Agriculture Archive
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How they farmed at Petra
Posted on January 10, 2013 | No CommentsNew archaeological research dates the heyday of terrace farming at the ancient desert city of Petra to the first century. This development led to an explosion of agricultural activity, increasing the city -
Pigs and Their Prohibition
Posted on January 7, 2013 | No CommentsBecause no single discipline or explanation seems adequate to understandthis practice, the search draws data from biology, anthropology, ancient history, mythology, religion, and ecology. Some have dismissed religious explanations as ar- bitrary and tautological, but the information provided in this article shows that religious beliefs are important. -
Did the Romans Invent Christmas?
Posted on December 17, 2012 | No CommentsSaturnalia originated as a farmer -
New light on Neolithic revolution in south-west Asia
Posted on December 16, 2012 | No CommentsThe answer I propose is: (1) only at a certain point in human cognitive evolution did it become possible for Homo sapiens to transcend certain biological limitations of the human brain by cultural means; and (2) this increased mental facility was made necessary by the reliance on larger and more cohesive social groups, itself a product of hominin evolution. -
Turkeys were domesticated by Ancient Maya, study finds
Posted on November 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe Mexican turkey is the ancestor of all domestic turkeys consumed in the world today and Mesoamerica -
Excavating the Roman Peasant
Posted on November 12, 2012 | No CommentsThe result of a collaboration between four young archaeologists at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Cambridge, and the Universit -
Wine and Wealth in Ancient Italy
Posted on May 3, 2012 | No CommentsThis account of viticulture in Italy during the period from the Punic Wars to the crisis of the third century AD is written in the conviction that the 'economic' history of the ancient world will remain unacceptably impoverished if it is written in isolation from the social and cultural history of the same period. -
Study examines rise of agriculture in Stone Age Northern Europe
Posted on April 30, 2012 | No CommentsThis week -
Ancient Egyptian cotton unveils secrets of agricultural evolution
Posted on April 10, 2012 | No CommentsScientists studying 1,600-year-old cotton from the banks of the Nile have found what they believe is the first evidence that punctuated evolution has occurred in a major crop group within the relatively short history of plant domestication. -
Roman Agricultural Magic
Posted on April 10, 2012 | No CommentsIn this dissertation, I examine the magical practices of Roman farmers, primarily through the Latin farming manuals.
