Seeds of Civilization: Scientists Unearth 7,000-Year-Old Farming Secrets in Western Europe

Research reveals that Neolithic farmers in Western Europe, particularly at La Draga, employed advanced cereal cultivation methods, reflecting a significant evolution from earlier agricultural methods that originated in the Middle East.

A team of researchers led by the University of Barcelona has uncovered new insights into the advent and expansion of agriculture during the Neolithic period in Western Europe. They found that nearly 7,000 years ago, the first farmers in the western Mediterranean used advanced agricultural practices similar to those seen today, selecting the most fertile land available, cultivating cereal varieties very similar to today’s, and making sparing use of domestic animal feces.

The study, recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reconstructs the environmental conditions, crop management practices, and the characteristics of the plants that existed when agriculture appeared in Western Europe, referencing the site of La Draga (Banyoles, Girona, Spain), one of the most significant and complex sites on the Iberian Peninsula, as well as including data on sixteen other sites from the beginnings of agriculture in the region.