Farming/Lanugage Dispersal: Theoretical Analysis

Denham discusses three viewpoints, “farming/lanugage dispersal hypothesis,” “the concept of ‘low-level food production’ and “post-processual’ turn to study early agriculture” (Denham, 2007, 1). The first, idea, proposed by Peter Bellwood and Colin Renfrew explores the concept of how language and tribes were identified and formed through food production, and especially in how food was domesticated. Through demic expansion, former hunter/gatherer languages and genes are replaced, adapted or assimilated by colonial powers. The second, proposed by Bruce Smith, believes that both farming and non-farming were often separated, and there were few that used both methods. Also, farming made property rights more accessible, therefore farmers were able …show more content…
Michael Gross argues that while the earlier use of agriculture over hunter-gatherers was more of a calorie deficit, this was due to the fact that many of the workers were as healthy as the latter. With the rise in populations, it was necessary to find avenues to feed the people with more consistence between 6000 and 2000BC (Gross, 2013, 669). Whether society was developed because of agriculture or conversely is contested, but we do know they both emerged around the same time. Gross (2013) draws on theories from Samuel Bowies and Jung Kyoo Choi who argue that in the Fertile Crescent there was a “co-evolution of food production and property rights — rather than technological progress based on inventions” (Gross, 2013, 668). George Wilcox and Danielle Strordeur’s research is also used, and concludes that there is evidence in Northern Syria that seeds such as wild barley actually began processing up to 1,000 years before “the beginning of systematic cultivation of domestication”(Gross, 2013, 668). Finally, Gross employs the research of Amy Bogaard who was able to use “isotopic distributions of nitrogen and carbon to demonstrate that Neolithic farmers in Europe applied manure to their fields,” instead of the earlier concepts that we ate more red meat (Gross, 2013, 669). Exportation of this trade was also a great factor of proof as Patrick McGovern argued has been relevant since the time of the Phoenicians. Therefore, with …show more content…
He argues that the emergence of agriculture has lead to “changing human settlement patterns, health status, work patterns, family and social life, and new religious and social systems” (Moore, 2013, 76). Archaeologists can prove this through charred plant remains, and have concluded that ancient civilizations required farming techniques to yield adequate quantities and quality. Ancient ovens and its connotation to bread, along with tool use and food storage such as pottery. (especially grain) can also attest to this. Grains were particularly of high resource in East Asia & the Americas. The emergence also brought forth the domestication of animals, which we can attest as a major source of dairy, and use in agriculture such as plow-pulling. Around this time, the use of oils and fats were used for cooking, as well as the emergence of the use of seeds, honey, fruit and fermentation to consume alcohol. This is important as the connection between source of food and power structures. Before an economy was established, people could establish importance in the tribe to public feasts. The excess of said food and alcohol require agriculture. What’s more, as civilizations moved across the globe, the merging of traditional foods, and what the new land could