MOD 4 LEC B Neolithic Domestication and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Notes

Definition: "New Stone Age", characterized by significant advancements in tool technology and social structures.
Driving Force: Intensification of resource procurement, a trend that began in the Upper Paleolithic and was emphasized during the Mesolithic, driven by population growth and environmental changes.

Subdivisions:
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
- Dates: 12,000-10,800 years ago.
- Climate: Late in a prolonged dry period, influencing early farming practices.
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
- Dates: 10,800-8,500 years ago.
- Climate: Corresponds to a period of improved climate, aiding the expansion of agriculture.

Shift: Transition from foraging for food to dependence on domesticated plants and animals, marking a fundamental change in human subsistence strategies.
Domestication Definition: Human manipulation through artificial selection (intentional or unintentional), leading to genetic changes beneficial to humans, enhancing traits like yield and manageability.
Earliest Evidence: Plant domestication evidenced in figs from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period, suggesting early experimentation with horticulture.
Farming Development: Developed during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, with settled communities investing in crop cultivation.
Domesticated Crops:
- Cereals: emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley, providing staple carbohydrates.
- Pulses: lentils, peas, important for protein and soil nitrogen fixation.
- Legumes: bitter vetch, chick peas, contributing to dietary diversity and agricultural sustainability.

Wheat (Southwest Asia): Key cereal crop, forming the basis of many early diets.
Barley (Southwest Asia): Another essential grain, adaptable to various growing conditions.
Rice (Southeast Asia): Staple food in Asia, supporting dense populations.
Millet (Southeast Asia): Drought-resistant grain, crucial in drier regions.
Maize (Corn) (North America): High-yielding crop, essential for the development of settled societies.
Potato (South America): Tuber crop, offering a reliable source of energy.
Cotton (South America): Fiber crop, used for textiles and clothing.

Dog: ~20,000-25,000 years ago (Southwest Asia, China), used for hunting, guarding, and companionship.
Cow: ~8,000 years ago (Southwest Asia), providing milk, meat, and labor.
Sheep: ~10,000-9,000 years ago (Southwest Asia), valuable for wool, meat, and milk.
Goat: ~10,000 years ago (Southwest Asia), adaptable to rugged terrain, providing meat and milk.
Pig: ~10,000 years ago (Southwest Asia, China), efficient converter of food to meat.
Horse: ~6,000-7,000 years ago (eastern Europe or western Asia), used for transportation, agriculture, and warfare.

Shift in Tool Production: Moved away from tools made on bladelets to larger blades, improving efficiency and versatility.
Emphasis: Arrowheads, reflecting the continued importance of hunting and defense.
Toolkit Components:
- Sickles: For harvesting crops, with flint blades set in a handle.
- Ground stone axes: For clearing forests and woodworking.
- Adzes: For shaping wood, used in construction and tool making.
- Grinding stones: Found in large quantities for processing grains, essential for food preparation.

Pre-Pottery B sites: Highly developed use of plaster, for building durable structures and creating art.

Settlement Size: Increased compared to previous periods, indicating more stable and larger communities.
Communal Structures: First evidence appears (e.g., Jericho tower).
- Jericho Tower: 9 m high, made of undressed stone & mud brick, attached to the inside of a massive wall, possibly used for storage or defense.

Housing: Houses continue to be circular, but settlements are larger than Natufian ones, reflecting population growth and sedentism.

Housing: Round houses transitioned to rectangular houses, enabling more efficient use of space.
Settlement Size: Significant increase, reflecting improved living conditions and resource availability.
Settlement Layout: Rectangular houses allowed for denser packing; villages often show a high degree of planning, suggesting social organization.
Authority: No strong evidence that regular layout reflects centralized authority, indicating communal decision-making.

Complete, well-preserved skulls with highly detailed facial masks, used in ancestor veneration.
Features like eyelids, nose, cheeks, and brow ridge were reproduced realistically, reflecting advanced artistic skills.
Teeth were likely removed prior to modeling the face because tooth sockets were empty, indicating a deliberate ritual practice.

Stone Tools: Appearance of ground and polished stone tools, increasing effectiveness and durability.
Ceramics: Used to keep grains dry and rodent-free, improving storage and preservation.
Plough: Developed once draft animals were domesticated (~8,000 years ago), revolutionizing agriculture and increasing productivity.
Textiles: Woven textiles from plant fibers and animal hair (flax & wool in SW Asia; cotton in South America), used for clothing and other purposes.
Permanent Housing: Constructed from mud-dried bricks, stone, wattle & daub, etc., creating more stable and comfortable living environments.

Social Organization: Appears to have been egalitarian, with limited social stratification.
Egalitarian Society Definition: A society with few differences in wealth, power, prestige, or status, promoting cooperation and community.
Features absent: No elaborate or public buildings, no suggestion of institutionalized religion or formal government, indicating a less hierarchical structure.

Key Development: Development of pottery manufacture, transforming food storage and cooking practices.
Stone Tools: Expedient tools made on local materials with minimal energy investment, reflecting resource efficiency.
Settlement Patterns: Characterized by a limited number of large sites and small dispersed hamlets, indicating varying degrees of sedentism.
Site Density: Large sites are not densely packed, possibly due to resource management strategies.
Symbolic Artifacts: Stylized animal figurines, used in rituals and symbolic expression.

Hunting: Importance continuously declined, as domesticated resources became more reliable.
Animal Domestication: Evidence includes changes in the shape of goat horns, indicating selective breeding practices.
Meat Source: Despite symbolic emphasis on bulls, the main source of meat was domestic goat, due to adaptability and manageability.

Dairy Use: Earliest pottery is not linked to the use of cattle for milk; analysis of residues in Neolithic ceramic vessels failed to find traces of it, suggesting later adoption of dairying.
Cheese Production: Evidenced by 7,200 years ago, in what is now Croatia, indicating advanced food processing techniques.
Plant Reliance: People still relied on the full range of plants domesticated in the Early Neolithic, maintaining diverse agricultural practices.

There has been an explosion in human population densities in the past 10,000 years. This is due to rise of food production and domestication, supporting larger and more stable communities.