‘Garden agriculture’ and the nature of early farming in Europe and the Near East

Abstract

This paper takes a comparative approach to early farming, arguing that bioarchaeological work on Neolithic Europe can inform understanding of earlier cultivation and herding in the Near East, where the ‘package’ of crops and livestock emerged in the PPNB period. Evidence for intensive cultivation (‘garden agriculture’) integrated with small-scale herding is outlined for south-east and central Europe before turning to crop and caprine husbandry practices during the PPNB. It is concluded that integration of small-scale cultivation and herding during the PPNB facilitated the spread of agriculture to Europe.

Keywords:

• Neolithic
• south-east Europe
• central Europe
• Near East
• crop husbandry
• animal husbandry

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Mike Charles, Paul Halstead, Katheryn Twiss and anonymous referees for constructive criticism and useful bibliographic references. I would also like to thank Marijke van der Veen, for her editorial advice and patience, and David Taylor, for drawing Figure 1.

Notes

Biographical Notes

Amy Bogaard completed her PhD at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield in 2002 and is now a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham. She is involved in archaeobotanical work on Neolithic sites in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Greece and Turkey.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy Bogaard

Biographical Notes Amy Bogaard completed her PhD at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield in 2002 and is now a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham. She is involved in archaeobotanical work on Neolithic sites in Germany, Hungary, Romania, Greece and Turkey.