| Abstract: |
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. <br> * Uses data from archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology to cover developments over the past 12,000 years<br> * Examines the reasons for the multiple primary origins of agriculture<br> * Focuses on agricultural origins in and dispersals out of the Middle East, central Africa, China, New Guinea, Mesoamerica and the northern Andes<br> * Covers the origins and dispersals of major language families such as Indo-European, Austronesian, Sino-Tibetan, Niger-Congo and Uto-Aztecan.<br> List of Illustrations<br> List of Maps<br> Preface<br> 1 The Early Farming Dispersal Hypothesis in Perspective<br> 2 The Origins and Dispersals of Agriculture: Some Operational Considerations<br> 3 The Beginnings of Agriculture in Southwest Asia<br> 4 Tracking the Spreads of Farming Beyond the Fertile Crescent: Europe and Asia<br> 5 Africa: An Independent Focus of Agricultural Development?<br> 6 The Beginnings of Agriculture in China<br> 7 The Spread of Agriculture into Southeast Asia and Oceania<br> 8 Early Agriculture and its Spread in the Americas<br> 9 What Do Language Families Mean for Human Prehistory?<br> 10 The Spread of Farming: Comparing the Archaeology and the Linguistics<br> 11 Genetics, Skeletal Anthropology, and the People Factor<br> 12 The Nature of Early Agricultural Expansion<br> Index<br>
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