The Tropical Turn: Agricultural Innovation in the Ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean (Paperback)
This book chronicles the earliest histories of familiar tropical Asian crops in the ancient Middle East and the Mediterranean, from rice and cotton to citruses and cucumbers. Drawing on archaeological materials and textual sources in over seven ancient languages, The Tropical Turn unravels the breathtaking anthropogenic peregrinations of these familiar crops from their homelands in tropical and subtropical Asia to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, showing the significant impact South Asia had on the ecologies, dietary habits, and cultural identities of peoples across the ancient world. In the process, Sureshkumar Muthukumaran offers a fresh narrative history of human connectivity across Afro-Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the late centuries BCE.
Sureshkumar Muthukumaran is a historian of the ancient world. He is a Lecturer in History at the National University of Singapore and has previously taught at University College London and Yale-NUS College.
"Based on an impressive collection of archaeological data and textual sources in many languages, Muthukumaran provides an inspiring voyage in space and time. . . . this original and innovative book provides a significant contribution to the growing literature on East-West connectivity in antiquity."
— Bryn Mawr Classical Review
— Bryn Mawr Classical Review