Book contents
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 What Is the Agricultural Revolution?
- 2 From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Near East
- 3 Models That Describe and Explain the Agricultural Revolution, Including Plant Domestication
- 4 The Plant Formations of the Fertile Crescent and the Wild Progenitors of the Domesticated Founder Crops
- 5 The Difference between Wild and Domesticated Plants
- 6 Traditional versus Modern Agriculture – Stability vs Maximization
- 7 The Differences between Plant Domestication and Crop Evolution under Traditional and Modern Farming Systems
- 8 The Differences between Cereal and Legume Crops in the Near East
- 9 The Choice of Plant Species for Domestication
- 10 Where, When and How Did Near Eastern Plant Domestication Occur?
- 11 Domestication of Fruit Trees in the Near East
- 12 Plant Evolution under Domestication
- 13 A Global View of Plant Domestication in Other World Regions
- 14 Animal Domestication in the Near East
- 15 Plant Domestication and Early Near Eastern Agriculture
- Notes
- Further Reading
- References, Chapter 14
- Glossary: Basic Concepts in Genetics, Botany, Ecology, Agronomy and Zoology
- Index
2 - From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Near East
Archaeological Background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2022
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 What Is the Agricultural Revolution?
- 2 From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Near East
- 3 Models That Describe and Explain the Agricultural Revolution, Including Plant Domestication
- 4 The Plant Formations of the Fertile Crescent and the Wild Progenitors of the Domesticated Founder Crops
- 5 The Difference between Wild and Domesticated Plants
- 6 Traditional versus Modern Agriculture – Stability vs Maximization
- 7 The Differences between Plant Domestication and Crop Evolution under Traditional and Modern Farming Systems
- 8 The Differences between Cereal and Legume Crops in the Near East
- 9 The Choice of Plant Species for Domestication
- 10 Where, When and How Did Near Eastern Plant Domestication Occur?
- 11 Domestication of Fruit Trees in the Near East
- 12 Plant Evolution under Domestication
- 13 A Global View of Plant Domestication in Other World Regions
- 14 Animal Domestication in the Near East
- 15 Plant Domestication and Early Near Eastern Agriculture
- Notes
- Further Reading
- References, Chapter 14
- Glossary: Basic Concepts in Genetics, Botany, Ecology, Agronomy and Zoology
- Index
Summary
The area in which the domestication of plants – the Neolithic crop package with which we are concerned – and animals took place is known as the Fertile Crescent (Figure 2.1, and see Chapter 4), the Levant or the Near East. These terms differ in source and meaning according to the scientific or geographic context in which they were first introduced. For our purposes, however, we will not delve any further into this issue and will alternate between the terms based on which is most prevalent in the academic literature of each topic. The map of the area in Figure 2.1 details archaeological sites of the period located in the northern Levant (northern Syria and south-eastern Turkey) that are relevant for our understanding of plant domestication. For additional context, we also note sites from the central and southern Levant, an area that includes Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and small portions of Lebanon and southern Syria. We briefly discuss a selection of these and other sites in the boxes that accompany the chapter in order to provide some background information on the societies that were involved in plant domestication, their settlements and the general landscape of their daily lives.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022