狩猎采集向农业的转变是人类历史上关键的转折点之一，由此带来的经济、社会和文化的变化影响深远。然而，尽管是世界范围内考古学研究最关注的课题之一，这一过程的许多方面还没有被完全理解。其中一个悬而未决的问题是，在世界各地这个过程是否是相似的，亦或在每一个农业独立发展的区域，这个过程是不同的。在此次讲座中将会对旧大陆农业起源的两个最古老的中心——中国北方和南黎凡特（以色列）——的考古材料进行比较。主讲人吉恩教授将介绍一些主要的遗址，这些遗址记录了两个地区这一过程的早期阶段，也将展示一些最相关的发现，包括建筑物，人工制品以及动植物的遗存。吉恩教授的研究结果表明尽管在驯化的动植物种类和向农业和定居生活转变所带来的社会政治变化方面有很多相似之处，但也存在有意义的差异。两个地区向农业转变的时间并不完全相同，步伐也并不一致。这种差异可能表明，人类历史上这一重要转变的原因在其发生的所有地区都不尽相同。

The transition to agriculture is one of the crucial turning points in human history. Its economic, social and cultural consequences were far reaching. However, in spite of being one of the most studied topic in archaeological research worldwide many aspects of this process are not yet fully understood. One such open question is whether the process was similar in all parts of the world or whether in each of the prime centers of independent agriculture development the process was different. In this paper I compare the known archaeological evidence from two of the oldest centers of agricultural development in the Old-World: North China and the Southern Levant (Israel). I will present some of the main sites where early phases of this process were documented in the two regions, and show some of the most relevant findings, including structures, artifacts and remains of plants and animals. My findings suggest that although there are many similarities in the type of plants and animals that were domesticated and the socio-political consequences of the transition to agriculture and sedentary way of life, there are also meaningful differences. The timing of the transition in the two centers is not exactly the same and so is the pace of the process. Such differences could suggest that the reasons for this important development in human history were not the same in all the regions where it occurred.

吉迪教授（Gideon Shelach）, 1996年起在希伯来大学从事教学和科研工作。历任亚洲研究系主任,亚洲领域项目负责人,路易斯·弗瑞伯格(Louis Freiberg)东亚研究中心主任,人文学部副部长。现任希伯来大学东亚系路易斯·弗瑞伯格教授，同时兼任希伯来大学亚非研究所所长、吉林大学匡亚明讲座教授。专长于中国北方地区新石器时代--青铜时代 考古，先后与中国吉林大学、北京大学、辽宁省文物考古研究所、美国匹兹堡大学、哈佛大学合作。他从1995年起在中国带队进行考古发掘，与中国学者联合主持内蒙古赤峰区域系统考古调查、东北地区农业与定居的起源等研究项目，现任希伯来大学与辽宁省文物考古研究所阜新合作考古项目负责人。他在Antiquity、Science、Journal of Anthropological Archaeology、Journal of Archaeological Science、《考古》、《考古与文物》等国内外期刊杂志上发表论文60余篇。代表作有: 《早期中国的考古:从史前到汉代》(The Archaeology of Ancient China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty)、《帝国的诞生:再访秦国》(The Birth of Empire: The State of Qin Revisited)、《领导策略、经济活动与区域间的交互作用:中国东北地区的社会复杂化》(Leadership Strategies, Economic Activity and Interregional Interaction: Social Complexity in Northeast China)等。