Part 4 Human Biocultural Evolution The Challenge of Technology and Human Diversity

Part Outline  Chapter 11 The Neolithic Revolution: The Domestication of Plants and Animals  Chapter 12 The Emergence of Cities and States  Chapter 13 Modern Human Diversity

Chapter 11 The Neolithic Revolution: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

Chapter Outline  When and where did the change from food foraging to food production begin?  Why did the change take place?  What were the consequences of the Neolithic revolution?

Domestication  A domesticated plant or animal is genetically modified as a consequence of human manipulation.  Analysis of plant and animal remains at a site will indicate whether the occupants were food producers.

Effects of Domestication  Edible parts of domesticated plants are usually larger than those of their wild counterparts.  Domestication produces skeletal changes in some animals.  Age and sex imbalances in herd animals may also indicate human domesticators.

Foraging to Food Production: Observations  Food production was not the result of new discoveries about planting, people were very knowledgeable about plants and animals.  The switch to food production did not free people from hard work.  Food production is not necessarily a more secure means of subsistence than foraging.

Subsistence Trends in Mexico’s Tehuacan Valley

Oasis Theory  Domestication began because the oasis attracted hungry animals.  The animals were too thin to eat, so people began to fatten them up.  Theory fell out of favor as studies of the origins of domestication were begun in the late 1940s.

“Hilly Flanks” Theory  Domestication began in the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent.  The people were at the point in their evolutionary development where they were “settling in”.  This culture-bound theory reflected notions of progress that people in the Western world had faith in following World War II.

Chance and Evolution Theory  As early as 13,000 y.a. people living east of Aleppo, Syria, grew domestic rye.  They continued to rely on wild plants and animals for food.  3 millennia later they became farmers.  The process was a consequence of a chance convergence of independent natural events and cultural developments.

Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia and the Area of Natufian Culture

Natufians  Lived at a time of dramatically changing climates in the region.  Shallow lakes dried up, leaving just three in the Jordan River Valley.  The plants best adapted to instability and seasonal aridity were annuals, including wild cereal grains and legumes.

Natufians Natufians modified their subsistence practices:  Regularly fired the landscape to promote browsing by red deer and grazing by gazelles.  Placed greater emphasis on the collection of wild seeds from annual plants that could be stored through the dry season.

Consequences of Domestication  Crops become more productive and more vulnerable.  Periodically population outstrips food supplies and people are apt to move into new regions.  In this way, farming has often spread from one region to another, as into Europe from Southwest Asia.

Domestication of Sheep Resulted in Evolutionary Change

Early Plant and Animal Domestication  Southwest Asia (A1), Central Africa (A2), China (B1), Southeast Asia (B2), Mesoamerica (C1), South America (C2), North America (C3)

Neolithic Technology  People developed scythes, forks, hoes, and plows to replace their simple digging sticks.  Pestles and mortars were used for preparation of grain.  Plows were redesigned when domesticated cattle became available for use as draft animals.

Neolithic Pottery  Pottery vessels could be used for storing small grain, seeds, and other materials.  Pottery was also used for cooking, pipes, ladles, lamps, and other objects.  Some cultures used large vessels for disposal of the dead.  Widespread use of pottery is a good indication of a sedentary community.

Neolithic Clothing  For the first time in history, clothing was made of woven textiles.  Raw materials came from: –flax and cotton from farming –wool from domesticated sheep –silk from silk worms –spindle and loom from the human mind