ABSTRACT
The locations of centers of agricultural innovation were largely determined by biogeographic luck. Agricultural populations typically live in settlements neighboring their cultivated land, and this increased sedentism contrasts with the relatively mobile lives of most hunter-gatherers whose movements are governed more by the availability of seasonal resources. Within each agricultural homeland, the plant and animal species domesticated were much less diverse than those exploited by local hunter-gatherer societies. The geographical correlations of agricultural origins with centers of large language families have suggested that agriculture and language may have dispersed together. Within each agricultural homeland, the plant and animal species domesticated were much less diverse than those exploited by local hunter-gatherer societies. In fact, paleopathological studies indicated that the adoption of agriculture often had a negative impact on human health. Increased human population densities resulting from post-agricultural population growth and sedentism could have supported pathogens previously confined to herd animals.
