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.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References and Notes
1
B. Smith, The Emergence of Agriculture (Scientific American, Washington D.C., 1995).
2
D. Harris, Ed., The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia (Univ. College of London Press, London, 1996).
3
A. Damaniaet al., Eds, The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Aleppo, Syria, 1998).
4
J. Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel (Norton, New York, 1997).
5
The Transition to Agriculture in the Old World, O. Bar-Yosef, Ed., special issue of Rev. Archaeol., 19 (no. 2), 1998).
6
D. Piperno, D. Pearsall, The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics (Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1998).
7
B. Smith, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.98, 1324 (1998).
8
M. van der Veen, Ed., The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa (Kluwer Academic, New York, 1999).
9
D. Zohary, M. Hopf, Domestication of Plants in the Old World (Clarendon, Oxford, ed. 3, 2000).
10
P. Bellwood, Ann. Rev. Anthropol.30, 181 (2001).
11
P. Bellwood, C. Renfrew, Eds., Examining the Language/Farming Dispersal Hypothesis (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, 2003).
12
P. Bellwood, in (2), pp. 465–498.
13
C. Renfrew, in (2), pp. 70–92. Renfrew has been one of the most active researchers in favor of strong linkages between the spreading of early farmers and language families, as discussed here, especially for Indo-European and other western Eurasian langage families. See (11, 36, 78, 80) and further references to Renfrew's work therein.
14
L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, F. Cavalli-Sforza, The Great Human Diasporas (Addison-Wesley, Reading, PA, 1995).
15
A. Whittle, Europe in the Neolithic (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1996).
16
A. J. Ammerman, L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, The Neolithic Transition and the Genetics of Populations in Europe (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, 1984).
17
L. Chikhi et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.99, 11008 (2002).
18
E. W. Hill, M. A. Jobling, D. G. Bradley, Nature404, 351 (2000).
19
C. B. Bousman, African Archaeol. Rev.15, 133 (1998).
20
C. Ehret, An African Classical Age (Univ. Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1998).
21
J. F. Downs, Animal Husbandry in Navajo Society and Culture (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1964).
22
D. H. Snow in Farmers, Hunters and Colonists, K. A. Spielmann Ed. (Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, 1991), pp. 71–88.
23
P. V. Kirch, On the Road of the Winds (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000).
24
P. BellwoodThe Polynesians (Thames and Hudson, London, 1987).
25
A. Anderson, Prodigious Birds (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1989).
26
V. T. King, The Peoples of Borneo (Blackwell, Oxford, 1993).
27
P. Bellwood, Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago (Univ. of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, rev. ed., 1997).
28
L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, P. Menozzi, A. Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes, (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, 1994).
29
M. Ross, in Archaeology and Language I, R. Blench and M. Spriggs, Eds. (Routledge, London, 1997), pp. 209–261.
30
L. Reid, in Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World, T. Dutton, D. Tryon, Eds. (Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 1994), pp. 443–76.
31
R. Drews, Ed., J. Indo-European Studies Mono. 38, “Greater Anatolia and the Indo-Hittite Language Family” (Institute for the Study of Man, Washington, DC, 2001).
32
A. Dolgopolsky, Mediterranean Lang. Rev.6, 230 (1993).
33
D. Dumond, The Eskimos and Aleuts (Thames and Hudson, London, 1987).
34
M. Fortescue, Language Relations across Bering Strait (Cassell, London, 1998).
35
R. G. Matson, in (11), chap. 27.
36
A. Sherratt, S. Sherratt, Antiquity62, 584 (1988).
37
C. Renfrew, Cambridge Archaeol. J.10, 7 (2000).
38
P. Bellwood, in Archaeology in Southeast Asia, Y. Chun-tong, L. Wai-ling, Eds. (University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1995), pp. 11–22.
39
C. Ehret, M. Posnansky, Eds. The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1982).
40
D. Phillipson, in (11), chap. 15.
41
K. Williamson, R. Blench in African Languages, B. Heine, D. Nurse, Eds. (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2000), pp. 11–42.
