Talk:Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers?

Thoughts/comments on this page?
Let's discuss any changes or revisions that need to be made to this page. I have Sutton and Walshe, so I'll be expanding the "Contents" section at the least. Noteduck (talk) 07:41, 29 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Thanks for creating the article, . I have given it a once-over for some basic copyediting for style and additional wikilinks, and also expanded slightly for balance. My only other comment at this stage is that I don't think that the "Other academic responses" section belongs in this article - there is a section in the Dark Emu article where this rightfully belongs (and most of it may already be there). I have another long article about this book which I still need to read, so will get back to this at some point. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 11:47, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I have recently read Farmers or Hunter Gatherers?, and re-read Dark Emu, and I think this is a very good summary of the key issues written from a NPOV. My only criticism is that Farmers or Hunter Gatherers is a critique of Dark Emu so the attempt to divide the article into a "Contents" section and "Critique of Dark Emu" section doesn't work well. The placement of information in one section or the other sometimes looks arbitrary and I had to read both sections a couple of time to work out whether a key critique of Dark Emu had been adequately covered. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 04:27, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

Critique of Dark Emu
Hello all,

I have added three sentences here. Namely: "They argue that planting is a crucial defining element of agriculture and that the evidence that Aboriginal people sowed seeds is rare and ambiguous. They argue that protected breeding and rearing of aquatic animals is a key element of aquaculture and this was absent in Aboriginal societies. They state that the practices which Pascoe characterises as agriculture and aquaculture were the exceptions rather than the rule in Aboriginal societies.

The article as it stood simply stated that Sutton and Walshe rejected Pascoe's theses that pre-contact Aborigines practiced agriculture. Given that S&W spend a great deal of the book in a detailed examination of the evidence for pre-contact agriculture and aquacultue, I think a couple of sentences sumarising the basis for their critique are warranted. Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 04:01, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

Should "do not not refute" be clarified/simplified?
Should "do not not refute" be clarified/simplified? R. Henrik Nilsson (talk) 12:34, 31 May 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing that out. I have removed the redundant "not". I have also changed the paragraph order and slightly changed the wording for clarity. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 22:14, 31 May 2023 (UTC)