Foragers and Farmers
Population Interaction and Agricultural Expansion in Prehistoric Europe
Gregg examines anthropological, ecological, and archaeological dimensions of prehistoric population interaction. She then examines the ecological requirements of both crops and livestock and, in order to identify an optimal farming strategy for Early Neolithic populations, develops a computer simulation to examine various resource mixes. Turning to the foragers, she models the effects that interaction with the farmers would have had on the foragers' subsistence-settlement system.
Supporting her model with archaeological, ecological, and ethnobotanical evidence from southwest Germany, Gregg shows that when foragers and farmers occur contemporaneously, both need to be considered before either can be understood. Theoretically and methodologically, her work builds upon earlier studies of optimal diet and foraging strategy, extending the model to food-producing populations. The applicability of Gregg's generalized model for both wild and domestic resources reaches far beyond her case study of Early Neolithic Germany; it will interest both Old and New World archaeologists.
List of Tables
Series Editors' Foreword
2. Mobility, Subsistence, and Social Organization
3. Population Interaction
4. Neolithic Subsistence I: Crops
5. Neolithic Subsistence II: Livestock
6. Optimal Farming Strategies
7. Wild Resource Exploitation: Competition, Cooperation, and Interaction
8. Archaeological Implications
Appendix: Monthly Diets