The Tropical Turn
Agricultural Innovation in the Ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean
Sureshkumar Muthukumaran author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:University of California Press
Published:12th May '23
Should be back in stock very soon
This book chronicles the earliest histories of familiar tropical Asian crops in the ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean, from rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers. Drawing on archaeological materials and textual sources in over seven ancient languages, The Tropical Turn unravels the breathtaking anthropogenic peregrinations of these familiar crops from their homelands in tropical and subtropical Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, showing the significant impact South Asia had on the ecologies, dietary habits, and cultural identities of peoples across the ancient world. In the process, Sureshkumar Muthukumaran offers a fresh narrative history of human connectivity across Afro-Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the late centuries BCE.
"Based on an impressive collection of archaeological data and textual sources in many languages, Muthukumaran provides an inspiring voyage in space and time. . . . this original and innovative book provides a significant contribution to the growing literature on East-West connectivity in antiquity." * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
"As a complete summary of recent palaeobotanical and textual research on plant diffusion, centred on a selected group of case studies, one cannot but congratulate him for this excellent book that should win the favour of historians, archaeologists and a broader public alike." * THE CLASSICAL REVIEW *
"The book will be of interest to those whose research lies in agriculture, environmental archaeology and cultural archaeology, but is written in a way that is accessible to non-specialists." * Antiquity *
ISBN: 9780520390836
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 23mm
Weight: 590g
320 pages