Mark Pluciennik

First Farmers: the Origins of Agricultural Societies , by Peter Bellwood. Malden (MA): Blackwell, 2005; ISBN 0-631-20565-9 hardback £60; ISBN 0-631-20566-7 paperback £17.99, xix+360 pp., 59 figs., 3 tables

There can be no doubt that Peter Bellwoods First Farmers is a major new statement which presents a robustly expressed solution to one of those classic problems which provides a benchmark for theorization and justifies archaeology as a field. But agreement stops there. Few academic books published recently have evoked such highly charged reactions. On the one hand, First Farmers has impressed many critics, reached audiences far afield from traditional archaeological readerships, and garnered major book awards from professional bodies such as the Society for American Archaeology. On the other hand, it has been subjected to a level of concerted criticism rare in the academic world. As the reviews below show, it has clearly hit a nerve; the gloves are off

Aurelio Burgio. Il paesaggio agrario nella Sicilia ellenistico-romana: Alesa e il suo territorio (Studi e Materiali del Dipartimento di Beni Culturali Sezione Archeologica Universita di Palermo 12). xxxiv+277 pages, 186 illustrations. 2008. Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider; 978-88-8265-483-2 paperback € 210.

The author’s search for compatible theoretical ideas and methodological techniques takes him on a multi-disciplinary journey guided by a few critical issues and illustrated throughout with archaeological examples largely from the Bronze Age Aegean. The result is a highly readable volume that is close to exhaustive in its description of issues and approaches, as well as focused on providing an innovative, but above all useful, framework for understanding social interactions.