First Farmers

The Origins of Agricultural Societies

Peter Bellwood

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781119706342
• eBook ISBN: 9781119706359
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

A wide-ranging and accessible introduction to the origins and histories of the first agricultural populations in many different parts of the world

This fully revised and updated second edition of First Farmers examines the origins of food production across the world and documents the expansions of agricultural populations from source regions during the past 12,000 years. It commences with the archaeological records from the multiple homelands of agriculture, and extends into discussions that draw on linguistic and genomic information about the human past, featuring new findings from the last ten years of research.

Through twelve chapters, the text examines the latest evidence and leading theories surrounding the early development of agricultural practices through data drawn from across the anthropological discipline—primarily archaeology, comparative linguistics, and biological anthropology—to present a cohesive history of early farmer migration. Founded on the author's insights from his research into the agricultural prehistory of East and Southeast Asia—one of the best focus areas for the teaching of prehistoric archaeology—this book offers an engaging account of how prehistoric humans settled new landscapes.

The second edition has been thoroughly updated with many new maps and illustrations that reflect the multidisciplinary knowledge of the present day. Authored by a leading scholar with wide-ranging experience across the fields of anthropology and archaeology, First Farmers, Second Edition includes information on:

• The early farming dispersal hypothesis in current perspective, plus operational considerations regarding the origins and dispersals of agriculture
• The archaeological evidence for the origins and spreads of agriculture in the Eurasian, African and American continents
• The histories of the language families that spread with the first farming populations, and the evidence from biological anthropology and ancient DNA that underpins our modern knowledge of these migrations

Drawing evidence from across the sub-disciplines of anthropology to present a cohesive and exciting analysis of an important subject in the study of human population history, Farmers First, Second Edition is an important work of scholarship and an excellent introduction to multiple methods of anthropological and archaeological inquiry for the beginner student in prehistoric anthropology and archaeology, human migration, archaeology of East and Southeast Asia, agricultural history, comparative anthropology, and more disciplines across the anthropology curriculum.

Table of contents

• For Claudia, Tane, Hannah, Charlie, Ethan, Hamish, Leo, Isla, and Eleanor
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Preface to the first edition of First Farmers (2005)
• Preface to the second edition of First Farmers (2023)
• 1 The Early Farming Dispersal Hypothesis in Perspective
• 2 The Origins and Dispersals of Food Production
• 3 The Beginnings of Food Production in the Fertile Crescent
• 4 The Spreads of Food Production beyond the Fertile Crescent: Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia
• 5 Africa: Multiple Routes into Food Production
• 6 The Beginnings of Agriculture in East Asia
• 7 The Dispersals of Food Producers into Southeast Asia and Oceania
• 8 Early Agriculture in the Americas
• 9 What Do Language Families Mean for Human Prehistory?
• 10 The Profound Impact of the Fertile Crescent
• 11 Asia, Oceania, Africa, The Americas
• 12 The Early Farming Dispersal Hypothesis: Two Decades Later
• Index
• EULA