The Emergence of Agriculture ("Scientific American" Library)

Smith, Bruce D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0716750554 ISBN 13: 9780716750550

Publisher: Scientific American Library, 1995

In this text, the archaeologist, Bruce Smith, explores the initial emergence and early expansion of agriculture and the transformations in human society that made it possible. He charts the course of the agricultural revolution as it occurred in the Middle East, Europe, China, Africa and the Americas, showing how basic archaeological methods and modern technologies, such as plant analysis, radiocarbon dating and DNA sampling are used to investigate this event. Although in the agricultural mind, the agricultural revolution is often seen as a one-step transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming ones, Smith shows how truly varied were the patterns of animal and plant domestication in different parts of the world.

About the Author:

Bruce D. Smith is a senior research scientist, director of the archaeobiology program, and curator of North American archaeology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.