Chapter 7 Patterns of Subsistence 1

What Will You Learn? Recognize the relationship between cultural adaptation and long-term cultural change. Distinguish between the different food-collecting and food-producing systems. Analyze the relationship between the environment, technology, and social organization in cultures. Assess the significance of the Neolithic revolution. Explain the process of parallel and convergent evolution. Critically discuss mass food production in the age of globalization. 2

Adaptation and Environment Throughout human antiquity it is known that humans must have the ability to constantly make cultural adaptations to better survive and thrive in their natural environments or ecosystems. Meeting humans’ most basic needs are finding efficient methods to obtain food, shelter, and fresh water. Ecosystem- functioning system that is comprised of both the natural environment and the organisms that inhabit it. 3

Adaptation in Cultural Evolution Human groups adapt to their environment by means of their cultures. However, cultures may change over the course of time; they evolve. Cultural Evolution is the process of cultures changing over time. The process is sometimes confused with the idea of progress- the notion that humans are moving forward to a better, more advanced stage in their development toward perfection. Not all changes turn out to be positive in the long run, nor do they improve conditions for every member of a society even in the short run. 4

Convergent Evolution: A Case Study The Native American Comanche were from the highlands of southern Idaho. They had traditionally subsisted on wild grains, small animals and the occasional large game that roamed the region. They possessed simple technology and equipment that was limited to what dogs could carry on their backs. They considered their shaman (spiritual and medicinal healer) as holding the highest social power. 5

Convergent Evolution: A Case Study Eventually the Comanche made a move towards the Great Plains region where they encountered a larger food supply such as free roaming bison. Trade for horses and guns began with nearby European settlers. Over time Comanche traders began to hold a higher power within the group, one above the shaman, as they would go on raids to steal horses. The society that started small and powerless, converged into a powerful and wealthy tribe. 6

Convergent Evolution: A Case Study The history of the Comanche is similar to the historical accounts of the Native American Cheyenne Indians. The Cheyenne Indians moved from the woodlands of the Great Lakes regions also into the Great Plains. Unlike the Comanche they took up farming, which they later ceased to focus on hunting and gathering. Both tribes developed similar solutions to living in the new environment. 7

Convergent Evolution Convergent Evolution as outlined by the Native America Comanche and Cheyenne is best described as the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral cultures. 8 Donald_Trump_ c themetapicture.com images businessman-in-a-gray-suit funnypaperez.blogspot.c om images

Parallel Evolution The other type of cultural evolution apart from convergent evolution is parallel evolution. The development of farming took place simultaneously in Southwest Asia and Mesoamerica. People in both regions already had similar life ways. They both became dependent on a narrow range of plant foods. Both developed intensive forms of agriculture, built large cities, and created complex social and political organizations. 9

An Ecosystemic Collapse: The Tragic Case of Easter Island Pictured here are the famous “moai” of Rapa Nui or Easter Island. Nearly 900 stone statues line the landscape of the island. Polynesian seafarers settled here some 800 yrs ago, they prospered greatly and then faced an ecosystemic collapse. 10

Cultural Areas From early on, anthropologists have recognized that ethnic groups living within the same broad habitat often share certain cultural traits. These groups have been classified as “cultural areas”, which are geographic regions in which a number of societies follow a similar pattern of life. 11

Cultural Areas This maps shows the major cultural areas that have been identified for North and Central America. Within each, there is an overall similarity of native cultures, as opposed to the differences that distinguish the cultures of one area from those of all others. 12

Modes of Subsistence There are three main modes of subsistence patterns. Each mode will involve not only natural resources but also the developed technology to effectively utilize those resources. – 1.) Food Foraging Societies – 2.) Food Producing Societies – 3.) Industrialized Societies 13

Food Foraging: Organization Four elements of food foraging organization: Mobility Division of labor by gender Food sharing Egalitarian Social Relations 14

Characteristics of Food Foraging Societies Nomadic. Occupy marginal environments (desert, arctic, tropical). Small size of local groups (less that 100 members) limited by carrying capacity – The number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food-getting techniques. Populations stabilize at numbers well below the carrying capacity of their land. Egalitarian, populations have few possessions and share what they have. 15

Mobility Mobility of food foragers is strongly limited by their difficult living environments which they occupy. For instance the distance between their food supply and fresh water must not be so great that more energy is required to obtain fresh water than can be obtained from food. 16

Mobility As previously mentioned it is necessary for food foraging groups to limit their population size due to the carrying capacity. Often this can create what is called a density of social relations; meaning that the limited availability of resources forces larger groups to live together. More people can create more social conflicts. 17

