Ch2


 * __Chapter Outline__**:

1. Two different ways of husbandry A. husbandry- the breeding of animals and cultivating of crops B. In some environments people exploited herd creatures instead of hunting them C. They bred them and used their meat, milk, and eggs a. They domesticated the animals b. This caused an easier passage of diseases from animal to human D. In other environments, plant husbandry involved massive human intervention of the land a. tilling and plowing of the soil 2. Agriculture created civilizations A. civilization- a way of life based on radically modifying the environment B. Enabled humans to imagine how magic and science had the power to change nature C. “Unnatural Selection”- sorting and selecting of animals by humans D. Allowed societies to get bigger than ever before a. Population increased 50 to one-hundredfold E. Larger populations required new forms of control labor and food distribution a. Nurtured strong states and powerful elites (classes) 1. Some aborigines (indigenous Australians) rejected, even shunned, all forms of technical conveniences A. They seemingly moved backwards, losing or rejecting skills of their ancestors B. The aborigines knew how to farm, they just chose not to 1. Some civilizations didn’t need to farm, food was plentiful enough to forage without much difficulty A. Iran, eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq 2. 14,000-15,000 years ago, permanent settlements rose out of those areas A. people made dwellings from stone, wood, or cut into soft stone and made roofs from reeds B. These communities kept to themselves a. all had their own cultures b. even married within themselves (dogamy) c. this was inferred by common physical characteristics in separate communities, but not in others d. also how they made their buildings 3. These pre-agricultural settlers are nearly indistinguishable from farmers A. Though they actually showed better health than farming communities 4. Similar evidence of pre-agricultural settlements exist in other places A. Jomon in Japan (13,000 yrs ago) a. fed on fish and nuts b. made pots from clay B. There is plant evidence of settlements in Egypt and other places in central Sahara (10,000 yrs ago) C. Göbekli Tepe, a hilltop site in Southeast Turkey a. survived by gathering wild wheat and binding them together and decorating them 5. What was life like for these people? A. permanent homes suggested nuclear families B. communal sites were for working a. work shared by both sexes b. women did more grinding c. men did more hunting C. war and child-rearing replaced hunting and gathering in the role of sexes a. the need for large muscular bodies diminished with less physically demanding jobs 1. Pre-farming communities don’t simply progress to farming A. not guaranteed that advantages of foraging would be multiplied when switching from foraging to farming B. Consequences of the change not all good a. food supply less reliable b. b/c of smaller dietary range they are more susceptable to ecological disasters c. Famine is more likely d. more energy is used to collect the same amount of food (1.) though its usually easier to process e. organization of labor creates inequalities and exploitation f. disease spreads from animals to humans 1. Diffusion spread the idea of farming all across the world A. probably carried by trade, conquerors, or migrants 2. Most obvious contrast is between herders and tillers A. Herders develop where plants are too sparse or indigestible for humans a. animals can convert plants to meat B. Tillers develop where the soil is suitable or the ecology can support farming 1. 3 regions where tilling was not possible A. The tundra and evergreen forest of northern Eurasia a. temperatures are too low b. the growing season too short c. the soil is too vulnerable to frost d. the subsoil (in some places) is frozen e. people must rely on foraging or herding to survive B. Grassland a. North American Prairie b. Steppe in Eurasia c. Sahel in Africa d. the sod is too difficult to till with a plow e. herding is the only possible form of husbandry 1) imposes a mobile way of life 2) requires modification of evolution, humans must be able to digest dairy 3) diet lacks variety, makes plants more valuable 2. Violence between farmers and herders A. Conflict arose from a desire to share benefits, not hatred B. Usually the herders who became aggressive and the farmers defensive 1. Prerequisites for farming A. At first the soil had to be soft enough to use a dribble, a pointed stick, to poke holes in the soil B. Where the sod had to be turned had to wait until plows and spades were invented a. Loam- mixture of clay, sand silt, and organic matter C. Sufficient water a. rain b. floods c. irrigation D. Enough sun E. Some way to nourish soil a. usually hardest to do b. farming exhausted the soil c. farmers can add fertilizer 1) ash 2) leaf mold 3)guano 4) Potash- various compounds containing Potassium 5) Manure from domestic animals 6) Night soil- human excrement (last resort) 2. Environments suited to farming A. Swampland a. rich and moist soil b. easy to work with simple tools c. great for growing rice 1) evidence of the first cultivation of rice is from the Ganges River in India (8,000 yrs ago) 2) China was not long after d. swampland can be adapted easily by dredging 1) building mounds 2) planting the mounds 3) farming the water dwelling creatures and plants e. New Guinea (first known agriculture, 9,000 yrs ago) 1) so sustainable b/c of their variety f. more extensive earthworks 6,000 B.C.E. 1) probably planted //taro// g. Bantu civilization in Western Africa 1) most probably came from swampland 2) they were reliant on yams which grew best in waterlogged land h. contributed to agriculture around Amazon River (4-5,000 yrs ago) 1) crops were diverse b/c of rich soil supplemented by mollusks 2) 500 C.E. farmers focused on bitter manoic B. Uplands a. not what people of today consider good farmland, but farming developed anyway b. usually left to herdsman c. altitude increases cold and scorching effects of solar radiation due to the thin atmosphere, this decreases variety of viable plants d. slopes subjected to erosion 1) can be a good thing, rich soils collect at the bottom e. slopes are generally hard to work once you become reliant on plows C. The Andes a. evidence of farming between (12,000-17,000 yrs ago) at Lake Titicaca b. bones of llamas, vicunas, guanacas 1) vicunas and guanacas- relatives to llamas c. domestic animals fed on quinoa 1) quinoa – hard grain-like food 2) grew at high elevations 3) b/c of their manure, animal corrals became nurseries for the human’s food d. evidence of attempts to domesticate potato (12,000-7,000 yrs ago) 1) potatoes are ideal to grow at high altitudes 2) they provide complete nutrition 3) high altitudes diminish poison in the potatoes 4) the poison was an evolutionary defense of low land potatoes that was not necessary to high-altitude ones 5) gave Andean dwellers the possibility to support large populations D. Mesoamerica a. stretch from central Mexico to Central America b. produced maize, beans, and squash 1) provided near complete nutrition c. Maize 1) oldest surviving specimen of cultivated maize is 6,000 yrs old 2) made from wild grass called teosinte 3) found today in Oaxaca d. Beans 1) wild ancestors found in Oaxaca 2) estimated that beans were domesticated 9,000 yrs ago e. Squash 1) from same period & and place as teosinte and beans at Guilá Naquitz in Oaxaca 2) probably squash were first farmed when food was scarce during droughts
 * I. The Problem with Agriculture**
 * II. A Case Point: Aboriginal Australians**
 * III. Pre-agricultural Settlements**
 * IV. Disadvantages of Farming**
 * V. Husbandry in Different Environments**
 * VI. Herders’ Environments**
 * VII. Tillers’ Environment**

