Lecture 11: Emergence of Agriculture in East Asia and Africa Flashcards
LAST LECTURE - TAKEAWAYS
A combination of behavioural and
morphological markers in plants
and animals
Fertile Crescent:
Kebaran (25000-14000 BP)
Hunter-gatherers
Natufian (14000-12000 BP)
Hunter-gatherers and technological
advancement (lithic blades)
Early Neolithic (12000-8500 BP)
PPNA (12000-10800 BP)
Younger Dryas – small villages
PPNB (10800-8500 BP)
Towns - early incorporation of domesticated
plants
Hunting still persists
Late Neolithic (8500-7000 BP)
Intensive use of plants and animals
EAST ASIAN DOMESTICATES
Foxtail & Broomcorn millet
Rice
Soybeans
Hemp
Jujube, peach, apricot, persimmon,
citrus
Chestnut, hazelnut, mulberry
Pigs
Dog
Water buffalo
Chicken
Ducks
Carp
ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE
Millet agriculture in N. China
- Yellow (Huang) River: ~10,000 BP
Rice agriculture in central/southern China
- Middle Yangzi River: ~12-10,000 BP
Vegeculture (tubers/taro) south China
- Zhujiang River
Emerges independently from Fertile Crescent
MILLETS
Origin where Yellow river descends from Western Highlands
- Semi-arid loess steppes to west,
temperate deciduous forest to the east
- Winters harsh, summer rains unreliable
Two drought adapted wild species:
Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum)
Foxtail millet (Setaria viridis)
Few morphological markers for domestication
Grains of several species are similar
Difficult to differentiate in carbonized material in which the husk is absent
Phytoliths may be diagnostic
C4 plant: isotope analysis useful for documenting human use or animal provisioning
THREE STAGES OF DRY-LAND AGRICULTURE
1) Broad Spectrum Subsistence
(15,000-10,000 BP)
2) Transition to farming
(9,000-7,000 BP)
3) Emergence of Agricultural
Economies (7,000-4,500 BP)
BROAD SPECTRUM (15,000-10,000 BP)
Collection of grass seeds,
tubers, nuts,
Fishing and hunting
Composite tools (microliths), grinding stones, ceramics
Little concrete evidence for
millet use (no diagnostic microremains)
TRANSITION TO FARMING
(9,000-7,000BP)
Gradual warming of climate
Focus on hunting gathering - walnuts, hazelnuts, acorns, deer, aurochs, etc.
Supplemented with millet cultivation (charred)
Stone grinders, stone sickles and tripod pottery, storage pits
Domestic dog and pig (ca. 8,100-7,400 BP)
Increasing sedentism - Large, stable village- based societies emerging
EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE (7,000-4,500BP)
Dry-land millet agriculture -Yangshao culture
Pollen profiles suggest forest clearing for agriculture
Village sites increase in size, walled
settlements, ca. 6,000 BP
Pigs common (provisioned with millet); source of fertilizer?
Rice from Yangze river valley ca. 7,000,
Wheat, barley, sheep & goat ca. 5,000 BP
RICE (ORYZA SATIVA)
Two subspecies: indica (long grained) and japonica (short grained)
1) japonica domesticated first in China, then developed into indica through local gene flow
Wild progenitor occupies seasonally inundated habitats
- Requires heavy summer rainfall, flooded lowlands, or dry land capable of being modified into paddies
- First domesticated in lowland paddies
- Moved to upland (rainfed) or ‘deep-water’ habitats
MARKERS OF DOMESTICATION
Behavioural markers of domestication
Human constructed dams to trap rainy- season run-off
Morphological markers of domestication:
Increased grain size (shorter-plumper)
Smoother husks (glumes) with distinctive reticular pattern (visible in pottery impressions)
Spikelet base scars are reduced (seed dispersal)
THREE STAGES OF RICE CULTIVATION
1) Broad Spectrum Subsistence
(15,000-10,000 BP)
2) Transition to farming
(9,000-6,500 BP)
3) **Emergence of Agricultural
Economies (6,500-4,500 BP)
**
BROAD SPECTRUM SUBSISTENCE
Hunter-gatherer-foragers – relatively sedentary
Dependence on shellfish, fish, wild game
Rice use and potential cultivation ~10,000 BP
- Charred rice grains and spikelets
- Difficult to identify morphologically or genetically as wild or domestic
- Shangshan, lower Yangtze (11-9kBP): rice husks identified in temper of low-fired ceramics
TRANSITION TO FARMING
(9,000-6,500 BP)
H-G still major food source
- Grasses, jujube, bottle gourd, acorns, wild soy bean
- Fish, shellfish – no domestic animals except dog
Rice cultivation complementary
- Little evidence for ‘domestication’ syndrome – non-shattering spikelets appearing only after 7,000BP
- Still high proportion of shattering types at 6,500BP
Emergence of sedentary villages
EMERGENCE OF AGRICULTURE (6500 – 4500 BP)
Middle Yangtze River: 6400–5300 BP
(Daxi culture)
Lower Yangtze River: 5200–4300 BP
(Liangzhu culture period).
