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Quaternary International 150 (2006) 1220

The agricultural revolution as environmental catastrophe:

Implications for health and lifestyle in the Holocene
Clark Spencer Larsen
Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 244 Lord Hall, 124 W, 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1364, USA
Available online 3 March 2006

Abstract
One of the most fundamental developments in the history of our speciesand one having among the most profound impacts on
landscapes and the people occupying themwas the domestication of plants and animals. In addition to altering landscapes around the
globe from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene, the shift from foraging to farming resulted in negative and multiple
consequences for human health. Study of human skeletal remains from archaeological contexts shows that the introduction of grains and
other cultigens and the increase in their dietary focus resulted in a decline in health and alterations in activity and lifestyle. Although
agriculture provided the economic basis for the rise of states and development of civilizations, the change in diet and acquisition of food
resulted in a decline in quality of life for most human populations in the last 10,000 years.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In the early Holocene, huntergatherers began to
manipulate the growth of specic plants and animals,
resulting in plant cultivation and animal husbandry.
During the rst ve thousand years of the Holocene
when climates became essentially modernhunter
gatherers domesticated plants in at least eight independent
centres throughout the world, in Asia (Near East, South
China, North China), in the western Pacic (New Guinea),
in Africa (sub-Sahara), and in the Americas (South
America, central Mexico, eastern United States) (Smith,
1998; Neumann, 2003). Agriculture spread widely from
these primary centres. Today, all human societies depend
upon domesticated plants and animals for their survival to
one extent or another.
For some regions of the globe, domesticated animals
were key resources, especially with regard to meat, milk,
skin products, and transport. In the Near Eastthe earliest
known centre of domesticationcattle, sheep, goats, pigs,
and chickens became fundamental economic resources.
However, in this and the other areas, domesticated plants

Tel.: +1 614 292 4117; fax: +1 614 292 4155.

E-mail address: Larsen.53@osu.edu.

were more important as a food source than domesticated

animals.
Why did the global shift from foraging to farming come
about? Some authorities argue that the disappearance of
megafauna throughout the world in the terminal Pleistocene created the need for new food resources, resulting in
domestication. This explanation seems unlikely, however,
especially given the availability to humans of other animals
(and plants) that did not become extinct. Rather, the
change from foraging to farming was likely motivated by
humans seeking a means of acquiring food that would
increase the predictability of food acquisition, specically
from a limited number of wild species, thereby reducing
risk (Winterhalder and Goland, 1993; Smith, 1998). Be that
as it may, we are learning that the shift from foraging to
farming likely resulted from a number of interacting
variables, including climate change in the Pleistocene-toHolocene transition, the subsequent evolution of animals
and plants adapted to the new landscapes, and local factors
such as water availability and knowledge of local ora and
fauna by human populations (see Smith, 1998).
Whatever its root cause (so to speak), the shift from
foraging to farming occasioned a new way of living, new
kinds of settlement patterns, and new foods, all having a
profound impact on human health and lifestyle. In general,
the shift resulted in the consumption of a less varied diet

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doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2006.01.004

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and reduced meat consumption and access to key micronutrients, such as iron (Larsen, 2003). For coastal
populations undergoing the transition, the shift from
foraging to farming saw a dramatic and sudden reduction
in consumption of marine foods (sh, especially) with the
introduction of farming practices (e.g., Larsen et al., 2001;
Richards et al., 2003a,b; Papathanasiou, 2001; Papathansiou et al., 2000).
This paper explores the biological consequences of the
shift from foraging to farming for human populations
living in the Holocene. Arguably, this change is among the
most profound in all of human evolution. Although
domesticated animals were important, this paper focuses
mainly on the impact of plant domestication and the
increasing dependence on plants as a food source. This
impact on humans is part of the larger suite of environmental catastrophes documented during the Holocene.
2. Documentation of past food practices: stable isotope
ratios and dental microwear
The evidence for changing food practices in the
Holocene and before have long been based on archaeological documentation of the remains of foodsplants
and animalsconsumed by past societies. Every setting
has specic taphonomic circumstances associated with it
that inuence the picture that archaeologists develop about
human diet from the recovery of plants and animals from
ancient settings. For example, very dry climates promote
plant preservation, whereas in subtropical or tropical
settings, plant species rarely preserve. Animal remains are
usually preserved as bones and teeth. Improvements in
recovery techniques has expanded the representation of
plant and animal remains in archaeological settings,
thereby greatly advancing knowledge of the timing of
domestication and the foods eaten (Smith, 1998, 2001).
Even when there is excellent preservation of plants and
animals, however, it is exceedingly difcult to identify the
proportion of these foods in diet; we know what people ate,
but not in what relative proportions. Therefore, the
presence of a specic kind of plant or animal does not by
itself indicate whether or not that food source was an
important part of diet. It is essential that the importance of
specic food items be determined in order to make
inferences about nutritional quality in past populations.
The application of stable isotope analysis (especially
involving carbon and nitrogen) to the reconstruction of
ancient foodways has added new and important perspective on past foodways of humans (Schoeninger, 1995).
Analysis of carbon isotope ratios from human bone
indicates the relative dietary use of C3 plants versus C4
plants, since the ratios of the stable carbon isotopes (13C,
12
C) are distinctive (and, therefore, the human consumers
of these plants). For example, the New World cultivar
maize, rst domesticated more than 6300 years ago in
Mexico (Piperno and Flannery, 2001), is a C4 plant. Maize
was the only major C4 plant of dietary importance in many

13

New World settings in later prehistory, and owing to its

distinctive isotopic signature, it has become possible to
identify with a high degree of certainty its timing of
introduction and increasing importance (Schoeninger,
1995; Larsen, 1997).
Nitrogen stable isotopes (15N, 14N) are informative
about the presence and importance of marine foods in diet
versus the amount of terrestrial foods consumed as well as
the importance of plant foods versus animal foods
(Schoeninger, 1995). Analysis of nitrogen ratios is a
powerful tool for documenting dietary change in coastal
settings.
Another important tool for documenting major dietary
changes and adaptive shifts in Holocene (or earlier) human
populations is analysis of microscopically visible wear on
the chewing surfaces of teeth (Teaford, 1991). Microwear is
displayed as pits and scratches on teeth. The expression of
these features is determined by the consistency of the foods
consumed and/or the inclusion of extraneous particles
introduced to the food when it is being prepared. In
general, soft foods (e.g., porridges)common in many
agricultural populationsdisplay fewer microwear features than hard foods (e.g., Rose et al., 1991; Teaford et
al., 2001; Schmidt, 2001; Organ et al., 2005). In settings
where stone implements were used to grind the food, teeth
display more microwear features in farmers than foragers
(e.g., Molleson and Jones, 1991; Pastor, 1992).

3. Health implications for the emergence and intensication

of agriculture
Although there is a considerable amount of variation in
settlement systems of foragers and farmers, both today and
in the prehistoric past, in general foragers lived a more
transitory lifestyle, moving about the landscape in the food
quest, whereas farming involves a more sedentary lifestyle.
Depending upon the degree of commitment to farming, the
greater degree of sedentism reects the fact that farmers are
required to stay put in order to plant, tend, and harvest
crops. An important demographic change over time was a
dramatic increase in population size. Thus, communities
became larger and more permanent over the course of the
Holocene.
The change in diet had clear epidemiological implications for the populations involved. One of the most
profound changes that anthropologists have documented
is the increase in dental caries, commonly known as tooth
decay (Fig. 1). Dental caries, an oral infectious disease,
involves the demineralization of the enamel and the
underlying dentin and other tissues, caused by the acids
produced as a byproduct of the metabolism of dietary
carbohydrates, especially sugars (Newbrun, 1982). That is,
increased carbohydrate consumption (domesticated plants)
results in increased tooth decay and associated oral
problems (reviewed in Larsen et al., 1991; Larsen, 1997).
Virtually everywhere that human populations made the

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C.S. Larsen / Quaternary International 150 (2006) 1220

Fig. 1. Pathological indicators of specic infectious diseases: (a) dental caries (King site, Georgia; photo by Mark C. Grifn); (b) endemic (non-venereal)
syphilis in skull (Tierra Verde, Florida; courtesy of Dale L. Hutchinson; Hutchinson, 1993; reproduced with permission from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; (c)
tuberculosis in spine (Little Egypt site, Georgia; photo by Mark C. Grifn); (d) leprosy in upper jaw (Nstved, Denmark; Mller-Christensen, 1978;
reproduced with permission of Odense University Press).

shift to agriculture or intensied agricultural production

saw a rise in the frequency of carious teeth.
One possible exception to the increase in tooth decay in
agricultural settings is Southeast Asia where rice was the
primary cultivar. Rice does not appear to be as cariogenic
as other domesticated plants, especially maize (Oxenham,
2000, 2005; Tayles et al., 2000; Domett, 2001; Pietrusewsky
and Douglas, 2002). On the other hand, in at least one
other setting where rice was grown in ancient times there
are elevated caries rates (e.g., Pechenkina et al., 2002).
Increased size and decreased mobility as populations
shifted from foraging to farming provided conditions that
promoted the maintenance and spread of infectious disease
generally. Under conditions of population crowding,
infectious disease spreads. It is usually not possible to
identify acute diseases resulting in the deaths of humans in
archaeological settings, primarily because the diseases kill
the host before the pathogen can result in a diagnostic
signature on the skeleton (Larsen, 1997; Ortner, 2003).
However, there are various chronic infectious diseases
conditions that will affect the skeleton (e.g., syphilis,
tuberculosis, and leprosy). Various studies of skeletons
reveal that populations committed to agriculture had a
higher number of infections than those that were not (e.g.,

various in Cohen and Armelagos, 1984; Steckel and Rose,

2002; Oxenham, 2000; reviewed in Larsen, 1995, 2002,
2003; Cohen, 1989; Steckel et al., 2002), although with
some important exceptions (e.g., Domett, 2001; Pietrusewsky and Douglas, 2002).
Densely settled circumstances also have negative implications for the quality of drinking water in nonindustrialized societies. In this regard, water sources can
be contaminated by parasites, which infect human hosts.
For example, hookworm infection causes signicant loss of
blood, resulting in severe anemia (Layrisse and Roche,
1964). Moreover, children with low birth weights
commonly caused by malnutrition and limited access to
energy and proteinare susceptible to iron deciency
anemia.
Iron deciency anemia triggers the expansion of the
blood-forming tissues in order to increase production of
red blood cells. As a result, the compact bone of the outer
surface of the at bones of the human skull becomes more
porous, a pathological condition called porotic hyperostosis (Fig. 2). In a range of settings worldwide, there is an
elevated frequency of porotic hyperostosis in agricultural
settings (e.g., various in Cohen and Armelagos, 1984;
Steckel and Rose, 2002), but not everywhere. The increase

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Fig. 2. Skeletal indicator of anemia: porotic hyperostosis (King site,

Georgia; photo by Mark C. Grifn).

in porotic hyperostosis is likely related to reduced

availability of dietary iron and/or intestinal infections of
various sorts (see Larsen, 1997).
Evidence also indicates that the shift from foraging to
farming resulted in a change in nutritional quality for many
settings. Maize is decient in amino acids lysine, isoleucine,
and tryptophan. Moreover, iron absorption is low in maize
consumers, and vitamin B3 (niacin) is chemically bound in
maize, reducing its bioavailability (Ashworth et al., 1973).
Millet and wheat contain little iron, and rice is decient in
protein, which inhibits vitamin A activity (Wolf, 1980).
Moreover, the focus on domesticated plants would have
resulted in a reduced availability of essential micronutrients
found in meat but not plants, such as iron, zinc, vitamin A,
and vitamin B12 (various papers in Demment and Allen,
2003).
Other skeletal indicators of health show a general
pattern in quality of health in the agricultural transition.
These indicators include reduced growth rates as determined by lengths of bones of children per age and reduced
adult height for a number of settings. Adult heights show
signicant declines in a number of regions (e.g., various
studies in Cohen and Armelagos, 1984; Steckel and Rose,
2002). However, there are a number of settings that show
either no change or increase in stature, which likely reects
the importance of when in a persons lifetime nutritional
deprivation occurred. In some populations, if nutrition was
adequate in adolescence, then growth rebounds could have
resulted in attainment of the genetic potential in height
(Steckel, 1987).
Growth disruption is displayed in teeth resulting from
deprivation during the time when the enamel is forming
during prenatal months and early childhood (Goodman
and Rose, 1990, 1991; Larsen, 1997). The resulting defects,
called enamel hypoplasias, are caused when the cells that
produce the enamel are disrupted (Fig. 3). The disruptions

Fig. 3. Dental indicator of physiological stress: hypoplasia (note the

horizontal grooves resulting from disruption of enamel development)
(anatomical specimen, Northern Illinois University; photo by Barry
Stark).

are non-specic in that they can be caused by a variety of

diseases, by nutritional disruption, or some combination
thereof (Goodman and Martin, 2002; Larsen, 1997).
Comparison of foragers and farmers shows a general
pattern of increase in frequency of these defects, which
could have been due to nutritional declines (various studies
in Cohen and Armelagos, 1984; Steckel and Rose, 2002).
On the other hand, as noted above there was likely an
increase in infectious disease in the Holocene, resulting
from closer, more crowded living circumstances. It is quite
likely that these diseases affected childhood growth in a
negative fashion, resulting in enamel defects. Moreover,
there is a well-known synergy between infection and
undernutrition whereby undernourished persons are more
prone to infection, and infection is detrimental to nutritional status (Scrimshaw et al., 1968).

4. Lifestyle implications of the agricultural transition

One of perplexing issues currently debated among
anthropologists, economists, and historians is the degree

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to which different subsistence strategies in the past resulted

in differences in workload. The traditional point of view
has been very much inuenced by the Hobbesian characterization of huntergatherer lifeways as nasty, brutish,
and short. From this point of view, huntergatherers lived
a demanding existence, and farmers had it relatively easier
in the food quest (see Kelly, 1995).
Human remains from Holocene settings provide important perspective on the documentation of workload and
lifestyle generally, especially from two sources of information. First, activity involves the use of the joints of the
skeleton. Populations and individuals engaged in highly
demanding activity regimes display higher frequency of
osteoarthritis (also called degenerative joint disease; see
Larsen, 1997). This is a disorder of wear-and-tear,
displayed as the buildup of bone along joint margins and
the loss of bone on joint surfaces (Fig. 4). Second, bone as
a tissue is highly sensitive to mechanical stimuligreater
activity results in more bone development than lesser

Fig. 4. Bone pathology (osteoarthritis) resulting from extended use of

articular joints: Top. Buildup of bone on vertebrae (marginal lipping).
Bottom. Loss of bone on joint surface in elbow (eburnation) (anatomical
specimens, Northern Illinois University; photo by Barry Stark).

activity. Simply, human groups engaged in physically

demanding lifestyles will have larger and thicker bones
(e.g., femur) than groups engaged in more sedentary or
less-active lifestyles (Ruff et al., 1993; Larsen, 1997).
Comparisons of osteoarthritis prevalence in Holocene
populations show that in general, foragers have more
osteoarthritis than farmers (e.g., various studies in Cohen
and Armelagos, 1984; Steckel and Rose, 2002; overview in
Larsen, 1995). However, there are some important exceptions (Bridges, 1992; Goodman et al., 1984; Pickering,
1984), which suggests that local factors (e.g., climate,
terrain) are important for understanding temporal trends
in osteoarthritis. The general pattern of decrease in
osteoarthritis prevalence suggests that there was somewhat
of a decline in workload and other activities that result in
articular degeneration.
Consistent with the decline in osteoarthritis is a clear
temporal trend of reduction in size and robusticity of the
human skeleton in the Holocene, both in comparison with
Pleistocene populations and over the course of the
Holocene (Ruff et al., 1993; Larsen, 1997; Ruff, 1999,
2000; Ruff and Larsen, 2001). Although the decline in size
of the human skeleton in part reects nutritional changes,
reduction in workload and activity is also important in
interpreting these changes. Just the opposite happened in
some regions studied by physical anthropologists, as there
is evidence for an increase in robusticity and workload in
some settings (e.g., Peterson, 2002).
Biomechanical analysis based on measurement of bone
cross-sections reveals that the arm and leg bones are
adapted to level of mechanical loading. For example, in
comparison of limb bones of huntergatherers from late
Holocene foragers and farmers from coastal Georgia (Ruff
et al., 1984) and from Alabama (Bridges, 1989, 1991), the
former showed a reduction in bone robusticity, whereas the
latter showed an increase in robusticity. The pattern of
change in the American Southwest is similar to what was
observed in coastal Georgia (see Brock and Ruff, 1988;
Ogilvie, 2000). Importantly, the analysis of shape of bone
cross-sections, which are highly sensitive to mobility, show
a pattern of a general decline, consistent with expectations
derived from the study of living societies undergoing this
transition and as described in the historical past (see Ruff,
1999; Ogilvie, 2000; Larsen, 1997).
Finally, the use of the jaws and teeth is another type of
activity that is often forgotten when looking at changes in
lifestyle and the shift from foraging to farming. As noted
above, analysis of microwear of teeth, comparing foragers
with farmers or in comparison of less-intensive with moreintensive agriculturalists, indicates that the adoption of
agriculture was occasioned by a decrease in loading of the
jaws and teeth (Fig. 5). Agricultural societies generally use
their teeth and jaws less vigorously than huntergatherer
societies. This interpretation is also suggested by a general
decline in macroscopically visible tooth wear over the
course of the Holocene (see review in Larsen, 1997).
Perhaps of greater importance than the shift in what foods

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Reduction in the size of the face and jaws in the

foraging-to-farming transition does not have negative
consequences for human health and wellbeing by itself.
However, what is of major signicance is the tooth
crowding, malocclusions, and reduced oral health that
result from facial reduction. Human tooth size has reduced
in the Holocene generally. The degree of tooth size
reduction is considerably less than the degree of reduction
of the supporting facial skeleton, resulting in less room for
the dentition. Ten-thousand years ago, malocclusions were
relatively rare in humans. Today, occlusal abnormalities
are exceedingly common. It is little wonder that orthodontics is a large and growing profession, worldwide. Moreover, the increased crowding of teeth provides localities in
the dentition for development of bacterial colonies (plaque)
and caries promotion.

5. Competition for resources and violence

Fig. 5. Microwear on molar chewing surface: Top: prehistoric huntergatherer from Johns Mound, St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Bottom:
historic agriculturalist from Santa Catalina de Guale, Amelia Island,
Florida (photo courtesy of Mark Teaford; Teaford, 1991; reproduced with
permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

were eaten but how they were prepared. In this regard, a

more important variable than the foods consumed was the
fact that the agricultural revolution also saw a major
change in food preparation techniques, especially the
invention and widespread use of ceramic vessels to cook
food. Extended cooking of food in ceramic vessels meant
that foods that were normally tough could be reduced to a
soft, mushy consistency. Indeed, in todays societies, many
foods are reduced to very soft consistencies, to the point
where industrial societies display very little or no tooth
wear.
Of much greater consequence for humans eating soft
foods is the resulting reduction in the size of the human
face and jaws. Like the bones of the skeleton generally, the
decrease in activity results in reduced bone production.
Overall, the human skull today is far more gracile (smaller
with less pronounced muscle attachment sites) than in our
forebears, even in comparison with people living just a
couple of hundred years ago (see Larsen, 2000). Indeed,
there has been a dramatic reduction in the size of the face
and jaws wherever humans have made the transition from
foraging to farming (Larsen, 1997).

