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The evolution of Neolithic farming from SW Asian origins to NW European limits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Sue Colledge ,
James Conolly  and
Stephen Shennan
Sue Colledge
Affiliation:
University College London, UK
James Conolly
Affiliation:
Trent University, Canada
Stephen Shennan
Affiliation:
University College London, UK
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Abstract

The spread of agriculture is here examined from the perspective of changes in the composition of archaeobotantical assemblages. We apply multivariate analysis to a large database of plant assemblages from early Neolithic sites across South-West Asia and Europe and show that there are coherent and meaningful changes in their composition over time, to a large extent driven by a reduction in crop-taxa diversity. We interpret these changes as being partly caused by environmental factors, and partly caused by cultural reasons linked to the relatively rapid expansion of Linearbandkeramik (LBK) groups that inhibited diversification of crops until later in the Neolithic.

La diffusion de l'agriculture est examinée ici en se basant sur les changements survenant dans la composition des ensembles archéobotaniques. Une analyse multivariate est menée sur une large base de données consistant d'assemblages de plantes de sites du Néolithique ancien à travers l'Asie du sud ouest et l'Europe. Celle-ci témoigne de modifications cohérentes et significatives dans la composition de ces assortiments au cours du temps, générées en grande partie par une réduction de la diversité des cultures. Nous interprétons ces changements comme étant provoqués en partie par des facteurs environnementaux, et en partie par des facteurs culturels liés à la relative rapidité d'expansion des groupes à Céramique Linéaire, qui empêchaient la diversification des cultures jusqu'à la fin du Néolithique.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Die Ausbreitung der Landwirtschaft wird hier aus der Perspektive von Änderungen in der Zusammensetzung archäobotanischer Proben untersucht. Wir haben dabei die multivariate Analyse einer größeren Datenbasis von Pflanzenfunden von neolithischen Fundplätzen zwischen Südwestasien und Europa angewendet und zeigen, dass es im Laufe der Zeit zusammenhängende und bedeutsame Änderungen in ihrer Zusammensetzung gibt, was in großem Maße auf einer Reduktion der Artenvielfalt der Getreidesorten beruht. Diese Veränderungen werden von uns als teils durch Umweltfaktoren, teils durch kulturelle Gründe in Zusammenhang mit der plötzlichen Ausbreitung der linearbandkeramischen Gruppen interpretiert, was die Zunahme der Getreidearten auch bis in spätere Phasen des Neolithikums gehindert hat.

Keywords

domestic plantsearly farmingLBK (Linearbandkeramik)Neolithicorigins of agricultureagriculture ancienneCulture à Céramique LinéaireNéolithiqueorigines de l'agricultureplantes domestiquesdomestizierte Pflanzenfrühe LandwirtschaftLinearbandkeramikNeolithikumUrsprünge der Landwirtschaft
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , 2005 , pp. 137 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 Sage Publications 

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