The Transition from Foraging to Farming and the Impact on Human Health: The Bioarchaeological Record
by
Clark Spencer Larsen
Ohio State University

The transition from foraging to farming is one of the most dramatic events in all of human evolution. Within a relatively short amount of time, humans went from living on exclusively wild plants and animals to depending mostly on domesticated plants and animals. This transition began at the end of the Pleistocene, was in full swing in a number of localities in the early to middle Holocene, and nearly complete by the end of the 20th century. Study of archaeological human remains by physical anthropologists from settings around the world reveal that this transition had a profound impact on health and lifestyle. Although some areas of the world saw no change in health that accompanied the transition, for most the shift from foraging to farming resulted in a poorer quality of life. The transition and its after effects resulted in a decline in oral and general health as indicated by an elevated prevalence of a range of skeletal and dental markers of quality of life. Some changes in health were related primarily to an increase in population size and increasing sedentism, establishing ideal conditions for the spread of infectious disease. The implications of bioarchaeological study are that although the shift to an agricultural economy was instrumental in the rise of complex societies and “civilization” it came with health costs. This finding runs counter to the traditional notion that the shift from foraging to farming was beneficial for humanity. Moreover, the agricultural transition set the stage for the appearance of a variety of maladies as we move into the 21st century.

Date received: February 26, 2002