This module explores the transition from foraging to farming in SW Asia/Near East, a major development in the history of our species. The module focuses on evidence from the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic c. 20,000-6000 BC. It examines alternative explanations for this transition. It reviews methods for studying the transition in the archaeological record including archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and standard archaeological approaches. It examines the archaeological evidence for substantial social changes that contribute to and result from this transition including putative appearance of new phenomena including sedentism, new sorts of built environments, new types of households, the first social hierarchies, the first corporate institutions and monumental buildings, major changes in religion and ritual.