Neolithic

How did people move from caves to condos? When did the rich become different from everyone else? Who built Stonehenge? Who invented the plough? The answer to all these questions lies in the Neolithic era, during which people's lives were irrevocably altered by the invention of agriculture. This book is a lively and engaging introduction to a momentous period, one during which our ancestors stopped hunting and gathering and built permanent, settled villages where they could develop farming, herding and new technologies: in short where they laid the foundations for the patterns of modern life. After familiarising the reader with essential archaeological and genetic terms and concepts, McCarter condenses the latest evidence from scientific analyses as varied as deep-sea coring, pollen identification, radiometric dating and DNA research into an up-to-date account which despite the use of complex material remains accessible to even the novice reader. Focusing primarily on sites in southwest Asia, Neolithic addresses questions such as: · Which plants and animals were the first to be domesticated, and how? · How did life change when people began farming? · What were the first villages like? · What do we know about the social, political and religious life of these early societies? · How did the Neolithic Revolution affect human health? Lavishly illustrated with almost a hundred images, this enjoyable book is an ideal introduction both for students of archaeology and for general readers interested in our past.McCarter, Susan is the author of 'Neolithic ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415364140 and ISBN 0415364140.