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ESSHP: Section 2 > Lecture 25: Dawn of the Anthropocene > Flashcards

Lecture 25: Dawn of the Anthropocene Flashcards

1
Q

When is the Neolithic estimated to have begun?

A

~6kya but this is debated

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2
Q

What is the Neolithic known as?

A

The new stone age

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3
Q

What are 4 characteristics of what happens during the Neolithic?

A
  • Shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculture and semi-permanent settlement
  • Domestication of plants
  • Animal husbandry
  • Population increases
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4
Q

What has the growing influence of humans in the quaternary raised?

A

when humans started to influence things so much that is marked a new geological period

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5
Q

What were the first animals to be domesticated and when?

A

Wolves - possibly back to 36kya but for definite from 14.7kya

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6
Q

What did the evidence for wolf domestication consist of?

A

Dog mandible found in a human grave in Bonn, Germany

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7
Q

What did the DNA analysis of the dog mandible found in Bonn, Germany confirm?

A

Modern dogs are a direct descendant of those early wolves and dogs which were first domesticated

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8
Q

What have some argued about the domestication relationship between humans and wolves?

A

That it was effectively wolves that chose humans not the other way round

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9
Q

Why did wolves and humans work together/domesticate each other?

A

It improved the mutual efficiency of hunting for both species

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10
Q

What did the domestication between wolves and humans mean for their evolution?

A

Convergent evolution - both species underwent a parallel evolutionary process meaning as they evolved together.

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11
Q

What were some aspects of the convergent evolution process between wolves and humans?

A

Digestion, metabolism, neurology and cancer

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12
Q

What evidence is there for the coevolution between dogs an humans still taking place today?

A

Dogs are starting to understand human pointing actions

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13
Q

What did Greger Larson (2015) claim?

A

That the progress we have made as humans owes a lot to our domestication of other animals such as wolves by improving our skills and strategies

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14
Q

What were some other animals that were domesticated early on in Central NW Africa?

A

Cattle, Sheep, Horse, Goat

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15
Q

What were some other animals domesticated early on in Australia?

A

Pig, Chicken and duck

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16
Q

What were some other early animals that were domesticated in West South America?

A

Alpaca, Llama, Guinea Pig

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17
Q

What animal was domesticated in North America?

A

Turkey

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18
Q

What did the domestication process entail? What did this mean?

A

Breeding and sculpting them so that they were adapted for specific roles and functions. This meant they evolved and were selected in to different breeds

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19
Q

Where is the first place that agriculture has been identified and what has it been called as a result?

A

Middle East - ‘fertile crescent’

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20
Q

What crops were first grown in the Middle East?

A

Wheat and Barley

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21
Q

What crops were first discovered in South America?

A

Potatoes, squash, beans, maize and cotton for clothes

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22
Q

What was the dawn of agriculture enabled by and what did it consist of?

A

Technological advancement - consisted of irrigation, deforestation, food storage

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23
Q

How were plants also changed and evolved as a result of our domestication?

A

They were adapted to grow bigger seeds, flowers, fruits etc.

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24
Q

What crops were first grown in China and India?

A

Millet and Rice

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25
Q

What are the 4 theories for why agriculture developed?

A

Cultural progress hypothesis - inevitable process of evolution as it is superior to constant foraging.
Environmental change hypothesis - end of Pleistocene there was a beneficial change to agriculture in the climate and environment
Population pressure hypothesis - population growth forced agriculture as foraging could not supply demand
Accident and opportunity - natural distribution of plants and animals inspired agriculture

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26
Q

Which reason for why agriculture developed has less support for it?

A

Environmental change because it would mean over a short time period and there is no evidence from records of change

27
Q

What is the most likely reason for why agriculture developed?

A

A combination of all factors

28
Q

What impacts were there of the domestication of plants and animals?

A
  • Increasing population
  • complex social structure (labour division, trade methods, politics, early religions and property rights)
  • Increasing anthropogenic impact on environment through irrigation domestication and grazing
29
Q

What early civilization emerged in the Middle East and when?

A

Akkadians (~5,500BC)

30
Q

What early civilization emerged in Africa (NW Africa) and when?

A

Egyptians (~4,300-3,300BC)

31
Q

What early civilization emerged in India and when?

A

Harappans (~2,300BC)

32
Q

What early civilization emerged in China and when?

A

Ancient China (~2,200BC)

33
Q

What early civilization emerged in South America and when?

A

Norte Chico (~1,500BC)

34
Q

What early civilization emerged in Central America and when?

A

Olmec (~1,250BC)

35
Q

Which society is it thought that many of the bible stories came from?

