Origin and diffusion of agriculture in southern Italy

This paper is focussed on the origin and diffusion of agriculture in southern Italy on the basis of the palaeoethnobotanical documentation. The evidence of 22 early and middle neolithic sites are shortly discussed and the charred remains are related to the radiocarbon dates. This review shows that a fully agricultural way of life was in existence in southern Italy by 5900 bc at the latest. However, a critical analysis of the results demonstrates that there are evident deficiencies in our knowledge that hinder deeper understanding of the question of initial agricultural development in southern Italy.