THE SECOND GREATEST INVENTION: Search for the First Farmers

by Eleanor Clymer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 10, 1969

The Second Greatest Invention is food production (the greatest is tool manufacture) and in this search the author follows the route of nineteenth and twentieth century archaeologists from Robenhausen (Switzerland) to Jarmo in the foothills of the mountains above the Fertile Crescent. The tools were found first in Europe ""because Europe was where archaeology began"" but analysis of pollen in peat beds indicated that the seeds came from other soils, and the search was on. There is some of that excitement in this account: the details are brief but the basic information is present, enough to suggest alternatives, with pointed evaluative statements interpreting the data on climate changes, migration routes, and current counterparts (the aborigines, Eskimos, etc.) Sensibly stratified and more expansive than Weisgard's The First Farmers.

Pub Date: Feb. 10, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION