Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions
Abstract
The largest movements and replacements of human populations since the end of the Ice Ages resulted from the geographically uneven rise of food production around the world. The first farming societies thereby gained great advantages over hunter-gatherer societies. But most of those resulting shifts of populations and languages are complex, controversial, or both. We discuss the main complications and specific examples involving 15 language families. Further progress will depend on interdisciplinary research that combines archaeology, crop and livestock studies, physical anthropology, genetics, and linguistics.
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The ready availability of domesticable plants and animals in areas within Eurasia, following warming of the climate, appears to have led to food surpluses, perhaps as early as 5000 B.C.
“Diamond and Bellwood (2003) reviewed extensive documentation of the thesis that the ready availability of domesticable plants and animals in areas within Eurasia, following warming of the climate, appears to have led to food surpluses, perhaps as early as 5000 B.C.”
From Implications of an Emerging Integration of Universal and Culturally Specific Psychologies (2006) · cites this paper as Diamond and Bellwood, 2003
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- Authors
- Diamond, J., & Bellwood, P.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- ORCID
- Bellwood, Peter
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2003-04-25
- Volume
- 300
- Issue
- 5619
- Pages
- 597-603
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2170013673
- Cited by
- 1,054
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 94 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 81 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 47
- FWCI
- 24.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and language evolution
- Keywords
- language spread, agricultural expansion, language families, hunter-gatherers, early farming communities, population replacement, crop domestication, livestock domestication, prehistoric migration
- MeSH terms
- Agriculture, Animals, Animals, Domestic, Archaeology, Culture, Gene Frequency, Genes, Genetics, Population, Humans, Language, Linguistics, Population Dynamics, Crops, Agricultural, History, Ancient
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