Term
| what anthropologists tell us |
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Definition
first human-like primates appeared about five million years ago.
homo sapiens appeared 250,000 years ago.
Hunters and gatherers for 240,000 years.
agriculture began about 10,000 years ago. |
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Term
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Definition
| began independently in at least seven localities with a gradual outward spread of agriculture from each center of origin. |
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Term
| why did humans switch from foraging to agriculture? |
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Definition
convenience (more stable food supply; easier way of life with more leisure time)
stress (forced into agriculture by necessity-change in climate; increase in human population) |
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Term
| commonalities among early sits of agriculture |
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Definition
sedentary population (increased social alliance; stored food reserves)
triggering event (population increase or climatic change)
The right geography, climate, plants and animals capable of domestication. |
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Term
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Definition
early agriculturalists lived by lakes, marshes, or rivers
-diverse flora and fauna
-disturbed alluvial soils like those of farm fields (fertile soil, adequate moisture, favor annual plants) |
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Term
| plants capable of domestication |
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Definition
| easy to grow in disturbed habitat; produce high caloric edible product each year (annuals that produce numerous large seeds; plants with large underground storage organs); self-pollinating or vegetatively propagated; occasionally outcrossing to allow for introduction of new genetic variability. |
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Term
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Definition
human creation of a new form of plant that is genetically different from its wild ancestor.
-artificial selection by humans creates new rules for survival and reporductive success
-select for traits useful to humans that often would be selected against by the natural environment.
-revolutionary change in relationship b/w human species and the domesticated species (domesticated plants allow for humans to far exceed capacity of natural environment; in turn crop plants rely on humans for their success) |
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Term
| early agricultural site and crops: Near East or Fertile Crescent |
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Definition
| barley, wheat, pea, lentil, flax |
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Term
| early agricultural site and crops: Far East or Orient |
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Definition
| rice, millet, soybean, hemp |
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Term
| early agricultural site and crops: New World or Americas |
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Definition
| corn, beans, squash, potato, cotton |
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