ABSTRACT
The origin and dispersal of domesticated plants has long been a focus of archaeological research, and has become an important aspect of palaeoethnobotanical studies. Large compendia of articles dealing with this research problem have been available since the late 1960s (Ucko and Dimbleby 1969; Struever 1971; Reed 1977; Harris and Hillman 1989; Cowan and Watson 1992; Gebauer and Price 1992). Studies of in situ agricultural origins have developed considerably over the past twenty years, progressing from deterministic, causal models (e.g. Cohen 1977; Wright 1977) to discussions on evolutionary factors in human-plant interaction (Rindos 1984), and domestication rates in plants (Hillman and Davies 1990; Blumler and Byrne 1991). Modelling the subsequent spread of agriculture has progressed beyond ideas of simple dispersal (e.g. Ammerman and Cavalli-Sforza 1973, 1984). Recent work in agricultural dispersals has emphasized the complexity of forager-farmer interactions tempered by cultural, technological, and ecological factors (e.g. Zvelebil 1986; Gregg 1988).