Fully domesticated varieties – non- shattering types emerge
Complemented by water buffalo domestication -traction
Larger settlement, walled cities
AFRICAN DOMESTICATES
African rice
Finger millet, Pearl millet,
Sorghum, t’ef
African yam, enset
Oil palm, coffee, kola
Cowpea, Hyacinth bean, Bambara
groundnut
Donkey
Cats
Guinea fowl
Why do we not see more
independent domestication
of animals in Africa?
- movment of people creats a level of varability thats harder to track
AFRICAN ECOZONES
Dry Sahel/Savanna zone:
Pearl millet (Pennusetum glaucum),
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
Pastoralism (cattle, sheep, goats)
Forest-Savanna, W. Africa:
African rice (Oryza glaberrina),
Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotunda)
Temperate grassland, Ethiopia:
finger millet (Eleucine coracana),
tef (Eragrostis tef),
ensete (Musa ensete)
PASTORALISM: NORTH AFRICA
First form of food production on African continent
~9,000 BP: hunting/management of cattle in Eastern Sahara (local wild Aurochs) - early hunting managment cattle
~ 7,000-6,700 BP: cattle, goats and sheep from Near East integrated into mobile herding, hunting & gathering systems across Saharan grasslands
~ 5,000 BP: domestication of African wild ass
Resilience/Risk avoidance:
- Cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goat have distinct lifecycles, feeding habits, and disease susceptibilities bigger survival ?
- Pastoralism as a strategy to combat growing aridity and unpredictable rainfall
AGRICULTURE IN THE NILE
VALLEY
Epipaleolithic: Semi-sedentary H-G groups focused on fish, birds, aurochs, gazelle, and wild tubers
Neolithic: Agriculturalists occupy valley ca. 7,500- 7000BP
- Full agricultural ‘package’ arrives from Near East including pottery, dependence on stored cereals(emmer, barley, cotton, and flax, sheep, goats, pigs).
- Monsoon rainfall, floodplains, and alluvial soils compatible with S. Asian domesticates
AGRICULTURE
SOUTH OF THE
SAHARA
Limited archaeological
evidence
‘Non-Centre’ with multiple
domestication origins
Indigenous (drought resistant) plants and cattle formed the basis for agricultural/herding economies
AGRICULTURE IN WEST/CENTRAL AFRICA
Increasing aridification from 6,000 BP
Pastoralism: Introduction of domestic cow, sheep, goat ca. 5,000 BP
Native cereals: local domestication of pearl millet ~4,500-4,000 BC; cowpea, ~3,500 BP?; and African rice, 3,000 BP?
- Domestication by Saharan pastoralists, in response to aridification of Sahara?
Arboriculture: oil palm and incense tree management in Central Africa ca. 4,000 BP
AFRICAN RICE (ORYZA GLABERRIMA)
Limited range of cultivation in West Africa (Savannah plant)
Wild progenitor is O. barthii
Evidence for gathering of wild rice 4,000- 3,000 BP near Lake Chad, Nigeria
Earliest domesticated grains ca. 2,800 BP in Niger River valley, Mali.
PEARL MILLET
Drought-resistant crop(same as asia millet)
Hypothetical origins of domestication by Saharan pastoralists, in response to aridification of Sahara
Earliest evidence of domesticated millet 4,500-4000BP in Mali,
- Expansion of seed head from 10cm to up to 1 meter with domestication
- Multiple seeds per spikelet
Expands rapidly through W. Africa Manning et al. 2011. J. Archaeol. Sci. 38, 312–322.
