ABSTRACT
Historians agree that the use of manure is as old as agriculture itself. By observing the effects of animal dung on pastures, early farmers recognized the value of manure on crop growth, and by association, soil health. It had been assumed that manure was not used as a fertilizer until the Iron Age or Roman times. However, Bogaard et al. (2012) reported that Neolithic farmers manured and watered their crops as early as 6000 BC. Such manuring involved a long-term commitment in arable land, and implies that early farmers recognized the inherent value of manured land, and sought to maintain it for their descendants. Therefore, intensive manuring had important implications for ‘investment’ in land and the emergence of social differences in early European human settlements.
