First Migrants

Bellwood rebalances our understanding of cultural evolution to show colonization and immigration as prime movers in spreading languages, religions and people, and in generating the diversity of ancient societies' material cultures. Norman Hammond, Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, Boston University Peter Bellwood's global perspective on human migration offers an unprecedented view of the evolution of human lifeways. Charting the fascinating story of human migration throughout prehistory, the author takes the reader on an archaeological odyssey from humanity's origins in Africa two million years ago, through the challenges and dislocations of the Ice Ages, to the continental migrations of agricultural peoples within the last 10,000 years. Drawing on a wide variety of data from archaeology, evolutionary biology, human genetics, and comparative linguistics, the book's central argument posits that migration has always been a fundamental imperative in human affairs. Bellwood argues that human diversity is not just the result of purely local processes, but that signifi cant migrations have always occurred, and identifi es the development of agriculture as a critical element in recent human prehistory. The analysis provided in these pages is informed by the latest research and is well-illustrated with detailed maps.