The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics

The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics PDF Author: Dolores R. Piperno
Publisher: Academic Press Incorporated
ISBN: 9780125571807
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 10

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Book Description
This first modern, full-bodied study of early horticulture and agriculture in the Neotropics unites new methods of recovering, identifying, and dating plant remains with a strong case for Optimal Foraging Strategy in this historical context. Drawing upon new approaches to tropical archaeology, Dolores Piperno and Deborah Pearsall argue that the tropical forest habitat is neither as hostile nor as benevolent for human occupation and plant experimentation as researchers have suggested. Among other conclusions, they demonstrate that tropical forest food production emerged concurrent with that in the Near East, that many tropical lowland societies practiced food production for at least 5,000 years before the emergence of village life, and that by 7000 B.P. cultivated plots had been extended into the forest, with the concomitant felling and killing of trees to admit sunlight to seed and tuber beds. Piperno and Pearsall have written a polished study of the low-lying regions between southwestern Mexico and the southern rim of the Amazon Basin. With modern techniques for recording and dating botanical remains from archaeological sites and genetic studies to determine the relationships between wild and domesticated plants, their research pulls together a huge mass of information produced by scholars in various disciplines and provides a strong theoretical framework in which to interpret it. Key features include: arguments that tropical forest food production emerged at approximately the same time as that in the Near East and is earlier than currently demonstrated in highland Mexico and Peru; and contends that the lowland tropics witnessed climatic and vegetational changes between 11,000 BP and 10,000 BP, no less profound than those experienced at higher latitudes. It appeals to anyone concerned with Latin American prehistory. It offers coverage of the development of slash and burn (or swidden) cultivation and, focuses on low and lower mid-elevations.

The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics

The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics PDF Author: Dolores R. Piperno
Publisher: Academic Press Incorporated
ISBN: 9780125571807
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 10

Get Book Here

Book Description
This first modern, full-bodied study of early horticulture and agriculture in the Neotropics unites new methods of recovering, identifying, and dating plant remains with a strong case for Optimal Foraging Strategy in this historical context. Drawing upon new approaches to tropical archaeology, Dolores Piperno and Deborah Pearsall argue that the tropical forest habitat is neither as hostile nor as benevolent for human occupation and plant experimentation as researchers have suggested. Among other conclusions, they demonstrate that tropical forest food production emerged concurrent with that in the Near East, that many tropical lowland societies practiced food production for at least 5,000 years before the emergence of village life, and that by 7000 B.P. cultivated plots had been extended into the forest, with the concomitant felling and killing of trees to admit sunlight to seed and tuber beds. Piperno and Pearsall have written a polished study of the low-lying regions between southwestern Mexico and the southern rim of the Amazon Basin. With modern techniques for recording and dating botanical remains from archaeological sites and genetic studies to determine the relationships between wild and domesticated plants, their research pulls together a huge mass of information produced by scholars in various disciplines and provides a strong theoretical framework in which to interpret it. Key features include: arguments that tropical forest food production emerged at approximately the same time as that in the Near East and is earlier than currently demonstrated in highland Mexico and Peru; and contends that the lowland tropics witnessed climatic and vegetational changes between 11,000 BP and 10,000 BP, no less profound than those experienced at higher latitudes. It appeals to anyone concerned with Latin American prehistory. It offers coverage of the development of slash and burn (or swidden) cultivation and, focuses on low and lower mid-elevations.

The Origins of Agriculture

The Origins of Agriculture PDF Author: David Rindos
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 148326954X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
The Origins of Agriculture: An Evolutionary Perspective presents an alternative approach to understanding cultural variation and change. It aims to demonstrate that domestication and the origin of agricultural systems are best understood by attempting to explicate the evolutionary forces that affected that development of domesticates and agricultural systems. The book begins by discussing cultural change, the domestication of plants, and the origin of agricultural systems in the most general of terms. It considers Darwinism in some depth, concentrating on the relationship between natural selection and cultural change. Subsequent chapters examine the world of domestication and agriculture and present a series of concepts that may permit a more natural explanation for these processes. These include concepts such as incidental domestication, specialized domestication, and agricultural domestication. The final two chapters present models for the origin and spread of agricultural systems based upon Darwinian evolutionary theory.

Origins of Agriculture

Origins of Agriculture PDF Author: Charles A. Reed
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110813483
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1064

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Book Description


The Origins of Agriculture

The Origins of Agriculture PDF Author: C. Wesley Cowan
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817353496
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The eight case studies in this book -- each a synthesis of available knowledge about the origins of agriculture in a specific region of the globe -- enable scholars in diverse disciplines to examine humanity's transition to agricultural societies. Contributors include: Gary W. Crawford, Robin W. Dennell, and Jack R. Harlan.

The Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East

The Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Shahal Abbo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108493645
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Rapid and knowledge-based agricultural origins and plant domestication in the Neolithic Near East gave rise to Western civilizations.

After the Ice

After the Ice PDF Author: Steven J. Mithen
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674019997
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 668

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Book Description
"Drawing on the latest research in archaeology, human genetics, and environmental science, After The Life takes the reader on a sweeping tour of 15,000 years of human history."--Cover.

The History of Agriculture

The History of Agriculture PDF Author: Britannica Educational Publishing
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
ISBN: 1615309217
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Agriculture—that is, using and managing natural resources—has a long and complex history. For thousands of years, societies have relied on plants and animals for food and other items, making agriculture as vital to their survival as it is to ours. The cultivation of various crops and livestock over time and throughout the world are examined, revealing the history behind and importance of much of the food we eat today. Also covered are the techniques and equipment that have been developed over time to facilitate agricultural production.

First Farmers

First Farmers PDF Author: Peter Bellwood
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0631205659
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
First Farmers: the Origins of Agricultural Societies offers readers an understanding of the origins and histories of early agricultural populations in all parts of the world. Uses data from archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology to cover developments over the past 12,000 years Examines the reasons for the multiple primary origins of agriculture Focuses on agricultural origins in and dispersals out of the Middle East, central Africa, China, New Guinea, Mesoamerica and the northern Andes Covers the origins and dispersals of major language families such as Indo-European, Austronesian, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo and Uto-Aztecan

The Emergence of Agriculture

The Emergence of Agriculture PDF Author: Peter White
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000158314
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This volume, the first in the One World Archaeology series, is a compendium of key papers by leaders in the field of the emergence of agriculture in different parts of the world. Each is supplemented by a review of developments in the field since its publication. Contributions cover the better known regions of early and independent agricultural development, such as Southwest Asia and the Americas, as well as lesser known locales, such as Africa and New Guinea. Other contributions examine the dispersal of agricultural practices into a region, such as India and Japan, and how introduced crops became incorporated into pre-existing forms of food production. This reader is intended for students of the archaeology of agriculture, and will also prove a valuable and handy resource for scholars and researchers in the area.

Documenting Domestication

Documenting Domestication PDF Author: Melinda A. Zeder
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520246381
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
"A genetic revolution has transformed the study of the domestication of plants and animals. Documenting Domestication presents the best research and resolves issues that had been intractable in the past."—Richard I. Ford, University of Michigan