Economies and Societies of Prehistory: From hunter-gatherers to farmers herders

This book is intended for students, academics and professionals, particularly those in the fields of economics, anthropology, history, archaeology and sociology. The author raises fundamental questions about prehistory, the period in which our civilisations have their origins. What were the way of life, economy and social organisation of hunter-gatherers? How did they evolve over time, and why did certain hunter-gatherer societies persist, even after the emergence of agriculture? More fundamentally still, why did modern humans, 10,000 years ago with the emergence of agriculture, abandon a way of life that had been theirs for 99 per cent of their history? Where, how and why did this Neolithic or agro-pastoral revolution take place? How did it spread across the entire planet? The author provides answers to all these questions, drawing on recent scientific literature. Centred on economics, his approach is resolutely interdisciplinary, as required by any comprehensive and accurate analysis of prehistory.