History 114 W5

Diet of HG

Localised (immediate area, seasonal availability)

Neolithic rev

12 000 BP

Primary Independent Centres of Agriculture

Fertile Crescent, China (Yellow and Yangtze Rivers), Mesoamerica, the Andes, West Africa, New Guinea

Sedentary agriculture

Settlements, architecture & cultural changes

Artificial VS Natural Selection

• More seeds = more growth = more calories collected = even more seeds

• Conscious selection for/against specific features

• Size + number of kernels changed gradually due to human activities

Domestication of Plants

• 23 000 BP - HG in the Levant harvesting wild cereals (exploit random mutations: more fertile, more seeds)

• 9 500 BP - 8 Neolithic founder crops: emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, flax

• Domestication = needier plants

Animal Domestication

• Began around 15 000 y.a w/ dogs

• Food, labour, clothing & companionship

Prerequisites for livestock domestication

1. Humans can supply diets

2. Rapid growth rate

3. Willingness to breed in captivity

4. Docile disposition

5. Social structure involves submissive behaviour

6. Lack of tendency to panic when fenced in

The good of the Neolithic Rev

• Domesticated plants + animals = more calories

• Pop growth & pop density increases

• Permanent dwellings

• Tech development & specialization

• Wealth acquires meaning

The bad of the Neolithic Rev

• Egalitarianism of HG gone

• Divisions & inequalities emerge = hierarchies

• Specialisation & labour division

• Pop increase = more sophisticated social structures

The ugly of the Neolithic Rev

• Dependent on relatively few plants

• Vulnerability to weather

• Complete dependency on harvest times

• Intense & sustained physical effort

• Population growth

• Infectious disease = epidemics

More Agriculture, More Problems

• Proximity transferred diseases to humans (Anthrax, brucellosis, tuberculosis)

• Diseases from malnutrition (anemia, rickets)

• Sewage + throwing out waste (cholera, typhus)