Hi everybody, from Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.

So as we continue our deep dive into the worldwide origins of agriculture and complex societies,

the same questions keep coming up, whether we're talking about the fertile chrisine,

or estesia, or next month the Americans.

How did people start cultivating plants and domesticating animals?

How did those practices spread?

Was it a package of practices moving?

Or was it people?

And how did the spread of agriculture shape human societies over the subsequent millennia?

Today's guest has done more to address those questions on a global scale than practically

any other scholar over the past several decades.

He's the author of multiple books and a staggering number of articles and book chapters, covering

everything from specifics on the archaeology of Southeast Asia to the worldwide spread

of language families.

He's Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the Australian National University, a member

of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy.

He's just finished a new book on global human prehistory that he'll be publishing with Princeton

University Press in the near future.

Professor Peter Bellwood, thank you so much for joining me.

Hello.

All around the world, from the fertile chrisine to estesia to the Americas, people began

experimenting with plant processing and cultivation around the dawn of the Hullespeed.

...