often confusing. It is mostly graphs and maps. I miss more information on how these settlement actually looked. For instance the author uses very much time to eleborate about enclosures around properties. But we get little explanation of the nature of these enclosures. To me it was unexplained if they where more like solid fences or more like fortifications. And he doesn´t go in to details on how the houses actually where used. I assume this is written for acamedic readers, expecting they know about these things from elsewhere.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews