Spread of farming and spiritual message?

[iBrian]

Interesting to read the following BBC piece, which claims the practice of farming spread from southern England to northern Scotland in just 50 years:
BBC News - Archaeologists unearth Britain's 'first building boom'

Reading it, that's very fast, so what could be behind it?

Well, considering the amount of spiritual law behind the rise and fall of the crops, I would have presumed there would be a strong religious element behind the farming practice in the first place.

However, no one seems to be fingering it yet.

Anyone else think that would make perfect sense, or just clutching at straws?

 

[bob x]

Religious??? Given a clear choice between "eating" and "not eating", most prefer to eat. I don't find that this requires much further explanation.

 

[iBrian]

I think you'll find pre-farming cultures did a pretty good job of eating before.

But there are a couple of issues here: the sudden surge in its spread (as compared to the earlier slow propagation) and also the significant lifestyle changes that would likely have occured (ie, cessation of nomadic wandering, as applicable).

This is all especially in view of later written sources that make it plain that the grwoth of the harvest became a major spiritual symbol - heck, even Christianity continued this with the "this bread is my body" continuation of agricultural worship themes.

 

[wil]

How is that a short time? I mean that isn't a far distance. As long as folks are traversing the land wouldn't one expect that to happen?

Hey, do you know that over in Kent they aren't just picking whatever they find but saving the seeds and planting them in one place?? and then the stuff is growing there??

I would think that viral youtube videos easily explains that spread of information. and Frankly think 50 years is relatively short.

I imagine the first guy that sold a bushel of excess potatoes got everyone thinking...ya got the greed factor in play...

 

[iBrian]

The original article makes a point that for a couple of hundred years farming technology simply sat in a corner of the UK - and then within 50 years it suddenly spread all over.

That means, if true, there was a change in dynamics of some sort.

Additionally, it means it crossed all land barriers to spread.

On top of all this, there are clearly major spiritual attributes used in agricultural use in Pagan societies, so the question is when and how this occured.

I think people are kind of missing the entire religious/spiritual angle that was endemic in agriculture here, and the massive sea change in thinking that must have applied, especially if we're talking about a potential change in religious views.

 

[bob x]

I think you'll find pre-farming cultures did a pretty good job of eating before.

Uh, no. Pre-farming cultures had very short lifespans and populations expanded little, if at all, from one generation to the next.

the significant lifestyle changes that would likely have occured (ie, cessation of nomadic wandering, as applicable).

Yes, it meant a total change in the way they did everything. This has not been easy for Stone Age cultures in modern times to accept, either, but after a while of exposure it becomes plain to them that they need to change or die.