The Origins of Domestication and Settled Life

Transition : Upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic n Upper Paleolithic –40, ,000 ya –lifestyles –migrations –megafauna –retreat of glaciers

Transition (cont.) n Mesolithic - “Middle Stone Age” –broad-spectrum food collecting F 14,000-10,000 ya F specialized F sedentarism –technology F microliths

Transition (cont.) n Reasons for Broad-Spectrum Development –climate –overkill hypothesis –population growth n Sedentarism & Population Growth –ethnographic evidence

Domestication of Plants & Animals n Impetus for Domestication –population growth –sedentarism –drawbacks of broad-spectrum

Domestication (cont.) n Neolithic - “New Stone Age” –associated with domestication F cultivation n Evidence of Domestication –plant remains F rachis (or axis) –animal remains

Theories of Domestication n The Oasis Theory - Childe ’s n Readiness Hypothesis - Braidwood n Population Pressure –Boserup / Binford n Marginal Area - Flannery n Blended Theory

Domestication in Different Regions n Domestication in the Near East –Fertile Crescent F wheat & barley –types of animals domesticated n Domestication elsewhere in the Old World –China / Southeast Asia / Africa

Domestication Regionally (cont.) n Domestication in the New World –independent evolution –early domesticated plants –maize (corn) –South American crops –North American crops –animal domestication

Consequences of the Rise of Food Production n Accelerated Population Growth –birth spacing decreased n Declining Overall Health –evidence : teeth & bones –fewer dietary staples –rise of stratification

Consequences (cont.) n Elaboration of Material Possessions –houses –furnishings –woven textiles –trade