Friday 10 February 2012

Archaeobotany of Near Eastern domestication: new special issue


The latest issue of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (Feb. 2012) is a special issue on Near Eastern origins: From collecting to cultivation:transitions to a production economy in the Near East. Some of my own contributions to this discussion have been blogged previously. But as a whole issue there is a lot of important new data, and discussion herein. Although Current Anthropology has a recent volume on "origins of agriculture: new data, new ideas" I actually think there is a lot more new data, and ideas, in this specialist journal. Of course it is only about the Fertile Crescent, and we need more equivalent work on other world regions.



seeds & chaff from Iran and SE Turkey (Riehl et al)
As for what is in the issue, best to quote from the editorial by Willcox, Nessbit and Bittman: "The selected articles in the current issue throw new light on our understanding of how Homo sapiens became caught in the agriculture trap in the Near East. They are the outcome of the session entitled ‘Origins of agriculture in the Near East’ held at the 15th IWGP conference in Wilhelmshaven 2010. The subject is constantly being revised as new information and more refined analyses become available, so these papers provide a state of the art in 2010/2011. Each major discovery adds complexity to what has become a multi-faceted puzzle with data being drawn from disciplines as wide apart as archaeology and genetics, plant biology and palaeo-climatology. In this issue papers concentrate on results obtained from charred plant remains and their interpretation.".... " with hindsight simple hypotheses are no longer plausible given the archaeological and environmental diversity within the Fertile Crescent. This complex diversity is exemplified by the vast geographical area where transition sites are located, which spans different climate and vegetation zones. Thus, sites in the north of the Fertile Crescent are 1,000 km from those in the south and likewise in the east–west direction. Archaeological diversity is exemplified by the extended chronological range of transition sites. We can trace the use of wild cereals back to about 23,000 years ago when habitations consisted of simple brush huts to villages with sophisticated architecture associated with the earliest domesticated cereals 12,500 years later."


On a personal note, this issue marks a major foray into thinking about the dynamics of domestication is what remains the best archaeobotanically studied region of agricultural origins, but even here we still have a quite patchy dataset to work with.


Here's the contents list.







2 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome to the future! Financing made easy with Prof. Mrs. DOROTHY LOAN INVESTMENTS

Hello, Have you been looking for financing options for your new business plans, Are you seeking for a loan to expand your existing business, Do you find yourself in a bit of trouble with unpaid bills and you don’t know which way to go or where to turn to? Have you been turned down by your banks? MRS. DOROTHY JEAN INVESTMENTS says YES when your banks say NO. Contact us as we offer financial services at a low and affordable interest rate of 2% for long and short term loans. Interested applicants should contact us for further loan acquisition procedures via profdorothyinvestments@gmail.com

We invest in all profitable projects with cryptocurrencies. I'm here to share an amazing life changing opportunity with you. its called Bitcoin / Forex trading options, Are you interested in earning a consistent income through binary/forex trade? or crypto currency trading. An investment of $100 or $200 can get you a return of $2,840 in 7 days of trading and you get to do this from the comfort of your home/work. It goes on and on The higher the investment, the higher the profits. Your investment is safe and secured and payouts assured 100%. if you wish to know more about investing in Cryptocurrency and earn daily, weekly OR Monthly in trading on bitcoin or any cryptocurrency and want a successful trade without losing Contact MRS.DOROTHY JEAN INVESTMENTS profdorothyinvestments@gmail.com

categories of investment

Cryptocurrency
Loan Offer
Mining Plan
Business Finance Plan
Binary option Trade Plan
Forex trade Plan
Stocks market Trade Plan
Return on investment (ROI) Plan
Gold and Silver Trade Plan
Oil and Gas Trade Plan
Diamond Trade Plan
Agriculture Trade Plan
Real Estate Trade Plan

YOURS IN SERVICE
Mrs. Dorothy Pilkenton Jean
Financial Advisor on Bank Instruments,
Private Banking and Client Services
Email Address: profdorothyinvestments@gmail.com
Operation: We provide Financial Service Such As Bank Instrument
From AA Rate Banks, Cash Loan,BG,SBLC,BOND,PPP,MTN,TRADING,FUNDING MONETIZING etc.

Marie said...

FRAUD TRACING AND RECOVERY MASTERS

To any victim who has fallen to the recent fake Crypto investment scheme to reach out RECOVERY MASTERS for Recovery services. I fell victim to it, and I was left disgraced by how I lost €214,000 to a fake facebook investor showing off how he made huge profits through investments. Recovery masters are legally authorised Cryptocurrency Recovery experts that I must say were God sent,All my funds were recovered back by the special group of hackers.Their responses are timely and straight forward I must recommend them to any victim suffering loss of funds and needs their funds recovered back.

Contacts mail;
(Recoverymasters@email.cz). Whatsapp ( +1(204){ 819}-{5505}