Garden cultivation of staple crops and its implications for settlement location and continuity

Abstract

Garden cultivation played an important role in early food production but the definition of a garden is often unclear and encompasses a variety of different cultivation methods. This paper explores the intensive cultivation of small plots using horticultural methods through an investigation of garden and field agriculture in the Greek island of Evvia. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that intensive cultivation practices, such as hoeing, weeding, manuring and watering, have a significant impact on soil and crop productivity and are most likely to be applied to areas located near to settlement. The implications of intensive, small-scale cultivation for settlement location, population mobility and land tenure in prehistory are then explored. For example, while an economic system dependent on cereal cultivation does not necessarily involve extensive land clearance or field systems, the investment in land inherent in intensive cultivation provides a strong incentive for remaining in the same place and repeatedly cultivating the same spot.

Keywords:

• Garden
• horticulture
• pulses
• Neolithic
• Greece

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Amy Bogaard for drawing my attention to the parallels with Maori gardening and, together with Mike Charles, for comments on an earlier draft of this paper and suggesting useful sources of information. Thanks are also due to Paul Halstead, Helen Smith and Tony Wood for assistance with the fieldwork in Evvia, and to the first of these for suggesting a paper along these lines. I have also been helped by two anonymous reviewers who provided extremely useful suggestions for improving the text. The Evvia fieldwork was funded by the Science and Engineering Research Council.

Notes

Biographical Notes

Glynis Jones is Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests lie in the area of past agriculture and land use, particularly in the archaeobotanical investigation of crops and weeds, the development and application of ethnographic and ecological approaches, and the use of ancient biomolecules.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Glynis Jones

Biographical Notes Glynis Jones is Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests lie in the area of past agriculture and land use, particularly in the archaeobotanical investigation of crops and weeds, the development and application of ethnographic and ecological approaches, and the use of ancient biomolecules.