Lecture six Flashcards
ritual in early agricultural societies
what is agriculture?
the raising of domestic plants/animals, and including gardening, horticulture, animal pastoralism and husbandry
what is domesticates?
process by which wild plants or animals become domesticates and dependent on humans or propagation
began about 10,000 years ago
T/F we have domesticated more animals than plants
False: domesticated about 1000 plant species and 50 animal species
how many geographic regions are there of independent domestication?
at least 11
what are the three well-documented and expansive centres of plant and animal domestication
1.) Southwest Asia (11,000 BP)
2.) Central America (10,000 BP)
3.) China (10,000 BP)
what were the first domesticated plant and animal families?
PLANT
- Cereals
- Pulses
- Tubers
- Cucurbits
ANIMALS
- Dogs (Eurasia)
- Goats (SW Asia)
- Sheep (SW Asia)
- Pigs (China and SW Asia)
- Cattle (China and SW Asia)
- Chicken (China)
What led hunter-gatherer communities to begin the process of domesticating plants?
- warming conditions created reduced mobility and increased population density
- increased residential stability + population growth generated conditions for incorporating more small-plants into diet
- humans harvesting small seeded plants selected for specific traits
- Controlled breeding of these would lead to shifts in morphology and
behaviour in just a few generations.
what are the behavioural and physical changes seen in the domesticated biology of animals
BEHAVIOURAL
- greater gregariousness
- less wariness
- less aggression
- greater playfulness
- earlier onset of sexual maturity
PHYSICAL
- smaller brain
- shortening of snout
- defence mechanisms reduced (horns, teeth, etc.)
- smaller bodies
- lessening of sexual dimorphism
what is Agricultural Revolution
Domestication so impactful on
human cultural systems. It is
correlated with improvements in or development of
1.) food stage tech
2.) food processing tech
3.) high population densities
4.) sedentism + urbanism
5.) increased social inequality
6.) warfare
7.) central architecture
8.) ideological complexity
9.) organized regions
what are the 3 main cultural implications of domestication
1.) Social Control
2.) Social Organization
3.) Language
how has agriculture changed our biology
1.) emergence of adult lactose tolerance
2.) better metabolism of carbs
3.) alcohol metabolism
4.) development of sick cell anemia
5.) resistance to crowd disease
6.) reduction in enamel thickness/mandible robusticity
how has agriculture impacted human health?
- reduced risk of starvation in lean periods from food storage
- reduced morality of aged, sick, and injured
- reduced birth spacing leading to increase fertility
- jaw reduction and crowding of teeth
- increased risk of disease from teeth crowding
- exposure to human waste and to animal pests and animal pathogens
what is the main thing agriculture has done for humans
created new forms of social organization and regulation
what is the fertile crescent
earliest farming villages in Eurasia
what is the Fertile Crescent Neolithic Sequence
1.) pre-pottery neolithic A (PPNA): 9,500 - 8,500 BC
- round houses, small villages, community ritual, architecture, complex hunter-gatherers with some limited cultivation
2.) pre-pottery neolithic B (PPNB): 8,500 - 6,500 BC
- square houses, large villages, settled agriculturists, household ritual (ancestors)
3.) pottery neolithic: 6,500 to 3,500 BC
- smaller villages, partitioned houses, fully agricultural
Details of the Gobekli Tepe site
9,500 to 8,000 BC
artificial mound
excavations in 1990s revealed megalithic architecture
decorative imagery placed on pillars, depicting animals
enclosed D is the largest
“there is an overwhelming probability that the t-shaped is the first know monumental depiction of gods”
Details of the Jericho site
8,500 BC
wall and tower is some of the earliest evidence for town planning
House rectilinear
skulls often explained as part of an ancestral cult
need to
mark territories
skulls are part of spiritual
context
what is ancestor worship
System of belief in which a deceased forebear who was a
member of one’s lineage (or household) is understood to be an entity in the daily lives of those who may fear, venerate, or worship them.
Details of the Ain Ghazal site
7200-6000 BC
Village comprised of multiple rectilinear houses
Population estimated to have reached 3,000
Excavated in 1980s and 1990s
Details of the Çatalhöyük site
7200 BC — 6500 BC
high density communal living in proto-urban town.
Early farming economy supplemented by hunting of wild
animals.
Population estimates between 6,000 to 8,000 people
House Platforms and Intramural Burials
Some houses contain burials. Some burials elaborated with red pigment, some without heads, some with multiple skulls, some cradling plastered skulls
Many house walls were decorated with
symbolic designs and
Bulls were important symbolic creature
“Goddess” figurines were also found
Religious Dualism (Domus:Goddess::Bull:Agrios)
Details of the Minoan Knossos site
(Middle Bronze Age 2000-1500 BC)
Ritual symbolism features bulls and ‘snake goddess’.
A basic way to enforce social conformity and rule following is to
develop rules and punishment systems for transgression
This claim is supported by cross-cultural anthropological studies, which find
inegalitarian societies to be more likely than egalitarian societies to believe in
moralizing and punishing gods
