Spatial Analysis of Radiocarbon Databases: The Spread of the First Farmers in Europe and of the Fat-Tailed Sheep in Southern Africa

Overview

Thembi Russell's thesis analyses and compares in meticulous detail two radiocarbon databases, one from Europe and the other from south-western Africa, in order to examine the circumstances and rate of the transition from hunter-gathering to farming. The evidence from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites across Europe (9-5,000 years ago) is contrasted with the radiocarbon evidence for the first sheep farming in southern Africa (4,000 years ago). Graphs, maps and tables help to illustrate the results.