Synopsis Until recently the history of human civilization was viewed mainly through the Western perspective, which gave the impression that the Western part of the world was central to the development of culture. In the process the Eastern world, particularly the Far East, was overlooked and neglected. Recent research by Japanese and Chinese scholars has however demonstrated that this region witnessed the developments of the world's earliest human civilization, based on rice cultivation and fishery. As we enter the 21st century, it has became increasingly important to reconstruct the history of human civilization, taking into consideration the concepts and values of both the Eastern and Western civilization in order to understand them better. To focus on the differences between the East and West, this book discusses the origins of pottery, as well as the traditions of wheat and rice cultivation. This book incorporates the results of the most recent works carried out in the Eastern and Wester