The Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE–500 CE 2

Vol. 2: Explores the origins and impact of agriculture across the globe, arguably the most important change in all of human history. Exploring the origins and impact of agriculture and agricultural communities across the globe, Volume 2 examines arguably the most important change in all of human history. Chapters trace common developments in the more complex social structures and cultural forms that agriculture enabled, and present regional overviews and detailed case studies. The development of agriculture has often been described as the most important change in all of human history. Volume 2 of the Cambridge World History series explores the origins and impact of agriculture and agricultural communities, and also discusses issues associated with pastoralism and hunter-fisher-gatherer economies. To capture the patterns of this key change across the globe, the volume uses an expanded timeframe from 12,000 BCE-500 CE, beginning with the Neolithic and continuing into later periods. Scholars from a range of disciplines, including archaeology, historical linguistics, biology, anthropology, and history, trace common developments in the more complex social structures and cultural forms that agriculture enabled, such as sedentary villages and more elaborate foodways, and then present a series of regional overviews accompanied by detailed case studies from many different parts of the world, including Southwest Asia, South Asia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Europe Vol. 4: From 1200 BCE to 900 CE, the world witnessed the rise of powerful new states and empires, as well as networks of cross-cultural exchange and conquest. Here, leading scholars explore the economic, political, social, cultural and intellectual developments that accompanied these developments at global, interregional, and regional levels. From 1200 BCE to 900 CE, the world witnessed the rise of powerful new states and empires, as well as networks of cross-cultural exchange and conquest. Leading scholars explore the economic, political, social, cultural and intellectual developments that accompanied these developments at global, interregional and regional levels. From 1200 BCE to 900 CE, the world witnessed the rise of powerful new states and empires, as well as networks of cross-cultural exchange and conquest. Considering the formation and expansion of these large-scale entities, this fourth volume of the Cambridge World History series outlines key economic, political, social, cultural, and intellectual developments that occurred across the globe in this period. Leading scholars examine critical transformations in science and technology, economic systems, attitudes towards gender and family, social hierarchies, education, art, and slavery. The second part of the volume focuses on broader processes of change within western and central Eurasia, the Mediterranean, South Asia, Africa, East Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania, as well as offering regional studies highlighting specific topics, from trade along the Silk Roads and across the Sahara, to Chaco culture in the US southwest, to Confucianism and the state in East Asia List of figures xi List of maps xxi List of tables xxiii List of contributors xxv Preface xxvii 1 · Introduction: a world with agriculture 1 2 · Archaeogenetics 26 3 · Agricultural origins: what linguistic evidence reveals 55 4 · What did agriculture do for us? The bioarchaeology of health and diet 93 5 · Communities 124 6 · Pastoralism 161 7 · Agriculture and urbanism 186 8 · Early agriculture in Southwest Asia 210 9 · ’Ain Ghazal, Jordan 243 10 · Early agriculture in South Asia 261 11 · Mehrgarh, Pakistan 289 12 · Early agriculture in China 310 13 · Xinglonggou, China 335 14 · Early agriculture in Japan 353 15 · The Nara basin paddies, Japan 387 16 · Early agriculture in Southeast Asia and the Pacific 411 17 · Swamp cultivators at Kuk, New Guinea 445 18 · Early agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa to c. 500 CE 472 19 · The Tichitt tradition in the West African Sahel 499 20 · Early agriculture in the Americas 514 21 · Nanchoc valley, Peru 539 22 · Early agricultural society in Europe 555 23 · Pioneer farmers at Brzes ́c ́ Kujawski, Poland 589 Index 612