I. Mesoamerica

A. Mexican Highlands 1. Stretch from central Mexico to Central America 2. Less Steep and high then Andes 3. Produced maize, beans, and squash a. 6000 years was earliest specimen of maize b. Maize found in Oaxaca c. 9000 years was earliest specimen of beans (dom.) II. Old World A. Highland farming 1. No potatoes, quinoa, or even maize 2.Mostly Rye and barley a. dom. First by Jordan and Syria (10,000 yrs ago) b. Rye germinates just a little above freezing but it was more winter plant c. Rye is very vulnerable d. Barley became the staple food in Tibet 3. Teff in Ethiopia a. Grass, laborious to cultivate and process b. First farmed 5000 yrs ago but not heavily relied on c. Displaced by millet III. Alluvial Plains A. These great plains 1. Best natural help for Farmers 2.flat lands where river-borne or lake-borne mud renews the topsoil 3.People had to channel the floods a. To protect crops from being swept away 4. Most productive economies until millennium were on these plains a. Egypt (Nile river) b. Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates) c. Pakistan (Indus river) d. China (yellow river and Guanzhong) e. Cambodia (Mekong river) 5. Jericho on the river Jordan a. 10,000 yrs ago b. Jungle of Jericho c. Stored grain and ritually decapitating 5. Turkey, Anatolia a. Carsamba 1.Wheat and beans b. Houses were linked by walkways not streets c. Exchanged culture with Jordan d. They worshipped images of strength (i.e. Bull etc.) e. Water later dried up ending Catalhuyuk

