Leading scholars demonstrate the importance of archaeobotanical evidence in the understanding of the spread of agriculture in southwest Asia and Europe.

In this major new volume, leading scholars demonstrate the importance of archaeobotanical evidence in the understanding of the spread of agriculture in southwest Asia and Europe. Whereas previous overviews have focused either on Europe or on southwest Asia, this volume considers the transition from a pan-regional perspective, thus making a significant contribution to our understanding of the processes and dynamics in the transition to food production on both continents. It will be relevant to students, researchers, practitioners and instructors in archaeology, archaeobotany, agrobotany, agricultural history, anthropology, area studies, economic history and cultural development.

"Drawing from those presented at a December 2003 conference, these 23 papers focus primarily on the archaeobotanical evidence provided by research in early Neolithic crop-based agriculture. Convinced the practice began in southwest Asia, the articles trace the ways crops and farming practices developed and spread westward, giving this a pan-region perspective. Topics include regional contributions to the genesis of farming, adoption of farming in the Euphrates valley and the Fertile Crescent, the evidence for the origin of farming on Cyprus and Crete, archaeobotanical evidence of agriculture in the Aegean and Bulgaria, cultivated plants in the region between the Carpathians and Dniester, Neolithic agriculture in Italy and the West Mediterranean, and evidence from Spain, the Bay of Biscay, Austria, the Alpine foreland and the Alps, Slovakia, Poland, The Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia and Britain. The editors include a very useful index of plant names." -Book News