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Short stories about the deep past and those who lived through millennia of exploration, hardship, and uncertainty during the evolution of farming.
Winner of the 2019 Nautilus Book Award, Multicultural and Indigenous
“Swigart is to be congratulated for giving us a series of connected short stories that are both entertaining and educational. The book is accurately grounded in archaeological facts, and its individual stories are thoroughly believable. Its particular format should be emulated by all those wishing to blend fact and fiction, not just as entertainment but as education, too.”—Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies
In unforgettable stories of the human journey, a combination of compelling storytelling and well-researched archaeology underscore an excavation into the deep past of human development and its consequences. Through a first encounter between a Neanderthal woman and the Modern Human to the emergence and destruction of the world’s first cities, Mixed Harvest tells the tale of the Neolithic Revolution, also called the (First) Agricultural Revolution, the most significant event since modern humans emerged. Rob Swigart’s latest work humanizes the rapid transition to agriculture and pastoralism with a grounding in the archaeological record.
From the introduction:
In the space of a few thousand years agriculture dominated the earth. We live with it all around us. History began, cities soared, the landscape was crisscrossed with roads…. Each story is prefaced by a short introduction and followed by some context in order to stitch the narrative together. Some stories are linked, but most are independent. The stories are gathered into three chapters: “Shelter,” “House,” and “Home.” These represent a progression in where we lived, a series of transformations in technology and consciousness.
“Swigart is to be congratulated for giving us a series of connected short stories that are both entertaining and educational. The book is accurately grounded in archaeological facts, and its individual stories are thoroughly believable. Its particular format should be emulated by all those wishing to blend fact and fiction, not just as entertainment but as education, too.” • Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies
“Rob Swigart has written a most remarkable and imaginative short story collection. It is remarkable for its enthralling, in-depth portrayal of the lives of humans from their emergence as distinct beings… Each of these stories is told, not only with an acute sense of informed historicity and scientific accuracy, but with engaging writing. Reading these stories was not only an evocative intellectual experience but a heartfelt emotional one as well. It is the work of a master storyteller. Swigart brings the stories so alive one feels a part of them—as if you, I, we, truly are…A magnificent and often extraordinary sequence of stories.” • Jack B. Rochester, JackBoston.com
“Mixed Harvest is an unexpected take on human origins and early human societies, blending deftly written short stories with brief nonfiction segments… Readers will leave with a strong emotional grounding in the anthropological and archaeological record, and a large number of informational and thematic touchpoints for understanding this history.” • Joey Eschrich, Arizona State University
Rob Swigart, PhD (Comparative Literature) taught for 35 years at a university, published fifteen novels and poetry in The Atlantic, Poetry, and other journals, and co-authored a business book while working as a research affiliate with the Institute for the Future.
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. Shelter
Prelude: The Pit of Bones
Bringer
The Horse Hunters
Strife
Judgment
Drummer
In Darkness
Boy and Leaf
The Snail Creek Shaman
Raising Stone
Feasting
Waters Bitter and Sweet
II. House
Frozen Tears
Tracks
The Journey
Mud People
Motherbaby
The Beast Without
The Beast Within
Of Pots and Plans
III. Home
An Introduction to Origins
The Need for Walls
The House of Heaven
Scribe
New Year
Borders
Descendants
Empire’s Poet
Lamentation
Afterword
Suggested Reading