First farmers : the origins of agricultural societies

Book

First farmers : the origins of agricultural societies / Peter Bellwood.

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.

Record details

ISBN: 0631205659 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN: 9780631205654 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN: 0631205667 (alk. paper)
ISBN: 9780631205661 (alk. paper)
Physical Description: xix, 360 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm.
Publisher: Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., c2005.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (p. 292-349) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: The early farming dispersal hypothesis in perspective -- The origins and dispersals of agriculture: some operational considerations -- The beginnings of agriculture in Southwest Asia -- Tracking the spreads of farming beyond the Fertile Crescent: Europe and Asia -- Africa: an independent focus of agricultural development? -- The beginnings of agriculture in East Asia -- The spread of agriculture into Southeast Asia and Oceania -- Early agriculture in the Americas -- What do language families mean for human prehistory? -- The spread of farming: comparing the archaeology and the linguistics -- Genetics, skeletal anthropology, and the people factor -- The nature of early agricultural expansion.