Digging in Denmark, archaeologist uncovers rare prize [ prehistoric agriculture ]

University of Wisconsin-Madison ^ | June 21, 2006 | Terry Devitt

[SunkenCiv]

In the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, an epoch that spanned a period of about 6,000 years beginning in 10,000 B.C., Denmark, it turns out, was a happenin' place... With a climate moderated by the ocean and abundant natural resources — seals, fish, deer, wild pig, fowl, nuts — the hunting and gathering life in prehistoric Denmark was about as good as it got in an age when the height of technology was a stone axe... "Over time, my interest turned to why these hunters became farmers," says Price. "It was in the late Mesolithic, just before the Neolithic, when farming emerged. Agriculture came to Denmark about 4,000 B.C." ...Farmers, according to Price, had been doing their thing in Germany, Denmark's neighbor to the south, as far back as 5,500 B.C., 1,500 years before agricultural practices arrived in Denmark. Why animal husbandry and the cultivation of wheat, barley, grapes and lentils took longer to reach Denmark, no one is sure.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[2nsdammit]

Neolithic (straddling the "Flood") ping...

[Dustbunny]

Thank you ping

[BJClinton]

Why animal husbandry and the cultivation of wheat, barley, grapes and lentils took longer to reach Denmark, no one is sure.

Just a wild guess here, if the hunting/gathering is easy why farm? The interior of Europe would get much colder and the need for farming and trading would be greater.

[SunkenCiv]

"if the hunting/gathering is easy why farm?"

well, in order to invent the danish, of course.

[PatrickHenry]

Interesting, but not quite for the evolution list. Just a buncha Danes.

[2nsdammit]

Yeah, probably more interest to just coyoteman....

[Coyoteman]

Thanks for the ping.

[ApplegateRanch]

well, in order to invent the danish, of course.

About 40 years ago, I had a date with a prude Danish. Not only was it unsatisfying, the date-matching service refused to refund my money.

Now I see it was all the fault of those lazy hunter-gatherers, who refused to scatter wild oat seeds.

Amazing what one can learn on the GGG List.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

From another post, in 10,000 BC we were just beginning to come out of the last ice age and the Finno-Scandavian ice sheet was just beginning to melt. The sea level would have been about 300 feet lower than now and it was much colder that normal.

The Holocene maximum was about 4000 BC, maybe that is why they changed or started to change since anything would grow well.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, regular readers can save a *fortune*. :')

[SunkenCiv]

I agree -- agriculture is pretty old in places where traces have managed to be preserved. Since much of human development may very well have happened on the continental shelf (much of the past 2 million years have seen glaciation), the barley fields of yesteryear may be submerged. :')

[Hegemony Cricket]

Origin of the phrase - "Something Sproutin' in Denmark"?

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, must be. :'D