A

Akkadians

36
Q

Rank the early civilizations in order of emergence from earliest to latest

A 
Akkadians
Egyptians
Harappans 
Ancient China
Norte Chico
Olmec
37
Q

Who was the first to propose the idea of an Anthropocene and what did it consist of?

A

Crutzen (2002) stated that it was characterised by significant human impact and influence on the earth (eco)system, including but not limited to anthropogenic climate change

38
Q

What are the three theories for when the Anthropocene could have started?

A
  1. Early Anthropocene period: Neolithic period onwards
  2. Industrial Revolution
  3. Rapid Acceleration Period
39
Q

What does the early Anthropocene hypothesis claim should have happened and therefore the reason for this hypothesis?

A

We should have entered a glacial period from ~8kya but instead started displaying evidence of rapid warming

40
Q

What is thought to be the reason for the early anthropogenic hypothesis?

A

Records of the amount of carbon dioxide released through deforestation and methane from agricultural products such as rice paddies

41
Q

What have critics of the Anthropocene hypothesis in general argued?

A

Holocene is a super-interglacial i.e. a prolonged interglacial period

42
Q

What evidence do the critics of the OVERALL Anthropocene hypothesis use for their counter argument?

A

MIS 11 which ran on a 31,000 year cycle determined by the eccentricity cycle was very prolonged in its duration and so the Holocene is the next one in this cycle.

43
Q

What do critics of the EARLY Anthropocene hypothesis argue?

A

The time proposed for when humans started to make a difference on the earth system was unlikely because it at that time the human population was only a few million where the earth remained in pristine condition

44
Q

What was important about the idea of the Anthropocene?

A

It created a vital debate about the possible role of humans

45
Q

What response was there to critics about how the early Anthropocene hypothesis might be invalid?

A

Work in a peatbog suggested that while there was no evidence for major influence as early as initially proposed, there was evidence for influence from 4,000 years ago

46
Q

What was monument building characterised by during the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland?

A

Stonehenge and Newrange

47
Q

What were some areas that agriculture took place during the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland?

A

Wessex, East Anglia, Cumbria coastal plain

48
Q

What did pollen and weed evidence suggest about the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland?

A

That deforestation had taken place but was then followed up by landscape abandonment in which it would be allowed to regenerate

49
Q

What evidence was there for increased intelligence of humans with the environment during the Neolithic in Britain and Ireland? DT, SB, M, RoB

A

Daylight tunnel, Skara Brae, Maeshow, Ring of Brogdar

50
Q

What allowed for the dawn of agriculture in Britain and Ireland during the Neolithic?

A

Diffusion of agricultural techniques originating in Turkey that found their way across Europe. This was linked with the rapid migration process that took place

51
Q

What were the bronze and iron age characterised by in Britain and Ireland?

A

improving technology enabled by the smelting of metal that allowed more places to be cultivated. This meant that there was permanent vegetation clearance in some places

52
Q

What was the bronze and iron age also characterised by in Britain and Ireland?

A

First major settlements

53
Q

What had happened to the landscape of Britain by the Iron age?

A

most of southern Britain was under agricultural use and previously unexploited areas such as Scotland, Wales and Northern England were cleared for agriculture later

54
Q

What was the product of the landscape changes that took place during the bronze and iron ages which were documented in the ‘Doomsday Book’ of 1086?

A

15% of original forests remained

55
Q

What important process for landscape change also took place during the bronze and iron ages in Britain? what is its significance?

A

Ancient fields system which is one of the oldest cases of this in the world extending back to 3,000 years

56
Q

What is debated over about Dartmoor National Park?

A

Whether it is an area of natural wilderness or an anthropogenic landscape?

57
Q

What did a study of a peat bog in Dartmoor National Park identify about the history of the area?

A

Prior to 4.5kya Dartmoor was largely forest. between the end of then and 3kya there is increased evidence of anthropogenic burning and then from 2kya there is a dramatic reduction in the number of trees and increase in replacement grasses.

58
Q

Does it appear whether Dartmoor National Park is natural or anthropogenic?

A

Anthropogenic - maintained by grazing and burning

59
Q

What other anthropogenic processes also took place in Dartmoor National Park?

A

Mining, grazing and peat cutting

60
Q

What important question should be raised about the preservation of the Dartmoor National Park landscape?

A

preserve current what appears to be anthropogenic landscape or restore natural woodland

61
Q

What was roman Britain like?

A

Really advanced culture and civilization where agriculture and domestication processes had been fully integrated in to their society.

62
Q

What problems were experienced by roman Britain and what does this suggest?

A

Waste and pollution - already a strong anthropogenic influence

63
Q

Where does evidence of roman Britain pollution come from?

A

Greenland Ice Cores

ESSHP: Section 2 (14 decks)

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