The article notes that Joo Zilho has hypothesized that the rapid spread of agriculture in Europe occurred as a result of peoples need to escape conflicts in heavily populated communities marked by class and social division. I believe a more likely cause is the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea, which occurred 7,500 years ago. The story of this event and how it scattered a thriving agricultural population in all directions is well documented by William Ryan and Walter Pitman in their book Noahs Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event That Changed History (1998, Simon & Schuster).
Larry Dykstra Wilmette, Ill.
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