A Companion to Ancient Agriculture

by Hollander, David; Howe, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9781118970928
• ISBN10: 1118970926
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-12-03
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The first book-length overview of agricultural development in the ancient world 

A Companion to Ancient Agriculture is an authoritative overview of the history and development of agriculture in the ancient world. Focusing primarily on the Near East and Mediterranean regions, this unique text explores the cultivation of the soil and rearing of animals through centuries of human civilization—from the Neolithic beginnings of agriculture to Late Antiquity. Chapters written by the leading scholars in their fields present a multidisciplinary examination of the agricultural methods and influences that have enabled humans to survive and prosper. 

Consisting of thirty-one chapters, the Companion presents essays on a range of topics that include economic-political, anthropological, zooarchaeological, ethnobotanical, and archaeobotanical investigation of ancient agriculture. Chronologically-organized chapters offer in-depth discussions of agriculture in Bronze Age Egypt and Mesopotamia, Hellenistic Greece and Imperial Rome, Iran and Central Asia, and other regions. Sections on comparative agricultural history discuss agriculture in the Indian subcontinent and prehistoric China while an insightful concluding section helps readers understand ancient agriculture from a modern perspective.

• Fills the need for a full-length biophysical and social overview of ancient agriculture
• Provides clear accounts of the current state of research written by experts in their respective areas
• Places ancient Mediterranean agriculture in conversation with contemporary practice in Eastern and Southern Asia
• Includes coverage of analysis of stable isotopes in ancient agricultural cultivation
• Offers plentiful illustrations, references, case studies, and further reading suggestions

A Companion to Ancient Agriculture is a much-needed resource for advanced students, instructors, scholars, and researchers in fields such as agricultural history, ancient economics, and in broader disciplines including classics, archaeology, and ancient history.

Author Biography

David Hollander is Associate Professor of History, Iowa State University, USA. He is author of Money in the Late Roman Republic and Farmers and Agriculture in the Roman Economy and an editor of The Encyclopedia of Ancient History.

Timothy Howe is Professor of History and Ancient Studies, St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA. Professor Howe is a field archaeologist and agricultural historian and is Senior Editor for The Ancient History Bulletin. He is author of Pastoral Politics: Animals, Agriculture and Society in Ancient Greece.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

1. Introduction (David Hollander & Tim Howe)

Part I Plants & Animals

2. Paleoethnobotany and Ancient Agriculture (Alan Farahani)

3. Zooarchaeology (Valasia Isaakidou)

4. Stable Isotopes in Ancient Agriculture (Simone Riehl)

5. Agricultural plants in the ancient Mediterranean (Eleanor Irwin)

6. Animals: the Major Domesticates (Michael MacKinnon)

Part II The Neolithic

7. The Beginnings of Agriculture (Phillip Edwards)

Part III The Bronze Age

8. Agriculture in Bronze Age Mesopotamia (Michael Jursa)

9. Egyptian Agriculture in the Bronze Age: Peasants, Landlords, and Institutions (Juan Carlos Moreno García)

10. Agriculture in the Bronze Age Levant (Jens Kamlah & Simone Riehl)

11. Agriculture in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Asia Minor (Andrew Fairbairn)

12. Bronze Age Europe: Revolutions in Agricultural Adaptation (Lynne A. Kvapil)

Part IV From the Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity (300s CE)

13. Greece and Anatolia, 1200-500 bce (Clémence Pagnoux and Julien Zurbach)

14. Agriculture in Greece and Coastal Anatolia, 500-100 bce (Christophe Chandezon)

15. Agriculture in Magna Graecia (Iron Age to Hellenistic Period) (Alex Walthall)

16. Agriculture in the Hellenistic Kingdoms (J. G. Manning)

17. Adapting to a Diverse Landscape: Agriculture in Hellenistic and Roman Anatolia (Turan Takaoglu)

18. Agriculture on the Shores of the Black Sea (Sandy Andrews)

19. Agriculture in Iron Age and Archaic Italy (Laura Motta and Katherine Beydier)

20. Agriculture in Republican Italy (Saskia Roselaar)

21. Agriculture in Imperial Italy (Annalisa Marzano)

22. Agriculture in Roman Gaul (Alain Ferdière)

23. Agriculture in Roman Iberia (Benedict Lowe)

24. Agriculture in Roman North Africa (Dennis Kehoe)

25. Agriculture in Roman Egypt (Brendan Haug)

26. Agriculture in Iron Age Mesopotamia (Michael Kozuh)

27. Iran and Central Asia in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic Periods (Rachel Mairs)

Part V Comparative Agricultural History

28. Ancient Agriculture in the Indian Subcontinent: The Archaeobotanical Evidence (Ravi Korisettar)

29. Trajectories of agricultural development in prehistoric China (Yijie Zhuang)

30. Late Antique Farming (Michael Decker)

Part VI Conclusion

31. Common Ground: Understanding Ancient Agriculture from the Perspective of the Modern (Pamela Riney-Kehrberg)