Stephen Shennan presents research on the first farmers of Europe

Stephen will outline his research on The First Farmers of Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective which was published earlier this year by Cambridge University Press.

This new volume presents the latest research on the spread of farming by archaeologists, geneticists and other archaeological scientists and shows that it resulted from a population expansion from present-day Turkey. Expansion was not the result of 'population pressure' but of the opportunities for increased fertility by colonising new regions that farming offered, with farming knowledge and resources being passed on from parents to their children. Stephen demonstrates that the demographic patterns associated with the spread of farming resulted in population booms and busts, not continuous expansion.

Further information

• Cambridge University Press
• Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History