Did Neolithic farming fail? The case for a Bronze Age agricultural revolution in the British Isles

Abstract

This paper rewrites the early history of Britain, showing that while the cultivation of cereals arrived there in about 4000 cal BC, it did not last. Between 3300 and 1500 BC Britons became largely pastoral, reverting only with a major upsurge of agricultural activity in the Middle Bronze Age. This loss of interest in arable farming was accompanied by a decline in population, seen by the authors as having a climatic impetus. But they also point to this period as the time of construction of the great megalithic monuments, including Stonehenge. We are left wondering whether pastoralism was all that bad, and whether it was one intrusion after another that set the agenda on the island.

Summed radiocarbon probability distributions from cereal grains: arable cultivation proxy or the ‘archaeology of us’? (a reply to Stevens and Fuller 2015)

“…Furthermore,they (ibid:3) propose that the existence of some cereal radiocarbon dates in the period 3000-2500 cal BC shows that, "either cultural subsistence practices prevented it [agriculture] from re-establishing or such cereal farmers were rare and short-lived." Alternatively, these dates contradict Stevens and Fuller's (2012) model, perhaps reflecting widespread continuity of cereal cultivation.…”

“…The fact that there are multiple 'boom-bust cycles' does not negate the possibility that some -or all -peaks and troughs could reflect research or taphonomic bias. For instance, in contrast to the methodology of Collard et al (2010:867) (see also Shennan 2013Timpson et al 2014), Stevens and Fuller (2012) did not normalise their radiocarbon dataset to ensure that site phases with multiple dates are equivalent to site phases with single dates. Consequently increased sampling is responsible for the apparent Early Neolithic radiocarbon 'peak' (compare Bishop 2015 figures 1(b) to 1(c) and 2(b) to 2(c)).…”

Twenty-first century approaches to ancient problems: Climate and society

“…For the most part, however, such exercises have been correlative: changes in human subsistence patterns (29) or proxies for population size (17) are correlated with various climate proxies, or even just verbally juxtaposed (30). Generally, archaeologists have not elucidated how exactly changing climates affect what humans do.…”

“…Climate variability struck farming societies particularly strongly through effects on their crops. Correlations between changes in climate and shifts in agricultural regimes/potential productivity have been noted in many areas of the world, including the British Isles (29) and the Middle East (60). For example, rice was first cultivated in one or two centers in the Yangzi river valley that provided a great deal of summer warmth and ample water resources (61).…”

Storytelling and story testing in domestication

“…A case in point is the adaptation of crops to higher latitudes as they were moved out of their location(s) of origin (82)(83)(84). A reduction in crop adaptability may have led to population collapse in mid-Holocene Europe (85), resulting into regional agricultural abandonment (86).…”