AGST 3000AGRICULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE NATURAL

WORLD…LECTURE 2

History of Agricultural Development

Hunter & Gatherers

99% of mankind’s existence on Earth has been as a HUNTER & GATHERER!

History of Agriculture

What is a hunter/gatherer?

Hunting/gathering behaviors exist back 2 million years to the dawn of man’s cultural evolution.

No word for “work” exists in various languages of hunters/gatherers.

Do hunting/gathering societies still exist today?

Does modern mankind exhibit characteristics of hunter/gatherers??

Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization…continued

A Catch 22 developed:

A. More people require more food

B. Requiring more intensive agriculture

C. Requiring more energy to produce food

D. Leading to more environmental degradation (particularly soil erosion)

E. Leading to crop failure

F. Leading to starvation

G. Leading to migration to new lands

H. Requiring more people to produce food

Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization…continued

Demographic transition –rising population with shrinking resources.

What about today…Are resources shrinking? How will this affect society??Today? Tomorrow?

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture

Human population growth rate increased slowly:A. .0007-.0020 % /yr. Pleistocene ageB. .1 % /yr. Neolithic C. 1-2 % /yr. Present day

Low birth rate attributed to lifestyle of hunter-gatherer – not food scarcity. Were children an asset??

Not ignorance of plant growth, but lack of need to practice agriculture prevented earlier development of agriculture.

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture

Wild seeds were abundant, inexhaustible, and could easily be harvested

In Turkey, a person could harvest 2.2 lbs. of wild wheat (einkorn, which contains 57% more protein than current domestic wheat) in an hour

In Mexico, an 11-day supply of “wild corn” (teosinte) could be gathered in 3.5 hours

In Wisconsin, Ojibwa Indians could fill their canoes with wild rice in a few hours.

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculturecontinued…

Man simultaneously developed agriculture worldwide 10,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age…suggests that climate changes contributed to the cultivation of plants.

Hunter gatherers settled in small communities in the Fertile Crescent, a narrow band of land arcing across the Near East.

Also South America, the tropical coast of Ecuador…squash

and China …rice on the Yangtze

Also North America and Mesoamerica (The Maya homeland, called Mesoamerica, spans five countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculturecontinued…

New evidence suggests that people cultivated rye over 13,000 years ago, while continuing to hunt animals and gather wild plants in the Fertile Crescent.

Evidence suggests that the transition from hunting/gathering to agricultural lifestyles

is a long, slow development process.

Hunter-gatherers turn to agriculture only as a last resort when population pressure forces them to acquire more food on available space?

Seed Culture in the Old World

I. Seed culture originated in drier subtropics of both hemispheres (8,000-10,000 years ago)

A. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent)

B. Indus River – Northern India and Pakistan

C. Huang Ho (Yellow River-Yangtze) – Northern China

Seed Culture in the Old World continued…

II. Irrigation and long term food storage were required – higher degree of social organization required. Why?*Division of labor

III. Major civilizations built in regions of seed culture.A. Food was potentially abundantB. Great effort required to obtain foodC. What characterizes a “major” civilization??

Seed Culture in the Old World continued…

IV. Cereal grains were early crops

A. Wet-dry season requirementsB. Large seed (endosperm) to resist

drought/support rapid growth during brief wet periods.

V. Ancestral cereals were attractive weeds prior to domestication.

VI. Domesticated seed crops have shown a disability to compete with weeds.

Ancestral Wheat and Barley

VII. Seed culture developed most rapidly in ecologically diverse regions.

A. Earliest village farming community in western Iran (wheat, barley, and

domestic animals)

B. Provided a rich diversity of plant materials

VIII. Cultivation of grains pre-dated cultivation of fruits by several thousand years. Why?

A. More permanent settlement required due to long term nature of fruit crops.

Seed Culture in the Seed Culture in the Old WorldOld World continued… continued…

IX. As seed cultures moved from highlands to valleys

A. Irrigation developedB. Tillage systems developedC. Selection of varieties improved

Four species of beans - navy, kidney, lima, and peanuts.

Seed Culture in the Seed Culture in the Old WorldOld World continued… continued…

In conclusion….

Mankind has a long history of hunting and gathering.

Prehistoric societies evolved away from nomadic lifestyles approximately 10,000 years ago in many locations around the world.

Agriculture contributes to the development of civilization.