The Global Prehistory of Human Migration

The Global Prehistory of Human Migration is drawn from content previously published in the five–volume Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration . The chapters in this volume are devoted exclusively to migration in prehistory and are edited by archaeologist Peter Bellwood. They cover all periods and places in human prehistory, from the first hominin migrations out of Africa about two million years ago to the end of prehistory, in some cases only a few centuries ago. The volume is truly multidisciplinary and is the first of its kind to cover the whole world, and all periods, from three major disciplines: archaeology, linguistics, and genetics. The international team of contributors, which represents 17 countries, comprises leading scholars in their fields. Chapters are illustrated by informative maps and diagrams. Now in an affordable single–volume format, this volume is an important tool for scholars of migration studies in the disciplines of history, anthropology, archaeology, genetics, biology, linguistics, and more.

Peter Bellwood is Emeritus Professor (Archaeology) at The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He is the author of First Farmers (Blackwell, 2005), Prehistory of the Indo–Malaysian Archipelago (2007), and First Migrants (Wiley–Blackwell, 2013). His book First Farmers won a 2006 Book Award from the Society for American Archaeology. He has also written and edited many other books on Southeast Asian and Pacific prehistory. His current research and writing are on prehistoric migrations around the world, especially of early food–producing populations, with a focus on Southeast Asia. He is currently involved in archaeological fieldwork in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.