Farmers and their languages: The first expansions

Jared Diamond*, Peter Bellwood

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    671 Citations (Scopus)

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)597-603
    Number of pages7
    JournalScience
    Volume300
    Issue number5619
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 25 Apr 2003

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Farmers and their languages: The first expansions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this