ANT EXAM 3

How does dependence on culture help humans?

It helps humans survive.

How do cultural traditions arise?

From imagination and cultural experimentation with the material world.

What does “cultural experimentation” mean in this context?

Trying different ways of interacting with and using the material world.

Can humans have similar lifeways in different environments?

Yes.

Can humans have different lifeways in similar environments?

Yes.

How did humans live until about 10,000 years ago?

As gatherers and hunters living in bands.

What major environmental change happened around 10,000 years ago?

Glaciers retreated and Earth’s climate changed.

What did humans begin to create in response to new environments?

Their own ecological niches.

How did humans domesticate plants and animals?

By interfering with their reproduction.

What major lifestyle change did humans make after domestication?

They settled into permanent communities.

When and how did the process of domestication occur around the world?

It occurred independently in different areas of the world between 10,000 and 4,000 years ago.

What is niche construction?

It is when an organism actively changes its environment or creates a new one.

Why is domestication considered a form of niche construction?

Because humans actively change environments and species through domestication.

What is sedentism?

The practice of settling in one location.

For whom did sedentism become increasingly common?

Farmers.

What happened to wild plants like wheat through domestication?

They were transformed.

What is the rachis in plants?

The part of the plant that connects the seeds (kernels) to the cereal shaft.

How did the rachis change through domestication?

It developed tougher connections to the cereal shaft.

How did the kernel change through domestication?

The kernel size and number increased.

Why is the domestication of animals difficult to detect archaeologically?

Because evidence is not always clear or easily preserved.

What is one sign of animal domestication in archaeology?

Finding animals outside their natural range.

How can physical changes indicate domestication?

Changes in shape and size, such as differences in sheep horn size and shape.

What does an abrupt increase in animal numbers in one location suggest?

Possible domestication.

Why is there an abrupt increase in male kills during domestication?

For the meat.

What was likely the earliest animal to be domesticated?

The dog.

Where is one of the earliest pieces of evidence for dog domestication found?

Magdalenian Cave in northern Spain.

About how old is the evidence from Magdalenian Cave?

Around 16,000 years old.

Where was a human grave found with evidence of early dog domestication?

Ain Mallaha in northern Israel.

How old is the Ain Mallaha burial site?

About 12,000 years old.

What was found in the Ain Mallaha grave?

The remains of a puppy buried under the arm of a human.

Where is the earliest evidence for domesticated sheep found?

In central Anatolia (the Asian part of modern Turkey).

About how long ago were sheep first domesticated?

Around 11,000 years ago.

Why is cattle domestication harder to determine?

Because it appears to have occurred in multiple locations.

Where did cattle domestication likely occur?

Across regions from China to western Europe.

When did cattle domestication begin?

Sometime after 10,000 years ago.

Where have early domesticated pig bones been found?

Throughout southwestern Asia.

How old are the earliest domesticated pig remains?

About 10,500 years old.

How many stages may animal domestication have followed?

Six stages.

What is the first stage of animal domestication?

Random hunting.

What characterizes the controlled hunting stage?

Humans selectively kill males.

What is herd following?

Regular interaction with animal herds.

What happens during loose herding?

Humans begin to control the movement of the herd.

What defines close herding?

Animals have limited mobility and humans actively manage their gene pool.

What is the final stage of animal domestication?

Factory farming.

What major change in human subsistence occurred about 10,000 years ago?

Humans in different parts of the world nearly simultaneously began using domesticated plants and animals after millions of years of evolution and over 200,000 years of foraging.

How did scholars once view the cause of all original domestication?

As caused by a universal factor.

What is the broad-spectrum foraging argument?

It views domestication as directly related to climate change.

How did the end of the Ice Age affect human subsistence?

It enabled more secure hunting, fishing, and gathering.

What happened to human populations after the Ice Age?

Populations grew and became sedentary.

What led some humans to domesticate wild plants and animals?

Stress on resources due to growing populations.

How might competition between local groups have influenced domestication?

It could have spurred humans to domesticate plants and animals.

What role did feasting and competitive exchange play in domestication?

They might have increased demands for food.

How would increased food demands affect land use?

Land use would have expanded to produce more food.

What does this theory of domestication emphasize?

Social factors, such as competition and status.