42
P. Underhill, Ann. Hum. Genet.65, 43 (2001).
43
L. Campbell, American Indian Languages (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1997).
44
I. Rouse, The Tainos (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT, 1992).
45
A. Aikhenvald, in The Amazonian Languages, R. Dixon, A. Aikhenvald, Eds. (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1999), p. 75.
46
C. Higham, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1996).
47
G. van Driem, Bull. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Assn.18, 43 (1999).
48
J. Janhunen, Manchuria: An Ethnic History (Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, Helsinki, Finland, 1996).
49
J. Hill, in (11), chap. 26.
50
P. Bellwood, in Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics, A. Aikhenvald, R. Dixon, Eds. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2001), pp. 27–43.
51
J. Hill, Am. Anthropol.103, 913 (2001).
52
P. Bellwood, in Time Depth in Historical Linguistics, C. Renfrew, A. McMahon, L. Trask, Eds.(McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, 2000), vol. 1, pp. 109–40.
53
T. Kaufman, in Amazonian Linguistics, D. L. Payne, Ed. (Univ. of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 1990), pp. 13–73.
54
R. Adams, M. J. MacLeod, Eds, The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2000), vol. II, part I.
55
A. K. Pawley, in Perspectives on the Bird's Head of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, J. Miedema, C. Ode, R. Dam, Eds. (Rodopi, Amsterdam, 1998), p. 684.
56
J. Golson, in Sunda and Sahul, J. Allen, J. Golson, R. Jones, Eds.(Academic Press, London, 1977), pp. 601–638.
57
M. Spriggs, in (2), pp. 524–537.
58
S. G. Haberle, A. Chepstow-Lusty, Environ. Hist.6, 349 (2000).
59
S. Horaiet al., Am. J. Hum. Genet.59, 579 (1996).
60
K. Omoto, N. Saito, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.102, 437 (1997).
61
M. Hudson, Ruins of Identity (Univ. of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1999).
62
R. Blust, J. World Prehistory9, 453 (1995).
63
A. K. Pawley, in (11), chap. 20.
64
S. Oppenheimer, M. Richards, Nature410, 166 (2001).
65
T. Melton et al. Am. J. Hum. Genet.63, 1807 (1998).
66
E. Hagelberg, in The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania, G. R. Clark et al., Eds. (Pandanus, Canberra, Australia, 2001), pp. 167.
67
M. Hurleset al., Genetics160, 289 (2002).
68
D. Fuller, in (11), chap. 16.
69
V. Blazek, in Archaeology and Language IV, R. Blench, M. Spriggs, Eds.(Routledge, London, 1998), pp. 48–78.
70
I. Diakonoff, J. Semitic Studies43, 219–217, (1998).
71
A. Militarev, in (11), chap. 12.
72
C. Ehret, J. African Hist.20, 161 (1979).
73
C. Ehret, Reconstructing Proto-Afro-Asiatic (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1995).
74
M. Gimbutas, J. Indo-European Studies13, 185 (1985).
75
J. Mallory, In Search of the Indo-Europeans (Thames and Hudson, London, 1989).
76
D. Anthony, Antiquity69, 554 (1995).
77
M. Levine, in Late Prehistoric Exploitation of the Eurasian Steppe (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, 1999), pp. 5–58.
78
C. Renfrew, Archaeology and Language (Jonathan Cape, London, 1987).
79
G. Krantz, Geographical Development of European Languages (Lang, New York, 1988).
80
C. RenfrewJ. Indo-European Studies27, 257 (1999).
81
C. Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1985).
82
J. Mallory, in Archaeology and Language I, R. Blench, M. Spriggs, Eds.(Routledge, London, 1997), pp. 93–121.
83
J. Diamond, Nature418, 34 (2002).
84
M. Richardset al., Am J. Hum. Genet.67, 1251 (2000).
85
L. Simoniet al., Am. J. Hum. Genet.66, 262 (2000).
86
J. Greenberg, Language in the Americas (Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA, 1987).
87
M. Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, CA, 1987), vol. 1.
