Term
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Definition
theory for somewhat simultaneous rise of agriculture;
suggests humans would have crowded around water at the end of the Pleistocene (when water was becoming limited) and the only sucessful solution for food competition would be plant and animal domestication. |
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Term
| natural habitat hypothesis |
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Definition
the early domesticates should be where their wild ancestors lived;
humans were familar with plant species and once they saw possibilities of domestication they would have immediately started farming. |
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Term
| population pressure hypothesis |
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Definition
| since farm labor was so time-consuming and physically straining they would only do so if there were no other options. population increase could cause such a dilemma. |
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Definition
| says domestication would occur where wild plant and animal life was not as abundant, in the margins. Incorporates ideas about the fertile crescent and population pressure. |
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Term
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Definition
| being able to successfully produce food allowed certain individuals the ability to gain a surplus of food to use for other more valued items such as gems. in this perspective, agriculture began social inequality and hierarchy, |
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Term
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Definition
| permanent settlement of communities |
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Term
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Definition
Pre-neolithic site
Near East
Natufian Period 11,000-9,000 BC
one of the earliest villages in the world
were eating grain goods |
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Term
| What are the main theories of the origins of domestication? |
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Definition
Population Pressure-could no longer be supported by wild plants
Climate Change-global warming reduced wild food so people turned to domestication
Social Theories- surplus of food was helpful in politics, social and competitive feasts |
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Term
| Where & when did farming & herding begin? |
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Definition
-Middle east (wheat) by 7800 BC
-China (rice and millet) between 6000 and 5000 BC |
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Term
| How do archaeologists study the origins of agriculture? |
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Definition
1)Microbotanical analysis-collect floatation samples, analysis with microscope and distinguish between wild and domesticated seeds
2)Pollen and Phytoliths-skeleton of plants, can be used to identify domestication
3)Faunal Analysis-wild and domesticated animal bones are different sizes (domesticated are larger)
4)analysis of human remains-health and diet, infections that go down to bone, enamel hypoplasias
5)artifact analysis-agricultural and processing tools, sickle blades
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Term
| How did farming & herding develop (what processes were involved)? |
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Definition
1)Genetic Engineering
2)Environmental Engineering |
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Term
| What were the advantages & disadvantages of hunting & gathering? |
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Definition
-increased workload
-decline in dental health
-mobile life was less risj of disease
-less diverse diet |
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Term
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Definition
Near East/Southwest Asia:upper Jordan Valley, Israel
11,000-9000 BC
-earliest domestication from anywhere in the world
-location is the "cradle of Western civilization"
Levant-mountainous region parallelling east coast of the Mediterranean
period just before ag is Natufian (11,000-9000 BC) |
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Definition
Northern Syria
occupation from 10,500-6000 BC
one of the best available records of the changes that took place as farming and herding first began |
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Term
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Definition
| study of prehistoric plant remains (floating, etc) can tell us about ancient diet, medicinal uses, domestication |
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Term
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Definition
Jordan Valley
evidence from early neolithic 8500-7600 BC
-large stone tower excavated
-one of the most continuously inhabitated places on earth |
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Term
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Definition
study of animal remains
answer questions about whether the animals hunted or scavenged, how animals were butchered, how much meat contributed to the diet, and the process of domestication |
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Term
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Definition
-The first city
-central Turkey
-appeared 7000 BC, abandoned 6000 BC
-large number of shrines
-obsidian made it prosperous |
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Term
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Definition
-South Asia
-Indus Civilization
-dates back to 7000 BC
-lacked pottery but had domestication of sheep, goats, cattle husbandry, domesticated barley around 6000 BC |
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Term
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Definition
-cave in Oaxaca Mexico
-dates 8750-6670 BC
-lived in microbands, a few nuclear families
-diverse plant diet, consumption of extra calories similar to modern US diet |
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Term
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Definition
-ancestor of modern corn
-Unknown to Europe prior to columbus's arrival into the new world.
-native to southern or western mexico
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Term
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Definition
-Puebla Mexico
-12000 year occupation, longest in new world
-domestication of maize
-8000 to 1500 BC: squash and maize appeared in this span
-earliest sedentary villages 4-3000 ya |
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Term
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Definition
-natural rock shelter in the mtns of northern peru
-first occupied more than 10,000 ya
-lima beans show communication from with the amazon
-served as a campsite for thousands of years
-made fabric
-ate tubers |
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Term
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Definition
-11,000 years old
-northwestern thailand
-intensive exploitation of plants, also domesticated animals |
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Term
| optical emission spectography |
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Definition
| technique used to determine elemental composition of metal objects. |
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Term
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Definition
-northern China
-millet and pigs
-first to have been excavated extensively
-evidence of weaving, grew hemp |
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Term
| Did hunter-gatherers choose agriculture because it improved their lives? |
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Definition
| There were advantages and disadvantages, but a majority of our history was lived as hunter gatherers. While agriculture allows for a larger population, it also requires much more labor and increases risk of disease |
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Term
| Was agriculture a technological advancement that improved the lives of hunter-gatherers? |
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Definition
| To begin agriculture the hunter gatherers would need a very good reason because the workload had to increase so much. Manipulation of plants began much before sedentary lifestyle, and it did have its advantages. |
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Term
| What did hunter-gatherers know about cultivation? Was agriculture an invention? |
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Definition
hunter-gatherers knew how to plant seeds and change the land to increase yields:
-burned fields
-tended stands of nutbearing seeds
-irrigated dense stands of key plants
-followed migratory herders |
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Term
| What was life like in hunting & gathering societies? What are the characteristics of hunting & gathering societies? |
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Definition
-seasonal movement to exploit resources
-small and flexible group size
-leadership by achievement
-equal access to resources
-communal ownership
-limited private property
-low population growth rate |
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Term
| What crops and animals were domesticated the Middle East? |
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Definition
| barley, wheat, cotton, sheep, goats, pigs |
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Term
| When and where was agriculture first developed in the Middle East? |
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Definition
| The first domestication was in the fertile crescent; the PPNA occured about 8500-7500 BC |
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Term
| How did the environment and climate of the Middle East change during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition? How did people cope with those changes? |
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Definition
| In the late Pleistocene the climate was cool and dry. In the early holocene it became warmer and wetter. People adapted to these changes by focusing on nuts, wild grains, and migratory gazelles. They became more sedentary hunter-gatherers. |
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Term
| How did the Kebaran and Natufian people of the Middle East make a living? |
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Definition
| The Kebaran were early hunter gatherers that during the late Pleistocene were highly mobile hunter gatherers, small groups. The Natufian lived around the early Holocene and were sedntary hunter gatherers who gathered nuts in the winter and crops like wheat in the summer, and drove herds into walls. |
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Term
| How did the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A & B people make a living? |
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Definition
| PPNA domesticated wild grains, wheat, barley, lentils, peas. In PPNB animals became domesticated (sheep, goats), increased reliance on agriculture, larger village sites |
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Term
| How is domesticated wheat and barley different from their wild ancestors? How long did it take to create domesticated wheat and barley? |
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Definition
| they replaced brittle rachis with semi-tough rachis and increased grain size. Domesticating grain took 20 to 30 years |
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Term
| Why did some people shift from hunting and gathering to farming in the Middle East in the Early Holocene? |
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Definition
| shift in climate to Pleistocene conditions forced either becoming mobile or domesticating. |
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