Domestic Plants and Animals The Egyptian Origins

About this book

This facsimile edition of a much-acclaimed volume brings back into print a major study of the evidence for the domesticated plants and animals exploited by the ancient Egyptians. The rise of agriculture must be amongst the most important steps that humans have taken on their long road to the present day and marked the beginning of sedentary life from the Neolithic onwards and the development of civilisation. Of the earliest civilisations, Ancient Egypt remains a particularly useful field of study: the physical remains are preserved by the dry desert environment, and the Egyptians have left us with an abundance of written and pictorial records which go back over 5000 years. Grasses, legumes, vegetables, fruits, domestic animals and pets are all considered in this comprehensive study. It is profusely illustrated from Egyptian wall paintings and reliefs, which provide us with a vivid record of the Egyptian's use of plants and animals in their daily lives. Thirty years after its original publication, this groundbreaking volume remains an invaluable sourcebook for archaeologists in all fields and for anyone interested in zoology, botany and early agriculture.

Contents

Source of figures
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction
2. Social economy
3. Egyptian grains
4. Fiber and oil plants
5. Fruits
6. Melons, vegetables and tubers
7. Egyptian cattle
8. Working and household animals
9. The birds and bees

References
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

At the time of the original publication, Douglas J. Brewer was Director of the Spurlock Museum of Culture and Natural History and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois.

Donald Redford is Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and History, Penn State University. He is a historian and philologist of north-east Africa and the Near East. From 1964-1967, he served under Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the excavations of the old city of Jerusalem. In 1976, he discovered the oldest temple of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, and in subsequent years revealed a major domestic area of the capital city of Thebes and has continued to work in Egypt.

Susan Redford is Assistant Teaching Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Penn State University. Her research interests have focused primarily on the reign of Ramesses III and also that of the pharaoh Akhenaten, father of King Tutankhamun. She is currently concentrating on archaeological research in the eastern Nile delta area.