First farmers : the origins of agricultural societies

Summary: This work offers readers an understanding of the origins and histories of early agricultural populations in all parts of the world. It examines the reasons for the multiple primary origins of agriculture, looks at relations between hunter-gatherers and farmers, and addresses issues of agricultural adoption, the origins and dispersal histories of language families, and the dispersal histories of biological populations. It uses data from archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology to cover developments over the past 12,000 years. The author offers discussion of regional agricultural origins in, and dispersals out of, these areas: the Middle East, central Africa, China, New Guinea, Mesoamerica, and the northern Andes. The linguistic survey covers the origins and dispersals of major language families such as Indo-European, Austronesian, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo, and Uto-Aztecan.