All human societies have experienced physical confrontations at some point in their history, which is well
represented in a range of archaeological evidence, such as
fortications, weaponry, and iconography showing people
in conict (see Keeley, 1996). Archaeological skeletons
showing weapon wounds and other evidence of interpersonal violence indicate temporal patterns of violence that are
linked to economic shifts and competition for resources.
For example, in Eastern North America, violence occurred
early in prehistory, long before the adoption of agriculture
(e.g., Smith, 1997). However, the number of injuries caused
by interpersonal violence increases later in time as
prehistoric societies began to compete for agriculturally
productive lands (e.g., Milner et al., 1991; Fig. 6). The
record strongly suggests that population size increases
associated with food production provided conditions
conducive to the rise of organized warfare and increased
mortality due to violence.

Fig. 6. Scalp marks on skull from late prehistoric west-central Illinois

(Norris Farms; photo courtesy of George R. Milner; Milner and Smith,
1990; reproduced with permission of Illinois State Museum).

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6. Conclusions
Most of us are well aware of the dramatic changes in the
Earths landscapes as forests give way to agricultural land,
and the resulting environmental degradation, loss of
species, and other disasters (e.g., McKee, 2003). A common
misperception is that prior to modern times, humans were
much more concerned about managing their environment
so as to avoid the problems that have surfaced in such a
dramatic fashion in the 20th century. However, study of
ancient landscapes in Mesoamerica, North America, and
the Middle East shows evidence that earlier agriculturalists
had profound impacts, highly negative in some areas, on
the lands they exploited (see Abrams and Rue, 1988;
Denevan, 1992; Kirch et al., 1992; Redman, 1999; Krech,
1999; Heckenberger et al., 2003). In the Mediterranean
basin, for example, nearly all landscapes were degraded or
otherwise transformed in dramatic ways (van der Leeuw,
1998). The analysis of the past reveals that the current
threats to the landscape have their origins in the period of
human history when plant domestication began 10,000
years (or so) ago. Finally, once the effects on Earths
climate by industrial-era human activitiesthe so-called
greenhouse effectwere recognized, a number of workers
assumed that it related to just the last couple of hundred
years (e.g., Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). However, new
evidence of anamolous trends in CO2 and CH4 possibly
owing to agricultural-related deforestation after about
8000 years ago, indicates that the negative impact involving
greenhouse gases began soon after the start of agriculture
(Ruddiman, 2003).
Coupled with these negative changes to the landscape
was the decline in health and quality of life. Skeletal
evidence indicates that these impacts on health were
immediateas soon as humans began to farm, health
declines commenced due to population crowding, altered
workloads, and increased nutritional deciencies. In
looking at different health indicators, there is variability.
For example, some agriculturalists show far more skeletal
evidence of iron deciency anemia, and rice agriculturalists
may be less prone to dental caries. Taken as a whole,
farming was a mixed bagit provided food for a growing
world population, but with negative consequences for the
health and wellbeing. These negative consequences have
been largely ameliorated today in developed nations, made
possible by advances in medical care, varied and nutritional diets, and stringent sanitation and water treatment
laws. In the non-developed or developing worldthe
majority of populationthe production and consumption
of a limited number of plants continues to negatively
impact millions of our species. At no other time in the
history of our species has there been so much nutritional
deciency, crowd-related infections, infant mortality, and
poor health generally. The situation does not look like it
will improve. In the next couple of decades, farmers
globally will be called upon to provide food for nearly 8
billion people, representing nearly a 40% increase. Most of

the growth in population will be in developing countries

whose ability to produce the food necessary for the survival
of all is diminishing (Gardner, 2004). Clearly, the change in
how humans acquired food in a few centres 10,000 years
ago has now engulfed much of the world in a profound
way, arguably not for the better, either then or now.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are extended to Suzanne Leroy and Iain Stewart
for inviting me to present an earlier version of this paper at
the Brunel University conference on environmental catastrophes in the Holocene.
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