Origins of Agriculture

Question 0

Agriculture

Answer 0

Producing food from domesticated plants and animals

Question 1

Origins of agriculture

Answer 1

Multiple centers of primary domestication globally; independent centers of innovation

Question 2

Domestication

Answer 2

Plants and animals become genetically modified through a human controlled process of selections
Seeds typically get larger, animals get smaller (ease of herding)

Question 3

Evidence for early agriculture

Answer 3

Domesticated plant and animal remains
Grinding stones
Flint blades/sickles with “sickle sheen”
Pathologies of human bones

Question 4

Principal practices of agriculture

Answer 4

Propagation
Husbandry
Harvesting or slaughter
Storage
Required sedentism

Question 5

Propagation

Answer 5

Selection and sowing of seeds or breeding animals

Question 6

Husbandry

Answer 6

Tending of plants/animals during growth period

Question 8

when: Ohalo II

Answer 8

23-19 kya: epipalaeolithic

Question 8

Early Natufian society

Answer 8

High occupation intensity, semi-sedentary

Question 9

when: Natufian Culture, Levant

Answer 9

13-10 kya; epipalaelolithic

Question 10

Late Natufian society

Answer 10

Low occupation intensity, mobile

Question 11

Domesticates in early agriculture in the near east

Answer 11

Wheat, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch

Sheep, goat, pig, cattle

Question 12

Neolithic

Answer 12

Period with agriculture and widespread use of fired ceramic vessels

Question 13

Jericho

Answer 13

Excavated by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950

Discovered agriculture communities without pottery

Question 14

PPN

Answer 14

Pre-pottery neolithic

Question 16

when: Natufian at Jericho

Answer 16

12,800-10,500 BP

Question 17

when: PPNA at Jericho

Answer 17

10,500-9,300 BP

Question 17

Oasis hypothesis

Answer 17

Domestication began in oases during dry period

Question 18

when: PPNB at Jericho

Answer 18

9,300-8,000 BP

Question 19

Natural habitat hypothesis

Answer 19

Domestication occurred in regions with wild progenitors

Question 20

Population pressure hypothesis

Answer 20

Edge hypothesis

Population pressure forced a change in food acquisition

Question 22

Social hypotheses

Answer 22

Food surplus enhances social status

Question 23

where: Ohalo II

Answer 23

Jordan Valley, Sea of Galilee

Question 24

why: Ohalo II

Answer 24

Excellent preservation of plant remains due to waterlogged site
Documents intensive processing of cereals prior to the beginnings of agriculture

Question 25

why: Natufian at Jericho

Answer 25

Permanent settlements: huts

Gathering wild plant and hunting wild animals

Question 26

why: PPNA at Jericho

Answer 26

Round/oval mud-brick houses

Domesticated crops planted, wild animals hunted

Question 27

why: PPNB at Jericho

Answer 27

Rectangular structures, more extensive settlement
Evidence of sheep domestication
More complex social behavior: plastered skulls

Question 28

why: Natufian culture

Answer 28

Broad spectrum diet, plant resources very important, flint made sickle blades