The First Farmers of Europe
The First Farmers of Europe
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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.
- The first book to synthesise new ancient DNA results revolutionising our understanding of the spread of farming
- Provides a coherent account of the processes involved in the spread of farming
- The account is framed in terms of new ideas from the fields of human behavioural ecology and cultural evolution
Reviews & endorsements
'Shennan's book is likely to become an important text for scholars concerned with the archeology of Europe and the Neolithic generally, as well as a wider readership interested in a key transition in human history. A grand narrative indeed.' Evolutionary Anthropology
'Adding to his major body of work on cultural evolution, quantitative archaeology, and Neolithic Europe, Stephen Shennan offers a concise yet richly detailed overview of the emergence and spread of agriculture across Europe using a multifaceted perspective informed by diverse archaeological approaches.' Selin E. Nugent, Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution
'Overall, this book offers a remarkable wealth of updated information which is well-articulated in a coherent explanation that will surely stimulate new research about the Neolithic in Europe and the Near East.' Juan José Ibáñez, European Journal of Archaeology
Product details
June 2018Hardback
9781108422925
268 pages
260 × 182 × 17 mm
0.73kg
54 b/w illus. 26 maps
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction: population, resources and life histories
- 2. The origins of agriculture in Southwest Asia
- 3. The first westward expansion of farming
- 4. The spread of farming into Central Europe
- 5. Maritime expansion in the Central and West Mediterranean
- 6. Continental temperate Europe 7000–5500 BP: internal expansion and adaptation
- 7. First farmers in southern Scandinavia
- 8. The farming colonisation of Britain and Ireland
- 9. Conclusion: evolutionary patterns and processes.