IV. The Spread of Agriculture

A. Europe 1. Migrants from Asia colonize Europe a. Indo-European languages were brought b. Began 6,000 years ago 2. Large deforestation began between 4,500 and 5,000 years ago B. Asia 1.Spread to Central Asia south of the steppe land. 2.The alluvial environments in Anatolia and the Jordan valley colonized every viable part of the region by 8,000 or 9,000 years ago. 3. Iran changed their wild grains with cultivated varieties 4. In India, well-built villages were made C. Americas 1. Maize spread north and sunflowers and sump weed were farmed 2. Agriculture spread to the Amazon D. Africa 1. Sahara and Nile regions influence one another 2. Wheat influence came from Jordan Valley 3.Farming spread southward E. The Pacific Islands 1. Mostly came from New Guinea V. Why begin farming? A. Population Pressure 1. Agr. Was response to stress from population growth? 2. Extinction of game B. The Outcome of Abundance 1. Husbandry and domestication was a result C. Power of Politics 1.Food confers power and prestige 2. Leaders threw feast and got allegiance with food D.Cult Agriculture 1. Religion may have inspired farming 2. Planting as a fertility rite 3. Irrigation as libation 4. Enclosure as an act of reverence for a sacred plant 5. Rites of birth and nurture of gods 6. Incense, drugs, sacrifice E. Climatic Instability 1. Warming was unpredictable 2. Spells of drought 3. Causing little ice ages 4. Forest receded dramatically 5.Conservation increased F. Agriculture by accident 1. Popular theory is that it was an accident 2. Darwin accepted the theory 3. Historians aren’t satisfied with what might have happened G. Production as an outgrowth of Procurement 1. Some cultures drifted in and out of agri. life 2. SW Asia transformed into farming comm. after ice age 3.People began to allow plants they liked to prosper while destroying plants they don’t like 4. Mollusk, mussels, and clams were collected for eating a. Frankthi Cave (13,000 yrs ago) H. In Perspective: Seeking stability 1. Hunting, gathering, herding, and tillage were developed together 2. Human plant symbiosis 3.Climactetric


 * __Timeline:__**


 * __ID Terms__**:

Husbandry-Breeding animals and cultivating crops. During the global warming that followed the Ice Age, husbandry took place of hunting and gathering.(Armesto 31) Civilization-a way of life based on radically modifying the environment. Homo sapiens changed the way they cultivated thier plants by creating ditches and irrigation canals. (Armesto 32)

Unnatural Selection- Instead of letting evolution take its course by natural selection in which animals with the best traits to survive do not die out, farming and herding proceed by unnatural selection which is sorting and selecting by human hands for human need according to human agendas (breeding livestock and cultivating plants). Aborigines, reasons for rejection of agriculture.- Aborigines did not lack the knowledge to switch from foraging to farming, they actually used fir to control grazing grounds of kangaroos and concentrate them for hunting, like herding. Aborigines even watered and weeded wild crops and policed boundaries against human and animal predators. They simply did not want to farm. In short, they were doing well without it. Where wild foods are abundant, there is no incentive to domesticate them.

Profile/characteristics of pre-agricultural settlement and settlers -
 * Settlements || Settlers ||
 * * In the middle east.
 * Turkey, Iraq, Iran today
 * Frontier zone between forest and grassland
 * Forest full of resources
 * Nuts and seeds that could be warehoused
 * Gazelle in the settlements
 * They were permanent
 * Clusters of dwellings made of stone, wood, or reed || * Kept to themselves
 * Each village had distinct identities
 * Married within own community
 * Inherited same physical characteristics
 * Eg. All short, all tall
 * Much like early farmers
 * Highly nourished
 * Nuclear family
 * Work shared between the sexes
 * Women kneeled more and men threw
 * Aka. grinding and hunting ||

