Early Farmers and Manure: Stone Age Europeans Were More Advanced Than We Thought

Early farmers knew that  cows, pigs, and sheep produce manure that can be used as slow-release fertilizer. Photographer Mirrowmere

The use of manure as a slow release fertilizer may go back as far back as 6000 BC, at the dawn of agriculture. The use of a long term fertilizer implies social stability, where farmers and their families occupy the same land for generations. It reflects an investment in land.