Critical Thought Frequent nursing of children four or five years acts to suppress ovulation among foragers. As a consequence, women give birth to relatively few offspring at widely spaced intervals. How does this differ from the Western perspective on breastfeeding? 18

Flexible Division of Labor Division of labor exists in all societies. Among food-foragers, the hunting and butchering of large game as well as the processing of hard or tough raw materials are almost universally male occupations. Women’s work in foraging societies usually focuses on collection and processing a variety of plant foods, as well as other domestic chores that can be fit to the demands of breastfeeding, pregnancy, and childbirth. 19

Food Sharing Men and women will both share the fruits of their labor. They each provide a different food resource that they share with one another. Food sharing among members and other nearby groups can also provide the basis for creating and maintain social allies and networks. 20

Egalitarian Social Relations Among many food foraging societies egalitarianism is an important characteristic. To be egalitarian means to have no status differences among members of a group. Generally the only status differences are with age and sex. No one member will accumulate more goods than another, thus eliminating jealously and potential conflict. 21

Communal Property Food foragers make no attempt to accumulate surplus foodstuffs, which is often a source of status in other societies. As a result food is typically shared throughout the group and no one person or family achieves wealth or status that hoarding might produce. 22

Rarity of Warfare Anthropologists have learned that warlike behavior on the part of food-foraging peoples is known, but this behavior is a relatively recent phenomenon in response to pressure from expansionist states. In the absence of such pressures, food- foraging peoples are nonaggressive and place more emphasis on peacefulness and cooperation than they do on violent competition. 23

Food Producers The New Stone Age or Neolithic; the prehistoric period beginning about 10,000 years ago in which peoples possessed stone- based technologies and depended on domesticated plants and/or animals. This time period marks the emergence of a transition to food producing. 24

Transition to Food Production The Neolithic revolution (transition) began about 11,000 to 9,000 years ago. It was a time of significant culture change associated with the early domestication of plants and animals with settlement of permanent villages. Probably the result of increased management of wild food resources. Begin the development of simple hand tools for working the land. 25

Transition to Food Production 26

Types of Food Producing There are three main forms of food producing subsistence patterns: – 1. Horticulture – 2. Agriculture – 3. Pastoralism 27

Horticulture The cultivation of crops using simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes. Slash-and-burn cultivation (swidden farming). - An extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut, the slash is subsequently burned, and crops are then planted among the ashes. 28

Agriculture Agriculture is defined as the cultivation of food plants in soil prepared and maintained for crop production. It involves using technologies other than hand tools, such as irrigation, fertilizers, and the wooden or metal plow pulled by harnessed draft animals. 29

Characteristics of Crop-Producing Societies Similar to food foragers who stay nearby their food resources, food producers reside together near their cultivated fields in fixed settlements. Historically, social relations would have been egalitarian and similar to those of food foragers. However, as settlements grew larger in population size people had to share important resources such as land and water, society became more elaborately organized. 30

Pastoralism Pastoralism or animal husbandry is the subsistence pattern of raising and maintaining herds of domesticated animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. Pastoralists are usually nomadic. They share the similar concern of food foragers for finding fresh resources not only for their group but their herds as well. 31

Intensive Agriculture As agriculture grows some farming communities will turn from small villages into larger cities including large centers of market exchange. This allows other members of the community to engage in other activities. – Carpenters, blacksmiths, sculptures, basket makers, stonecutters. Eventually this creates an urbanization. 32

Peasants As urbanization including new life ways and complex culture these dwellers must rely on farmers in rural areas for most of their food supplies. Over time it becomes increasingly important for urban dwellers to seek control over rural areas. Farmers eventually turn into peasants. 33

Peasants (continued) A rural cultivator whose surpluses are transferred to a dominant group of rulers that uses the surpluses both to underwrite its own standard of living and to distribute the remainder to groups in society that do not farm but must be fed for their specific goods and services in turn. 34

Industrial Food Production After the invention of the steam engine about 200 years ago in England (which replaces human labor by machine labor) subsistence patterns changed in some regions. North America, Europe, Asia will become centers of industrialization among areas of intensified agriculture. This has led to a multitude of technological inventions that utilize oil, electricity, and nuclear energy. 35

Industrial Food Production Throughout the 1800’s and 1900’s, this resulted in large-scale industrial societies. Technological inventions utilizing electricity and nuclear energy brought about more dramatic changes in social and economic organization on a worldwide scale. 36

Large Scale Food Production In order to maximize profits, agribusinesses are constantly streamlining food production and looking for ways to reduce labor costs by trimming the numbers of workers, minimize employee benefits, and drive down wages. 37