(Armesto pages 33-5) Joman- They were the people of central Honshu Island in Japan, The Joman’s lived in permanent villages around 13000 years ago. They fished, and gathered acorns and chestnuts. They had “magicians” as potters that created elaborate pots for display. Jomon’s produces the earliest know earthenware vessels. They were sedentary foragers. They relied on abundant wild foods and managed the environment in minimal ways. (Armesto 35). Armesto describes herding as a “[technique] that develops where plants are too sparse or indigestible to sustain human life, but animals can convert these plants into meat–an energy source that people can access by eating the animals” (36). The environments where herding is the central form of husbandry are the tundra, the evergreen forests of northern Eurasia, and the great grasslands. In the tundra and evergreen forests, average temperatures are too low, the growing season too short, the surface soil too vulnerable to frost and the subsoil, in some areas, too frozen, conditions unfavorable to tilling the land. In the great grasslands of the world, the prairie of North America, the pampas of South America, the steppe of Eurasia, and the Sahel of Africa, there exists similar problems with environment. While the climate might be accepting of farming, the soil simply cannot be tilled with anything short of a steel plow. There are three major social impacts of herding on humans. First, the population must constantly be on the move, following the herd. Secondly, since herders breed from animals that naturally share their grassland habitats, their herds consist primarily of milk yielding stock, necessitating herders to become accustomed to dairy products. Thirdly, the herders’ diet, relying heavily on meat, milk, and blood, lacks the variety of say farmers or peoples in more ecologically diverse areas. Herders while having contempt for farmers, prize their crops quite highly. This gave way to conflict over the two groups over resources, the herders being more aggressive, the farmers more defensive. The Scythians were people of the western Asia steppe, are a prime example of herders. They were the first to domesticate horses, invaluable animals to a herding society. They also invented the wheel and axle, tools that easily enabled them to move and transport their lives while following the herds. They lived in temporary camps, the only static structures being massive underground stone tombs to bury their dead. The ideal environments for farming consist of swampy wetlands, alluvial plains, and some uplands. These environments can be found all over the world. Examples of swamplands are the lower Ganges River in India, southeast Asia, more specifically around the Yangtze River in China, western Africa, in what is now Cameroon, and in South America, the lands surrounding the Amazon River. Examples of alluvial plains can be found in the land lining the Nile River in northeast Africa, in the floodplains of the lower Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq, and in the crook of the Yellow River and the Guanzhong basin. Examples of uplands can be found in South America, in the Andes near Lake Titicaca, in North America in the region known as Mesoamerica which stretches from Central America to central Mexico, and finally in Ethiopia in eastern Africa. Some essential prerequisites for farming land are sufficient water, by rain, flood, or irrigation, to grow crop; enough sun to ripen it; some way to nourish the soil; and some way to till the soil. There are major societal impacts of farming. Farmers live in settled, established communities. They tend to urbanize their communities, with large scale institutions and industry. They have a possessive attitude towards the land and inherently have much more of an impact on the environment then herders do. Tiller’s Environments: __Swamplands__ -soil is rich, moist, and easy to work with simple technology -rice grows very well -dredging earth and building up mounds allows for planting (on the mounds) and farming water-dwelling creature and plants in the ditches between the mounds -suited to native yams and oil palms __Uplands__ -high altitude -disadvantages: increased altitude causes cold and negative effects of solar radiation, slopes are subject to erosion, slopes are hard to work with when relying on plows -quinoa, a hard grainlike food that grows at high altitude helps nourish l -earliest experiments of testing the potato occurred at high altitude -maize, beans, squash rye, and barley were cultivated at high altitudes __Alluvial Plains__ -flat lands where river-borne or lake-borne mud renews the topsoil -channeling floods to keep crops from being swept away on these plains allows alluvium (sediment and other organic matter) to restore nutrients and compensate for lack of rain -alluvial soils sustained some of the world’s most productive economies until late into the second millennium B.C.E. -wheat, rice, millet, and barley were grown on these plains -smaller patches of alluvium, deposited by floods, nourished the world’s earliest known fully farming economics The earliest cities (Jericho; Catalhüyük): Jericho- the ritual focus of life was a cult of skulls, which were cut from bodies exhumed after burial, reenfleshed with plastern and given eyes of cowrie shells from the Red Sea. This cult was shared among many other settlements around the region. Jericho was located on an alluvial plain. Catalhüyük- on eof the farming towns that appeared in Anatolia in Turkey around 9,000 to 11,000 years ago. Catalhüyük stood on an alluvial plain. The city filled an urban area of thirty-two acres. Walkways, as opposed to streets, linked the dwellings. Built from mud bricks, the housing was identical to each other. Catalhüyük was not the only city to live this lifestyle. By exchanging craft products along the Jordan valley, Catalhüyük became very rich. Inhabitants of Catalhüyük worshipped images of the strength of nature (such as bulls with monstrous horns and protruding tongues.) Catalhüyük lasted for 2,000 years, which is an incredibly long time in comparison to the standard longevity of the time. It was doomed as the waters that supplied it dried up. Climacteric: Instead of seeing the production of food as a revolution, it should be seen as a “long period of critical change in a world poisoned between different possible outcomes.” So called “revolutions” should always be considered in this light, which allows for the consideration of other possible outcomes, and not a sudden stroke of genius.
 * 7) Herders**
 * [[image:http://s.wordpress.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif caption="8)"]] Scythians**
 * 9) Tillers**


