ABSTRACT
Agricultural histories from across the globe, and discussed here with respect to the Americas, prompt a reconsideration of the application of such traditional, often Eurasian-derived concepts of agriculture and its origins to different regions. Post-processual representations of agriculture are often predicated on long-established Eurasian concepts and frameworks of thought. In this paper four different indigenous accounts of agricultural practice are introduced in order to examine some of the diversity of thought regarding agricultural origins and to see whether or not these stories contain evidence of broad changes in social systems that arose through increased contact with domesticated plants. Three of the accounts focus on the origins of crops and the fourth details present and past agricultural practices in Amazonia, focusing on the Kaapor. Three of the four accounts originate in regions considered by some scholars to be centers of origin.
