Rostovtzeff Lecture Series: The Emergence, Adventures and Legacies of Early Farming in Western Eurasia

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW.

Registration is required at THIS LINK.

The Rostovtzeff Lectures are supported in part by a generous endowment fund given by Roger and Whitney Bagnall.

This lecture series considers current archaeological evidence for the emergence of mixed farming in western Asia, its dispersal and establishment across Europe and the long-term creativity and resilience of early farming households and communities. Complementing recent research into the ancient genomics of early farmers, this series explores the ‘how’ of early farming as practice. Farming has changed radically over thousands of years since its emergence, yet there are striking reflections of contemporary values surrounding high agrobiodiversity, regenerative farming, sharing of ecological knowledge and equality in the ‘distant mirror’ of the Neolithic. Investigation of farming as a long-term process that continues today frames new questions about its initial establishment and evolution.

This lecture will focus on how narratives of early farming offer an exemplary case of how simple expectations of human ‘progress’ and growth have foundered in the face of archaeological evidence for complexity. An alternative perspective frames the emergence of farming as an opportunity to chart a process of becoming that is ongoing. This ‘process archaeology’ opens up the relevance of early farming legacies – its adventures, experiments, reversals and discoveries – for farming futures. The evidence of Neolithic farming resonates with contemporary dilemmas over agrobiodiversity, sustainability, ecological knowledge and inequality. It challenges us to think creatively about fundamental strategies ranging from environmental governance to diet and cuisine. 

Amy Bogaard is Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford. A fellow of the British Academy since 2021, Bogaard publishes widely on the nature of Neolithic-Bronze Age farming in western Eurasia, including Neolithic farming in central Europe (2004), Plant use and crop husbandry in an early Neolithic village (2011), Subsistence and society in prehistory (with Alan Outram, 2019) and From first farmers to first cities in western Asia and Europe: The long revolution (in press, 2026). Bogaard’s interdisciplinary research into prehistoric farming has received support from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council and the European Research Council. She is recipient of research awards from the Shanghai Archaeology Forum in 2015 and 2025, and of the Christiane and Jean Guilaine prize from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 2025.

This event will be followed by a reception. 

Please check isaw.nyu.edu for event updates.

ISAW is committed to providing a positive and educational experience for all guests and participants who attend our public programming. We ask that all attendees follow the guidelines listed in our community standards policy.