After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC

Praise......Page 2
Dedication......Page 4
Title Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 11
The Beginning......Page 15
1. The Birth of History: Global Warming, Archaeological Evidence and Human History......Page 16
2. The World at 20,000 BC: Human Evolution, the Causes of Climate Change and Radiocarbon Dating......Page 22
Western Asia......Page 33
3. Fires and Flowers: Hunter-Gatherers and the Forest Steppe, 20,000–12,300 BC......Page 34
4. Village Life in the Oak Woodland: Early Natufian Hunter-Gatherer Communities, 12,300–10,800 BC......Page 45
5. On the Banks of the Euphrates: Abu Hureyra and the Rise of Hunter-Gatherer Sedentism, 12,300–10,800 BC......Page 59
6. One Thousand Years of Drought: Economy and Society During the Younger Dryas, 10,800–9600 BC......Page 66
7. The Founding of Jericho: Neolithic Architecture, Burial and Technology of the Jordan Valley, 9600–8500 BC......Page 78
8. Pictograms and Pillars: Neolithic ideology, Symbolism and Trade, 9600–8500 BC......Page 86
9. In the Valley of Ravens: Architecture, Textiles and Animal Domestication, 8500–7500 BC......Page 98
10. The Town of Ghosts: Ritual, Religion and Economic Collapse, 7500–6300 BC......Page 108
11. Heaven and Hell at Çatalhöyük: Florescence of the Neolithic in Turkey, 9000–7000 BC......Page 118
12. Three Days on Cyprus: Extinctions, Colonisation and Cultural Stasis, 20,000–6000 BC......Page 129
Europe......Page 141
13. Pioneers in Northern Lands: The recolonisation of Northwest Europe, 20,000–12,700 BC......Page 142
14. With Reindeer Hunters: Economy, Technology and Society, 12,700–9600 BC......Page 157
15. At Star Carr: Adaptations to Early Holocene Woodlands in Northern Europe, 9600–8500 BC......Page 171
16. Last of the Cave Painters: Economic, Social and Cultural Change in Southern Europe, 9600–8500 BC......Page 181
17. Coastal Catastrophe: Sea-Level Change and its Consequences, 10,500–6400 BC......Page 190
18. Two Villages in Southeast Europe: Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers and Immigrant Farmers, 6500–6200 BC......Page 199
19. Islands of the Dead: Mesolithic Burial and Society in Northern Europe, 6200–5000 BC......Page 211
20. At the Frontier: The Spread of Farming in Central Europe and its Impact on Mesolithic Society, 6000–4400 BC......Page 224
21. A Mesolithic Legacy: The Neolithic in Southern Europe, 6000–4000 BC; debates in historical linguistics and genetics......Page 235
22. A Scottish Envoi: Colonisation, Mesolithic Lifestyles and the Transition to the Neolithic in Western Scotland, 20,000–4300 BC......Page 246
The Americas......Page 259
23. Searching for the First Americans: The Discovery of Ice-Age Settlement, AD 1927–1994......Page 260
24. American Past in the Present: Dental, Linguistic, Genetic and Skeletal Evidence for the Peopling of the Americas......Page 274
25. On the Banks of Chinchihuapi: Excavation and Interpretation of Monte Verde, AD 1977–1997, 12,500 BC......Page 283
26. Explorers in a Restless Landscape: North American Fauna, Landscape Evolution and Human Colonisation, 20,000–11,500 BC......Page 292
27. Clovis Hunters on Trial: Extinction of the Mega-Fauna and Clovis Lifestyles, 11,500–10,000 BC......Page 305
28. Virginity Reconsidered: Hunter-Gatherers of Tierra Del Fuego and in the Amazon, 11,500–6000 BC......Page 319
29. Herders and the ‘Christ-Child’: Animal and Plant Domestication in the Andes, and Coastal Foragers, 10,500–5000 BC......Page 329
30. A Double-Take in the Oaxaca Valley: The Domestication of Maize, Squash and Beans in Mexico, 10,500–5000 BC......Page 339
31. To Koster: Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyles in North America, 7000–5000 BC......Page 353
32. Salmon Fishing and the Gift of History: Complex Hunter-Gatherers of the Northwest Coast, 6000–5000 BC......Page 365
Greater Australia and East Asia......Page 371
33. A Lost World Revealed: Tasmanian Hunter-Gatherers, 20,000–6000 BC......Page 372
34. Body Sculpture at Kow Swamp: Burial and Society in Southeast Australia, 14,000–6000 BC, and mega-faunal extinctions......Page 381
35. Across the Arid Zone: Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations to the Central Australian Desert, 30,000 BC–AD 1966......Page 389
36. Fighting Men and a Serpent’s Birth: Art, Society and Ideology in Northern Australia, 13,000–6000 BC......Page 398
37. Pigs and Gardens in the Highlands: The Development of Tropical Horticulture in Highland New Guinea, 20,000–5000 BC......Page 410
38. Lonesome in Sundaland: Hunter-Gatherers in the Southeast Asian Tropical Rainforests, 20,000–5000 BC......Page 423
39. Down the Yangtze: The Origin of Rice Farming, 11,500–6500 BC......Page 436
40. With the Jomon: Complex Hunter-Gatherers in Japan and the Earliest Pottery, 14,500–6000 BC......Page 450
41. Summer in the Arctic: The Mammoth Steppe and Colonisation of the High Arctic, 19,000–6500 BC......Page 464
South Asia......Page 480
42. A Passage through India: Indian Rock Art and Villages on the Ganges Plain, 20,000–8500 BC......Page 481
43. A Long Walk Across the Hindu Kush: Early Farming in South and Central Asia; the Domestication of Cotton, 7500–5000 BC......Page 494
44. Vultures of the Zagros: The Roots of Mesopotamian Civilisation, 11,000–9000 BC......Page 510
45. Approaching Civilisation in Mesopotamia: The development of Towns and Trade, 8500–6000 BC......Page 522
Africa......Page 535
46. Baked Fish by the Nile: Hunter-Gatherers of North Africa and the Nile valley, 20,000–11,000 BC......Page 536
47. On Lukenya Hill: The Development of East African Landscapes and Faunas After 20,000 BC......Page 549
48. Frogs’ Legs and Ostrich Eggs: Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari Desert, 12,500 BC......Page 560
49. A South African Tour: Changing Environments, Diet and Social Life, 12,500–7000 BC......Page 569
50. Thunderbolts in the Tropics: Hunter-Gatherers in Central and West Africa; Environmental Change in East Africa, 7000–5000 BC......Page 586
51. Sheep and Cattle in the Sahara: The Development of Pastoralism in North Africa, 9500–5000 BC......Page 594
52. Farmers in the Nile Valley and Beyond: The Arrival of Cereal Agriculture in North Africa, 5500–4000 BC......Page 605
Epilogue: ‘The Blessings of Civilisation’: Past, Present and Future Impacts of Global Warming on Human History......Page 611
Notes......Page 620
Bibliography......Page 735
Index......Page 799
Picture Acknowledgements......Page 820
Plates......Page 823
About the Author......Page 889
Also by Steven Mithen......Page 890
Copyright......Page 891