While it is widely believed that regions which experienced a transition to Neolithic agriculture early also become institutionally and economically more advanced, many indicators suggest that within the Western agricultural core (including Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest...

1. Introduction -- 2. African Origins -- 3. Human Capital Evolution in a Cooling Climate -- 4. Hunting and Gathering Homo Sapiens -- 5. The Out-of-Africa Dispersal -- 6. Glacial Adaptations -- 7. Economic Organization on the Eve of Agriculture -- 8. Domestication of Plants, Animals and Humans --...