Kenoyer- Transition to Agriculture and Domestication

Causes of domestication

1) changes or features in the natural environment, the climate and available plants and animals- Glacial Retreat

2) the density of human populations

3) the subsistence patterns that these communities adopt for survival - mobility or sedentism

4) the technological capabilities of a culture

5) the social organization of a culture

6) the ideology or ritual organization of a culture

Old Hypotheses

Oasis Hypothesis - Everyone goes to the watering hole

Edge Zone Hypothesis - Take plants and animals out of environment

Resource Stress - Take some from somewhere else back home

Natural Habitat Hypothesis - As familiarity with plant and animal species increased, knowledge of agriculture increased

Population Pressure Hypothesis- Increase of population led to an increased need of food source

Optimal Foraging –???

Domestication

A process and not an event.

- Growing plants and raising animals is not really production but nurturing.

- Domestication results from active interference of humans in the life cycles of plants and animals such that subsequent generations are mutually dependent, but “agriomorphic” herded animals, are domestic animals that are morphologically close to wild one

- Domestication is measured in loss of fitness to survive in the natural environment. Each species exhibits different morphological and genetic changes as it becomes more and more removed from the wild gene pool.

- Removal from the natural environment and human selection leads to genetic modifications

- Domesticated animals have certain requirements→

Passive and calm, easy to tend, hardy-can survive (wimps pass on their genes)

Natufian Culture

Site of Wadi al Natuf, Israel

Speacialized hunting and gathering settlements, semi-sedentary, found from Turkey to the Nile River Valley

• Early: Base camps, semi subterranean huts, wild grain

• Late: More seasonal movement- Winter in the lowlands, summer in the highlands

Tools: Obsidian tools

-Globalized Training

- People interact→ gene flow and idea sharing

Western Levant- Domestication

Early domesticated grains- wheat barley, later introduction of cattle, sheep and goat

Jericho, Israel

Advancements, Structures, Domestication

Mesolithic and Proto-neolithic occupation, hunting-gathering, stone built shrine or sanctuary

Beginning of complex technology: ritual and hygiene

-Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), first evidence for domestic grain, wheat and barley, but no domestic animals, circular or rectangular mud brick houses, 2.4 hectare approximate size, stone tower (look out tower/Symbolic) and wall used to protect settlement from floods.

Ramad 7500-6500 BC – domestic wheat and barley

Egypt

End of the Pleistocene, sees periods of high flood levels, followed by lower flood levels, increasing aridity - movement of populations to the Nile. Possible periods of experimentation with domestication of cattle

Increasing aridity from 8000-7000 BC in western desert regions - movement of more populations to the Nile. Domestic cattle in Egypt probably hybrid between North African and Near Eastern breeds.

Important domestication species

Wheat, Barley, Rye

Goat, Sheep, Cattle

Important domestication species

Wheat, Barley, Rye

Goat, Sheep, Cattle

South Asia- Afghanistan, Mehragarh-Pakistan

Water Buffalo, origin of chicken, zebu cattle

Burials with ornaments traded from great distances, domesticated plants and animals, including barley, wheat, cattle (zebu - Bos indicus), sheep and goats, cotton, dates

-Oldest example: Buried children w/ whole goats→ food in the afterlife

Central Ganga Valley, India

Lahuradewa

circular huts, charred grains of wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) as well as domestic rice (Oryza sativa),

hand made red wares and black and red ware pottery, 2700 BC - barley

Stages in the development and decline of early states

Early food producing era: beginnings of the long-term processes that provide the stable foundation of a state level society.

Regionalization Era: beginning of the short-term changes that define the nature of integration and the dominant communities who maintain social order

Integration Era: period of state level control and stratification, major changes in social organization, bringing together diverse populations in cities or large settlements.

Localization Era: breakdown of initial phase of integration and a period of restructuring of social relations

Craft Specialists

Individuals skilled in crafts who make objects for personal use or for use by

local community, with some limited trade with external communities

Craft Specialization- Occupational Specialization

production specifically for use by individuals or communities other than the producers,

- continuous social process and not a state of being

Stratification of Crafts

crafts producing items that are important for economic profit or status differentiation have a higher degree of control and can be ranked at a higher economic level than other crafts

Four major categories of crafts

1) locally available materials with relatively simple technologies

2) non-local materials using relatively simple technologies

3) complex production processes using local raw materials

4) complex production using non-local raw materials

Segregation of Production

1. for economic purposes

2. for safety or hygiene

3. for control of production or technological knowledge

Organization of Labor based on

Gender - male, female, other (eunuch, transvestite, homosexual)

Age - pre-adolescent, adolescent, mature, elderly

Rank - low to high status

Class - political, economic or ideological power

Sedentary Agriculture and Animal Husbandry - lead to important changes in

1. local environment and eventually overall environment

2. demographic patterns, population distribution and dynamics

- natural increase and immigration or agglomeration

3. social organization - egalitarian - ranked - stratified

- change from primarily kin based social networks to economic or political based social

networks - extended kin or extra-kin networks.

4. technological and economic organization

5. ritual organization 6. and eventually political organization