From Foraging to Farming in the Andes
New Perspectives on Food Production and Social Organization

Archeologists have always considered the beginnings of Andean civilization from c.13,000 to 6,000 years ago to be important in terms of the appearance of domesticated plants and animals, social differentiation, and a sedentary lifestyle, but there is more to this period than just these developments. During this period, the spread of crop production and other technologies, kinship-based labor projects, mound-building, and population aggregation formed ever-changing conditions across the Andes. From Foraging to Farming in the Andes proposes a new and more complex model for understanding the transition from hunting and gathering to cultivation. It argues that such developments evolved regionally, were fluid and uneven, and were subject to reversal. This book develops these arguments from a large body of archaeological evidence, collected over 30 years in two valleys in northern Peru, and then places the valleys in the context of recent scholarship studying similar developments around the world.

Awards

• A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2011

Reviews & endorsements

'… a seminal volume that will be referenced and discussed for decades … Essential for any anthropologist, archaeologist, or botanist, interested in the origins of New World agriculture or domestic plants, as well as for model-building in this issue worldwide.' David Browman, Choice

Customer reviews

Product details

• Date Published: April 2011
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9781107005273
• length: 380 pages

• dimensions: 260 x 188 x 24 mm
• weight: 0.98kg
• contains: 96 b/w illus. 4 colour illus. 15 maps 9 tables
• availability: Available