On Trade and Assimilation in European Agricultural Origins

Abstract

The article by Runnels and van Andel on 'Trade and the Origins of Agriculture' JMA 1.1 is significant because it represents the latest of many 'explanations' for the origins of agriculture. The authors follow those who have proposed that agriculture rose from the intensification of trade networks and of the social relations of production (e.g. Ames 1985; Bender 1978, 1981; Davidson 1986; Ingold 1980; Price and Brown 1985 - though the authors mistakenly argue that Bender assigns a 'causal role in the emergence of agricultural societies to demographic factors' - 1988;85). The aim of this comment is to examine the authors' hypothesis and their potential applicability to explanations of the emergence of agriculture in Europe.