Prehistoric Egypt, Socioeconomic Transformations in North-east Africa from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Neolithic, 24.000 to 4.000 BC

Prehistoric Egypt, Socioeconomic Transformations in North-east Africa from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Neolithic, 24.000 to 4.000 BC takes a supra-regional approach to the environmental and socioeconomic landscapes of SW Asia and NE Africa across this crucial period. Using a rich array of empirical data combined with a holistic theoretical approach, this book challenges many of the current ideas on the beginnings of food production in North-east Africa, and the secondary effects this transition had on human settlements and cultures. Some of the key issues examined include the autochtonous domestication of cattle in the Eastern Sahara, the development of different pottery techno-complexes, the role of the Sinai and the Negev in the spread of ovicaprines, and the mechanisms by which domesticated wheat, barley and other domesticated species entered Egypt.This book is essential reading for anybody interested in the origins of the ancient Egyptian civilisation.