<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(0, 51, 0); "><b><i>MIT Seminar on Environmental and<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 17pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(0, 51, 0); "><b><i>Agricultural History</i></b></span><span style="font-size: 6pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(0, 51, 0); "><b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 6pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(0, 51, 0); "><b><i> <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Candara Bold'; color: maroon; "><b><i>“Neolithic Emergence: the Origin of Agriculture in the Near East”<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 6pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(14, 94, 10); "><b><i> <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: rgb(0, 51, 0); "><b>Steven Mithen<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; ">Professor of Early Prehistory, University of Reading<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 4pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; "> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; ">The origin of farming was the most important event in the whole of human history – bringing to an end three million years of hunting and gathering and providing the basis for towns, trade, states and empires. The Levantine corridor – modern day Southern Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine and Jordan – has long been recognized as the earliest centre for the origin of farming. Recently excavated sites show that the origin of farming was not only related to the environmental changes associated with the early Holocene but also closely related to changing ideological views about the world and new forms of society. This seminar will review the evidence from several excavations (especially Prof. Mithen’s work in southern Jordan) focusing on what they tell us about the origin of farming in the Levant.</span></p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 17.65pt; margin-left: 0.25in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 6pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 0.25in; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b>Friday, December 5, 2008<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b>2:30 to 4:30 pm<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b>Building E51 Room 095<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b>Corner of Wadsworth and Amherst Streets, Cambridge<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: maroon; "><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'; color: navy; "><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-right: 30.6pt; text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial; ">Sponsored by MIT’s History Faculty and the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. For more information or to be put on the mailing list, please contact Margo Collett at <a href="mailto:mcollet@mit.edu">mcollett@mit.edu</a>. </span></p></div></body></html>