Why is competitive feasting hard to detect archaeologically?

Because direct evidence of social competition and feasting is rare in the archaeological record.

What approach do recent studies use to study the 12,500-year-old Natufian culture?

The “multiple strand/elements” approach.

Was sedentism possible without domestication for the Natufians?

Yes

How large were Natufian villages?

They had 40 to 150 people.

What resources did Natufians intensively exploit?

Wild wheat and barley, nuts, and wild game.

What kind of structures did people at Ain Mallaha (Natufian era) build?

Houses were dug into the ground with walls of stone and mud, including some timber posts and roof beams.

What tool evidence shows the Natufians processed food?

A large number of stone mortars to grind seeds.

What cultural activity did the Natufians engage in besides subsistence?

Artistic production.

What evidence exists for social stratification at Ain Mallaha?

Differences in grave goods.

How do we know Natufians lived in family groups?

Dental traits suggest the presence of a genetically recessive trait.

What did the Natufian diet consist of?

Gazelle and deer meat, wild grains, and nuts.

How would you describe Natufians as foragers?

They were complex foragers living in an area of abundant resources.

What likely disrupted the Natufians’ lifestyle?

Changes in the environment.

What crops were consumed at the Jericho site?

Wild wheat and barley.

How old is the evidence from Jericho?

About 10,300 years ago, at the beginning of the Neolithic.

How large was the Jericho settlement and its population?

About 2.5 hectares in size with more than 300 people.

Where was Jericho located geographically?

At the edge of an alluvial fan on a permanent stream.

What major construction occurred by 9,300 years ago at early settlements?

A stone wall 3 m thick and 4 m high was built for flood protection.

What kind of long-distance trade existed by this time?

Obsidian trade from Anatolia and marine shells from the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

What influenced the adoption of farming at this time?

Contact with herders from the Zagros Mountains and northern Mesopotamia.

What plants were domesticated in Mesoamerica, and when?

Maize, beans, and squash around 7,000 years ago.

What domesticated plants and animals were found in South America, and when?

Maize (6,000 y.a.), manioc, potatoes, beans, quinoa, and llamas.

What domesticated plants were found in the Eastern U.S., and when?

Goosefoot, marsh elder, sunflowers, and squash around 5,000 years ago.

What major environmental change occurred at the end of the Pleistocene?

Climate change.

How does the concept of niche construction relate to early farming villages?

It provides a framework to evaluate how humans engineered local ecosystems and manipulated resources.

What did humans do within local biotic communities during early farming?

They manipulated targeted resources to enhance productivity.

What was the goal of humans actively shaping adaptive niches?

To increase the density and productivity of desired resources.

Did domestication and sedentism have drawbacks?

Yes, but societies became too dependent to return to foraging.

How did land availability change with domestication and sedentism?

Land was no longer freely available.

How did domestication and sedentism affect disease spread?

Diseases were more readily spread due to closer living conditions.

What social changes occurred with domestication and sedentism?

New forms of organizing labor appeared, social stratification and complexity increased.

What type of social relations were common in early farming and herding societies?

Egalitarian social relations.

How did early egalitarian societies differ in wealth, prestige, or power?

No great differences were seen.

Should early non-complex societies be considered “simple”?

No.

When did social complexity begin to arise?

As social organization became stratified.

What happens when a few individuals control surplus production?

Social stratification becomes more evident.

How did occupational specialization affect society?

It contributed to social stratification.

What does a move from egalitarian social organization to social stratification indicate?

The development of social complexity.

What are key features of complex societies?

Large populations, extensive division of labor, occupational specialization, and social stratification.

What are social classes?

Ranked groups within hierarchically stratified complex societies.

What kind of monumental architecture do complex societies leave in the archaeological record?

Temples, pyramids, and other large structures

How do burials reflect complexity in societies?

Elaborate burials indicate social differentiation and hierarchy.

What do artifact concentrations tell archaeologists about a society?

They indicate occupational specialization.

How is regional settlement hierarchy evidence of complex society?

Settlements show at least three levels, reflecting political and social organization.

What are “prime movers” in the study of complex societies?

Single factors developed to explain the rise of complex societies.

What is one prime mover for the rise of complex societies related to food production?

Domestication, which supposedly gave people free time to invent complex social rules.