06 Theories of Domestication-2

8/2/2019 06 Theories of Domestication-2

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Proto- Neolithic (8,500 7,000 BC)

Transitional VillagesFully sedentary lifestylebut no agricultureGenetic manipulationunderway First evidence for trade

in exoticsFirst sites outside FertileCrescent


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By 7,000 BC the Neolithic Package isin place

Domesticates

Sedentism

(Village Life)-Jarmo-Jericho

-Catal Huyuk

Pottery


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The Neolithic Package

ECONOMY:Domesticated grains

Wheat, Barley

Domesticated animalsSheep, GoatsImported Trade Goods

Obsidian, Turquoise, CowrieShells

IDEOLOGY Ancestor venerationPreserving of skulls

SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONSedentary Settlements

Village Society

150 300 residentsExtended-Family Households

TECHNOLOGY Microlith sicklesGroundstonePottery Storage & Cooking Features


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V. Gordon Childe

Neolithic Revolution

Foraging to Farming Hunting to Herding Chipped to Ground StoneNomadic to Sedentary LifeSedentism allowed for:

Leisure TimeCraft Specialization


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Marshall Sahlins -Stone Age Economics (1972 )

The Original Affluent Societies Study of modern hunter-gatherer societies

Ethnography; ethnographic archaeology How to achieve affluence: Infinite material wants vs. finite material needs

Zen road to affluence: by desiring little andmeeting needs with what is available, h/g societies are wealthy with time

Come tome, my precious


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Sahlins:The Original Affluent Society p. 19:

It seems that hunting and gathering canafford extraordinary relief from economiccares. The Fish Creek group maintained a

virtually full-time craftsman, a man 35 or40 years old, whose true specialty howeverseems to have been loafing:He did not go out hunting at all with themen, but one day he netted fish most

vigorously. He occasionally went into thebush to get wild bees nests. Wilira was anexpert craftsman who repaired the spearsand spear-throwers, made smoking-pipes

and drone-tubes, and hafted a stone axe(on request) in a skillful manner; apartfrom these occupations he spent most of his time talking, eating, and sleeping (McCarthy and McArthur 1960:48)


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Questioning the Myth of Leisure Time McCarthy & MacArthur (1960)

Hours of leisure during daytime hours (all nights off):

Day Male leisure (hrs.) Female leisure (hrs.)1 2.25 hrs. 2.75 hrs.2 1.5 hrs. 1 hr.3 all day off all day off 4 intermittent tasks intermittent tasks5 all p.m. off all p.m. off

6 all day off all day off 7 several hours several hours8 2 hrs. 2 hrs.9 5 hrs. 5 hrs.


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Nutrition (% of U.S. recommended allowances from two Aborigine communities)

Calories Protein Iron Calcium Ascorbic Acid

Hemple Bay 116% 444% 80% 128% 394%

Fish Creek 104% 544% 33% 365% 47%

Questioning the Myth of Leisure Time McCarthy & MacArthur (1960)


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Weaning & Birth Spacing

In transitioning horticultural populations,lactational amenorrhea isshortened due to earlier

weaning Result is more children,more frequently

The role of children changes with food production:

Children becomeeconomic assetsBirth spacing for !Kung, Hutterites, &

modern USA. See also Price &Feinman, pp. 258-259.


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Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

English clergyman &professor of economicsLived during agricultural

revolution: feudalism toprivate property Onset of IndustrialRevolution


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Malthusian DilemmaPopulation increasesgeometrically

Doubles each generationBut Resources can only increase arithmetically

(incrementally). When population outstripsresources, Naturereestablishes equilibriumthrough:

WarFamineDisease

Problem: Population increasesshrink before reaching resource limits


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Chayanovs Rule Russian agrarian economistHousehold production will notexceed needs

Within households, ratio of

CONSUMERS toPRODUCERS matters.Producers in households withmore consumers must work

harder to keep up with demand.Result is inherent damper onpopulation growth


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V. Gordon Childe

Neolithic Revolution

Foraging to Farming Hunting to Herding Chipped to Ground StoneNomadic to Sedentary LifeSedentism allowed for:

Leisure TimeCraft Specialization


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Higher levels of infection.

