ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 3356
Session = 15.17.6


THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA


Lisa Kealhofer, Anthropology Dept., College of William and Mary


Archaeological work in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and '70s fueled interest in the issue of agricultural origins in the Old World Tropics. Subsequently, attention narrowed from broader questions of cultivation in Southeast Asia to the issue of rice domestication. A fundamental problem with this recent focus is a reliance on models which do not address the significant differences between tropical and temperate cultivation regimes. Using archaeological, phytolith, and pollen data from Thailand I reassess the development of cultivation in Southeast Asia and suggest we need to reorient studies away from origins and towards understanding the distinct mechanisms involved in Old World tropical agriculture.


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