Agriculture is one of the key innovations of human societies, yet the nature of and reasons for its emergence are debated. A new model that hindcasts past global population suggests that an improving climate increased plant productivity and human population density, facilitating domestication.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Larson, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 6139–6146 (2014).
Richerson, P. J., Boyd, R. & Bettinger, R. L. Am. Antiq. 66, 387–411 (2001).
Cohen, M. N. Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT, 1977).
Piperno, D. R. Curr. Anthropol. 52, S453–S470 (2011).
Zeder, M. A. & Smith, B. D. Curr. Anthropol. 50, 681–691 (2009).
Kavanagh, P. H. et al. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/018-0358-8 (2018).
Climate models. Climate.gov https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/primer/climate-models (2018).
Weitzel, E. L. & Codding, B. F. R. Soc. Open Sci. 3, 160319–16030 (2016).
Cunniff, J., Charles, M., Jones, G. & Osborne, C. P. Environ. Archaeol. 15, 113–123 (2010).
Piperno, D. R., Holst, I., Winter, K. & McMillan, O. Quat. Int. 363, 65–77 (2015).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Piperno, D.R. A model of agricultural origins. Nat Hum Behav 2, 446–447 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0390-8
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0390-8