Jared Diamond (1987)

"Worst mistake in the history ofthe human race."

Shorter statures.

Chronic malnutrition.

More anemia.

Increased warfare and violence.

When compared to foraging populationsagriculturalists have:

Shorter lives.


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Such a dramatic shift in

cultural evolution requires explanation..


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Oasis Theory (V. Gordon Childe)

1) Environmental change causedplants, animals and humans tocluster in confined areas near

water: PROPINQUITY

2) Only successful solution to thecompetition for food in thesesituations would be for humansto domesticate plants andanimals.

3) Domestication emerged as asymbiotic relationship for thepurpose of human survival.


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Robert Braidwood

University of ChicagoExcavated site of Jarmo(Iran) in the 1950s

Hilly flanks of theZagrosBelieved that Zagros is

where domestication firsttook place.


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Nuclear Area Hypothesis(Robert Braidwood)

Also called Natural HabitatHypothesisEarliest domesticates shouldappear where their wildancestors lived.Considered farming to be ahighly desirable and welcomeinnovation, providing security and leisure time forprehistoric people.

Once human societiesrecognized the possibilities of domestication, they wouldhave immediately startedfarming.


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Ester Boserup

20th Century Danishagricultural economist

Turns Malthus idea on

its head.Population pressure isengine driving intensification.Intensification leads toCultural Complexity


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Boserups Population PressureHypothesis

Populations expand withdiverse and ample food supply produced through climatechange

As population reachesCARRYING CAPACITY (max. pop. for given resources& technology), must chooseone of two strategies:Extensification

Spread geographically Intensification

Upgrade productivity by investing labor in land


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Boserups Population PressureHypothesis

Examples of Intensification:

CultivationDomestication

AgricultureIrrigation systems

Result is that at each step

of the way, production isincreased Avoids MalthusianDilemma


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Marginal Zone Hypothesis(Lewis Binford & Kent Flannery )

Aka Edge hypothesis1) By Early Neolithic, all theareas with the best resources,called the NUCLEAR

ZONE , are settled.2) Populations grow due toabundant natural resources3) POPULATIONPRESSURE forces somegroups to settle moreMARGINAL ZONES , areas

with less plentiful resources


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Marginal Zone Hypothesis(Lewis Binford & Kent Flannery )

4) Marginal zones are outside the naturalhabitat of future domesticates, so settlersforced to begin CULTIVATION &HERDING.

Think Mureybet & Ganj Dareh

5) DOMESTICATION occurs whenspecies population is limited and isdependent upon humans for survival

Natural selection Artificial selection

Conscious & unconscious process

Result is that domestication occurs firstNOT in the Nuclear Zone, but in themore limited Marginal Zone.

Once increased production is recognized,technology of domesticates are rapidly

spread, colonizing the nuclear zone.


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Social Hypothesis(Barbara Bender & Brian Hayden)

Transition to farming and foodstorage and surplus cannot beunderstood simply in terms of environment and population:

There is an inherent SOCIALaspect to the processRelated to the ability of certainindividuals to accumulate a

surplus of food and to transformthat surplus into more valueditems (rare stones, metals etc.)

How?


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Social Hypothesis(Barbara Bender & Brian Hayden)

COMPETITION forsurplus drove move towarddomestication

Agriculture was a means by which SOCIALINEQUALITY emergedand egalitarian societieseventually becamehierarchical


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No single accepted general theoryfor agricultural origins.


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Consequences of AgriculturalDevelopment

Sedentism

Population Growth

Destruction of Natural Environments

Population Movement

Increased Social/Political Complexity

06 Theories of Domestication-2

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