The domestication and exploitation of plants and animals. Edited by Peter J. Ucko and G. W. Dimbleby.

"Proceedings of a meeting ... held at the Institute of Archaeology, London University."

Includes bibliographies.

Context & development of studies of domestication -- On co-operation -- Agricultural systems, ecosystems & the origins of agriculture -- The ecological background of plant domestication -- Geological opportunism -- Reflections on prehistoric environments in the Near East -- The progenitors of wheat & barley in relation to domestication & agricultural dispersal in the Old World -- The silent millennia in the origin of agriculture -- Origins & ecological effects of early domestication in Iran & the Near East -- Wild mammals & their potential for new domestication -- Evidence for vegetation changes associated with mesolithic man in Britain -- The indirect evidence for domestication -- A note on cereals in ancient Egypt -- Pollen grains of Gramineae & Cerealia from Shanidar & Zawi Chemi -- The archaeological evidence for the domestication of plants : methods & problems -- Evidence from phylogenetic relationships of the types of bread wheat first cultivaed -- History & ethnography of some West Indian starches -- Fruit size variability of Swiss prehistoric Malus sylvestris.

The genetical implications of domestication in animals Archaeological problems & methods of recognizing animal domestication -- The use of non-morphological criteria in the study of animal domestication from bones found in archaeological sites -- Animal husbandry : the evidence from ethnography -- Methodology & results of the study of the earliest domesticated animals in the Near East (Palestine) -- The uses & limitations of differences in absolute size in the distinction between the bones of aurochs (Bos primigenius) & domestic cattle (Bos taurus) -- A metrical distinction between sheep & goat metacarpals -- Animal domestication & animal cult in dynastic Egypt -- Early domestic animals in India & Pakistan -- Early cultivated plants in India & Pakistan -- The problem of the introduction of Adansonia digitata into India -- Carnivore remains from the excavations of the Jericho Tell -- Some difficulties of interpreting the metrical data derived from the remains of cattle at the Roman settlement of Corstopitum -- Plant remains & early farming in Jericho.

The pattern of animal domestication in the prehistoric Near East -- Animal domestication in the neolithic cultures of the south-west part of European U.S.S.R. -- Early animal domestication in China -- Early cereal cultivation in China -- The origins of yam cultivation -- The origin, variability & spread of the groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) -- The domestication of chili peppers -- Evolution of American Phaseolus beans under domestication -- Some domesticated lower plants in South East Asian food technology -- The domestication of the horse -- The exploitation of molluscs -- The Mesopotamian onager as a draught animal -- The domestication of the ferret -- Changes in the fleece of sheep following domestication (with a note on the coat of cattle) -- Human nutrition : evolutionary perspectives -- Dietary variation & the biology of earlier human populations -- Archaeology & the nutritionist -- Conclusion.