"The most important study to come out of the Chumash area, and one of the best examples of research on culture change in contemporary archaeology."--L. Mark Raab, coeditor of "Prehistoric California "A contribution that is remarkable in its scope, quality, and importance."--Terry L. Jones, coeditor of "Catalysts to Complexity "The most comprehensive effort yet made to apply the theoretical framework of behavioral ecology to a problem in human prehistory. The result is not only an excellent demonstration of the power of the approach but a major contribution to the pre-European history of...

This innovative volume is the first collective effort by archaeologists and ethnographers to use concepts and models from human behavioral ecology to explore one of the most consequential transitions in human history: the origins of agriculture. Carefully balancing theory and detailed empirical study, and drawing from a series of ethnographic and archaeological case studies from eleven locations--including North and South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, the Near East, Africa, and the Pacific--the contributors to this volume examine the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and...