Chapter 9 Flashcards
Agricultural development in Africa
both domestication of local plants and animals and the adoption of domesticaticated plants and animals from the Middle East
3 Primary Regions of Plants and domestication in Africa
- Ethipoia and Ertrea (teff, finger millet and coffee)
- Central Africa (pearl millet and sorghum)
- West Africa (rice)
plants and animals adopted from the Middle East
- wheat, barley, and lentils
- sheep and goats
Sahara Desert
between 14,000-4,500 years ago, there was much more rainfall here that supported agriculture
Hunter-gatherers in Northern Africa
9,000-8,000 years ago developed storage pits, pottery, wooden artifacts, basketry, barbed bone points, and bladelets
Which was domesticated first?
animals (sheep, goats, and cattle)
Pastoral societies
mobile societies with an economy based on herds of domesticated animals
Cattle may have been domesticated independently in Egypt
as early as 10,000 years ago (this theory is not widely accepted)
Domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats clearly had been introduced into societies that still had not domesticated plants
around 8,000 years ago
Village farming communities
in Africa is still poorly understood
Earliest evidence of domesticated plants is in Egypt
around 7,000 years ago
Large villages
developed rapidly in the Nile Valley causing domesticated plants
Westerns Africa millet grains
dates to 3,500 years ago are the earliest evidence of plants domestication whit sorghum being introduced sometime after this period
When was pottery introduced
at the beginning of the sequence leading up to agriculture, whereas it was only first developed towards the end of the sequence in the Middle East
Pastoral societies
Africa developed thousands of years before fully agricultural villages did
Small villages in Africa and Middle East
precede the domestication of plants and animals
Sahul
the single landmass of New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania in glacial periods
New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (east) and Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (west)
2 items central to modern agriculture societies in New Guinea
pigs and sweet potatoes
Exchange of pigs
a key element of political power and pigs are fed sweet potatoes, so having more sweet potatoes is essential for gaining political power
Pigs and sweet potatoes
are not indigenous to New Guinea
Sweet potatoes
were domesticated in South America and likely introduced to New Guinea after they were brought to the Philippines by Spanish sailors in the 16th century