Abstract

In this talk I explore how the deep past of farming can shape more sustainable futures. The archaeology of early farmers offers opportunities to rediscover lost crops, ancient ecological knowledge and strategies resilient to climate change. The Neolithic story ranges from the formative agrobiodiversity of initial farming in western Asia, to emerging perspectives from ‘wet’ (lakeshore) Neolithics in south-east Europe and the inventive efforts of early farming communities in central and western Europe to maintain biodiverse farming systems against the odds. Subsequent prehistory reveals a sequence of intermittent simplification and loss of agrobiodiversity, notably where power structures constrained farming strategies. These processes increased social vulnerability to climate change. Equally, however, the archaeological record preserves forms of resistance through smallholder farming, dispersal of new crops through long-distance networks and resurgences of ‘Neolithic’ agroecology. The prehistory of farming reveals its creative beginnings and radical future potential, from rural production to (sub)urban gardening.