Debates over cultural changes associated with the origins of agriculture have long been a core area of research for the anthropological sciences and a prominent topic of interest across both the biological and social sciences. A large-scale symposium, titled The Beginnings of Agriculture, was hosted in 2009, which brought together top scholars in this debate to discuss new perspectives. This event was a watershed moment for the field, and in the same year, Dorian Fuller published a statement claiming that a paradigm shift was underway.

2024 will mark a decade and a half since that pivotal symposium, and the field has rapidly progressed, with a new generation of scholars engaging in the debates. At the same time, geneticists and ecologists are rapidly outnumbering anthropologists in the ongoing discussions, and scholars from these three disparate disciplines rarely meet to share ideas. This event will bring together 50 scholars – half of whom are focused on the Origins of Domestication debates and half working on the Origins of Cultivation. We hope to provide a mix of senior and junior scholars, as well as accounting for a diverse array of global perspectives. Ultimately, we intend to bring anthropologists into direct discussion with ecologists and geneticists. The symposium will be hosted at the Ringberg Castle in Bavaria. The castle boasts 50 guestrooms, massive dining and lecture halls, and catering facilities. Additionally, it is fully staffed and experienced in hosting large-scale academic events.

The cultural shifts that accompanied the gradual transitions from a predominantly foraging economy to one that was largely focused on the cultivation of crops have long been a key topic of interest among anthropologists. Likewise, the evolutionary processes that led to the domestication of these crops have attracted scholars from across the archaeological sciences, along with geneticists and ecologists. Collectively, The Beginnings of Agriculture was one of the most influential sets of phenomena to lead humanity into the culturally modern world. Over the past decade and a half, there have been large-scale reassessments of how these cultural and biological processes unfolded. We intend to bring together scholars from across the anthropological, biological, and ecological sciences to break down disciplinary barriers and to ensure that the cultural aspects remain at the forefront of discussions.

The 2009 symposium concluded with an article, jointly published by Zeder and Smith, titled A Conversation on Agricultural Origins: Talking Past Each Other in a Crowded Room. The symposium brought together the world’s greatest minds on the origins of agriculture debates, and the culmination was an article stating that few points of consensus had been met. This profound event, probably more than any other, signaled the need for a change in rhetoric and perspective. It is clear that scientific inquiry has continued to advance rapidly, but it is less clear whether theory is keeping up with these debates. Many scholars remain entrenched in push or pull camps, and both are bogged down by one question – why did humans choose to do it? The prominence of humanist ideals in these debates, especially leading up to 2009, has framed intellectual progress. The 2009 symposium allowed scholars to break free of these constraints and to consider ideas previously avoided in mainstream discussions. Increasingly, scholars are setting aside models that rely on intentional human drivers and instead theorizing unconscious processes for domestication.

Researchers are diving into ecological studies of mutualistic relationships and further exploring how seed-dispersal systems function as ways to understand the role of humans in early domestication. Correlations between archaeological material culture, often with more precise dating, and genetic or phenotypic changes in plants and animals clarify how humans engaged in these mutualisms. Researchers engaging in these studies are both spread around the world and isolated in opposing academic departments. We seek to gather these scholars for talks and workshop sessions to build bridges across disciplines and between national and social divides.