88
D. Nettle, Linguistic Diversity (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1999).
89
Encyclopaedia Britannica (Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, IL, ed. 15, 1987), vol. 22
90
We thank C. Hilliker for drafting the illustrations.
(0)eLetters
eLetters is a forum for ongoing peer review. eLetters are not edited, proofread, or indexed, but they are screened. eLetters should provide substantive and scholarly commentary on the article. Embedded figures cannot be submitted, and we discourage the use of figures within eLetters in general. If a figure is essential, please include a link to the figure within the text of the eLetter. Please read our Terms of Service before submitting an eLetter.
Log In to Submit a ResponseNo eLetters have been published for this article yet.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Science
Volume 300 | Issue 5619
25 April 2003
25 April 2003
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Published in print: 25 April 2003
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Usage
Altmetrics
Citations
Cite as
- Jared Diamond,
- Peter Bellwood
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citation of this publication.
Cited by
- Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages, Science, 381, 6656, (2023)./doi/10.1126/science.abg0818
- Bayesian analyses of direct radiocarbon dates reveal geographic variations in the rate of rice farming dispersal in prehistoric Japan, Science Advances, 8, 38, (2022)./doi/10.1126/sciadv.adc9171
- A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History, Science, 343, 6172, (747-751), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1243518
- Comment on “Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa”, Science, 337, 6098, (1040-1040), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1221747
- Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family, Science, 337, 6097, (957-960), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1219669
- Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa, Science, 335, 6073, (1219-1222), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1215400
- Language Phylogenies Reveal Expansion Pulses and Pauses in Pacific Settlement, Science, 323, 5913, (479-483), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1166858
- Ancient DNA from the First European Farmers in 7500-Year-Old Neolithic Sites, Science, 310, 5750, (1016-1018), (2021)./doi/10.1126/science.1118725
- Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia, Science Advances, 7, 34, (2021)./doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd9223
Loading...
View Options
Check Access
Log in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS Members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
- Become a AAAS Member
- Activate your AAAS ID
- Purchase Access to Other Journals in the Science Family
- Account Help
Log in via OpenAthens.
Log in via Shibboleth.
More options
Purchase digital access to this article
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Little evidence that modern language families were spread with farming
The migrations known to be associated with language families mostly took place long time after the neolitic revolution and seem to be associated with more modern technology. The Celts, Japanese and Bantu had their iron technology, and many other important language-carrying migrations took place in the early bronze age or early iron age, suggested that it was the prestige, trade and military advantage associated with metal working that spread language families.
Diamond and Bellwood find it unlikely that Indo-European pastoralists would impose their language on farmers, but that is actually a recurrent theme. Massai, Nubian, Inca and Turkic pastoralists spread their languages across areas that were inhabited by farmers. That the Indo-Europeans were another such example is just what one would expect. It makes sense: in a large area with small farming villages connected by mobile classes of warriors, pastorists and traders, it is the languages of the mobile classes that become lingua franca. Even if the farmers were more numerous, richer and more organized (which wasn't even always the case), the farmers' languages would differentiate too much over time, due to isolation, to serve as lingua francas in large areas.
The contrast between the linguistic homogeneity of paleolithic Australia and the heterogeneity of the Americas (where the neolithic revolution was recent enough to leave linguistic footprints if the Diamond/Bellwood hypothesis were true) shows that mobile hunter-gatherers, just like mobile Austranesian sailors and mobile pastoralists, spread their languages. Sedentary farmers don't, unless they posses superior weapon technology as in the case of the Bantus, the Japanese the European colonists.
The Afro-Asiatic languages is another example of paleo/meso-lithic language spread. The archaeologic convergence between North Africa and the Levant began during the mesolithic, consistent with the linguistic and genetic age of the language family.