 * __Critical Questions:__**

1. How did the development of “civilization” change humankind’s perception of its relationship with the environment? a. How did humans view their relationship with the environment before the development of ‘civilization?’ b. How did humans view their relationship with the environment after the development of civilization? c. Compare these two different views. d. Conclusion 2. Why does Fernández-Armesto suggest that societies that practice agriculture are the most unstable? What connection might exist between the development of agriculture and the instability of a society? a. State Armesto’s reasons that justify his claim that agricultural societies are the most unstable. b. State reasons that could justify why agricultural societies were so unstable (competition for land, etc.). c. Synthesize response around these points. 3. Why did James Cook (and more generally those who look at and interpret societies very different from their own) view the society on Possession Island to be so perplexing? How does one’s own experience shape the perception one has of others? a. State Cook’s reasons for looking at the society of Possession Island as a backwards one. b. State how one’s experiences can change the way one views others (using personal examples, things one has heard of, etc.). c. Synthesize response around these points. 4. How did the transition to settled agriculture often produce negative effects and new challenges in contrast to the life of foragers? a. State the advantages and disadvantages of the foraging lifestyle. b. State the advantages and disadvantages of the agricultural lifestyle. c. Compare and contrast each lifestyle. d. Synthesize response around these points of comparison. - Identify what the “Making Connections” chart illustrates. - State how it relates to understanding history. - Identify Armesto’s depiction of the causal relationship. - State how Armesto’s depiction of the causal relationship drives human behavior and history. - Identify Armesto’s different explanations for the rise of farming. - Hypothesize why Armesto offers so many different explanations for the rise of farming. - State why Armesto’s decision to offer competing explanations for the rise of farming helps us to understand history. - Identify the explanations for the rise of farming. - Decide which is the most persuasive. - Draw evidence from the most persuasive explanation for the rise of farming and formulate a response incorporating the evidence. - Identify Armesto’s climacteric concept. - Identify the earliest human settlements. - Identify how the earliest human settlements sustained themselves. - Decide how Armesto’s climacteric concept helps us reconsider our understanding of the origins of the earliest human settlements and the way in which they sustained themselves and formulate a response.
 * 5. How does Fernández-Armesto’s “Making Connections” chart on p. 41 illustrate his approach to understanding history? What does his depiction of the causal relationship suggest about what drives human behavior and history?**
 * 6. Why does Fernández-Armesto choose to offer so many different explanations for the rise of farming? What does this decision to include competing interpretations reveal about his approach to understanding history?**
 * 7. Which of the explanations for the rise of farming is the most convincing and why? What evidence would you draw on to support your determination as //that// particular explanation as the most persuasive?**
 * 8. How does Fernández-Armesto’s use of climacteric as a concept help us reconsider our understanding of the origins of the earliest human settlements and the way in which they sustained themselves? Why does he prefer this concept as opposed to others?**