Barbara J. Roth is professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her numerous publications include Late Holocene Research on Foragers and Farmers in the Desert West (co-editor), Engendering Households in the Prehistoric Southwest (editor), and Early Formative Adaptations in the Southern Southwest (editor). Her research has long focused on hunter-gatherer adaptations to arid environments and the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture.

Chapter 1 - Understanding Agricultural Beginnings in the American Southwest
Chapter 2 - How We Think about Agricultural Origins
Chapter 3 - Foraging Behavior and Agricultural Beginnings
Chapter 4 - The Northern Southwest
Chapter 5 - The Southern Southwest
Chapter 6 - Exploring Agricultural Beginnings

How did agriculture come about in the American Southwest? What environmental and social factors led to the cultivation of plants? How, in turn, did the use of these new agricultural products affect the ancient peoples living in the region? In pursuit of answers to these questions, Barbara Roth synthesizes data from both CRM and academic research to explore the emergence and impact of Southwestern agriculture.
Roth examines agricultural beginnings across the entire Southwest, both northern and southern, and across culture groups residing there. Beyond simply addressing the arrival and widespread adoption of specific cultigens, she pays particular attention to human factors such as patterns of production and variability in agricultural developments. Her consideration of broad social and environmental dynamics affecting forager diets and adaptive strategies sheds new light on what we know-and what we should ask-about the transition from foraging to farming.