The Living Fields: Our Agricultural Heritage
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 9/7/1995
EAN 9780521401128, ISBN10: 0521401127
Hardcover, 288 pages, 23.6 x 16 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
All civilisations, ancient and modern, are founded on agriculture. In this fascinating account of one of the most fundamental aspects of humankind's march from prehistory to the present day, the author considers the evidence for the origins and evolution of agriculture in various parts of the world; a balanced view is presented based on the archaeology, botany, genetics, ecology and anthropology of domesticates and their wild relatives. The basic agricultural systems which emerged from areas yielding traces of the earliest plant and animal domestication are described, and their drastic modification in recent times is considered. In a concluding chapter the present situation is reviewed, and the possible risks of a system which now relies on a relatively small number of species to supply the majority of our food are discussed.
1. 'Of Pride and Prejudice'… Jane Austen
2. Evolution and revolution
the process of domestication
3. Stones and bones
4. The Near East
5. Africa
6. The Far East
7. The Americas
8. Some traditional techniques
9. Where we stand
References
Index.