Topic 4 - Agriculture Evolution

Question 1

what must you be careful of when excavating animal bones?

Answer 1

when excavating animal bones, you must be careful to avoid breaking bones or damaging their surface and collect all bones and teeth, including small fragments

Question 2

what must you do to the specimens?

Answer 2

you must assign ABG number and complete form and record any disturbance and associated finds. do not mix ABG bones with other animal bones from the context

Question 3

how big do samples of bones sometimes need to be?

Answer 3

samples for bones may need to be large (1000L) to recover a big enough assemblage. they also may be needed where abundant, articulated or small animal bones are seen

Question 4

why do we sample?

Answer 4

we sample to retrieve a representative range of animal bones. it usually follows a ‘systematic’ or ‘judgmental’ strategy, or a combination of these.

Question 5

what methods are there of quantifying bone assemblages?

Answer 5

there are 2 common methods of quantifying bone assemblages, number of identified specimens (NISP) and minimum number of individuals (MNI)

Question 6

what do NISP methods do?

Answer 6

NISP methods implicitly treat each recorded specimen as a separate individual but, some bones in a sample may all derive from the same animal

Question 7

what problems are there with NISP?

Answer 7

further problems with NISP are that different samples can have different degrees of fragmentation complicating comparisons and different species have different numbers of identifiable bones pronounced when compared across different taxonomic groups.

Question 8

what does MNI methods do?

Answer 8

MNI have different methods of application but the same basic principle of bones for each taxon are separated into left and right, the highest number of left or right correspond to the smallest number of individual animals which could account for the sample. some specialists attempt to identify left and right pairs in assemblage

Question 9

what are limitations on MNI

Answer 9

MNI calculations have been abused and are only an estimate. it also overestimates rare taxa where NISP minimises it.

Question 10

what is the correct quantification method?

Answer 10

there is no one right quantification method, different methods give different estimates each with different biases. the use of combined methods can give a more robust picture.

Question 11

what methods are there for age analysis? why is this useful?

Answer 11

there are several methods for age analysis, tooth eruption and occlusal wear is useful, as is interpretation of animal husbandry and meat supply practices

Question 12

when is optimum slaughter age?

Answer 12

in many husbandry strategies optimum slaughter age is towards the end of juvenile period as rapid growth has ceased so meat gain slows down. thus most males are culled while young females are kept for longer for reproduction and milk.

Question 13

what is taphonomy?

Answer 13

taphonomy is the study of the transition of organics from the biosphere into the lithosphere i.e. the process that affects organic remains after death

Question 14

what do interpretation of assemblages answer?

Answer 14

the interpretation of assemblages answer how it was formed and altered and identity the different taphonomic process

Question 15

what is ecology

Answer 15

ecology is the science of the relationships between living organisms and their environments

Question 16

how are vertebrates different? what does analysing them tell us?

Answer 16

vertebrates have different preferred habitats and environmental tolerances, analysis of the distribution and relative abundance of their remains can give an idea of the past climates, environments and habitats

Question 17

how does agriculture affect human ecology?

Answer 17

agriculture has fundamental repercussions for human ecology, demography and society, production of surplus food and other products opened up new pathways to social and economic complexity and permitted dramatic global human population growth.

Question 18

what happened in the Neolithic?

Answer 18

the Neolithic was a period of major changes and innovations such as domestic plants and animals and ceramic and polished stone tools

Question 19

what was found in the neolithic revolution

Answer 19

the ‘Neolithic revolution’ must have occurred where the wild ancestors of modern domestic plants and animals were found

Question 20

what is the oasis hypothesis?

Answer 20

the oasis hypothesis suggests the description of South West Africa at the end of the Pleistocene where grasslands turned into sandy desserts and isolated oases where humans and animals concentrated leading to a symbiotic relationship and subsequent taming and husbandry of animals

Question 21

what did Lewis Binford conclude?

Answer 21

Lewis Binford concluded that conditions at the end of Pleistocene led to restricted resource-rich areas, increased sedentism and population growth, some migration into marginal zones and transition to farming as an adaptive response

Question 22

when is there an emphasis on symbiotic co-evolution?

Answer 22

as we move away from environment determinism and cultured evolution, there is an emphasis on symbiotic co-evolution between plants, animals and humans

Question 23

what did David Rindos map?

Answer 23

David Rindos maps the evolution as such, 1. protection of strands of wild plants within their habitat, 2. the creation of artificial habitats, change of morphology by artificial selection and 3. full domestication adapted to a set of humanly created conditions.

Question 24

what were the conditions of Natufian like?

Answer 24

Natufian was warmer and wetter, favoured deciduous woodland and annual grasses had substantial settlements, some sedentary and an elaborate material culture

Question 25

what animal was important for hunting? how did they do this?

Answer 25

Gazelle hunting was important and was a highly specialised system. Gazelles were migratory so they were seasonally trapped in large numbers

Question 26

what was good about pre-pottery neolithic A?

Answer 26

pre-pottery neolithic A (PPNA) had a favourable climate, higher population levels and some evidence for communal architecture

Question 27

what evidence is there in PPNA settlements?

Answer 27

in PPNA settlements, there is some evidence for pre-domestication cultivation of plants and it’s still mainly Gazelle hunting

Question 28

what happened in pre-pottery B?

Answer 28

pre-pottery B (PPNB) had an explosion in settlement and an interaction sphere with a movement of goods and materials resulting in shared cultural traits

Question 29

what was widespread in PPNB?

Answer 29

in PPNB, domestic crops and animals were widespread with a coming together of various components into an integrated system of farming sustaining the increase in population

Question 30

what is the timeline of occupation in the Eastern Sahara?

Answer 30

There was re-occupation in the Eastern Sahara in humid conditions, then major occupation until increasingly arid conditions arise in the Sahara followed by regionalisation or a migration

Question 31

what was the environment of the Nabta Playa like?

Answer 31

Nabta Playa had wind erosion ‘scoured’ out depressions in bedroch which acted as seasonal lakes and ponds in the Western Dessert so it was attractive for seasonal settlement

Question 32

what makes Nabta important in terms of occupation?

Answer 32

Nabta is a very large basin with one of the longest sequences of human occupation in the Sahara, housing buffalo, giraffes, antelope and gazelles

Question 33

what did the El-Nabta/Al-Jerar phase provide in terms of domestication?

Answer 33

the El-Nabta/Al-Jerar phase may have seen management of herds and possibly the fist steps towards domestication, probably not until 5900-5500 BCE that pastoralism was being practiced with domesticated cattle

Question 34

what evidence if there for sheep/goat domestication?

Answer 34

there was evidence for domesticated sheep/goat from 5800BCE onwards in the Haua Fteah in Lybia and marked increase of end scrapers and side scrapers in Neolithic layers of the cave although there was a lack of harvesting tools

Question 35

what was found within the cave?

Answer 35

in the cave there was grinding stones with plant starch residues on leaving uncertainty of cultivation of domesticated caprines in all phases, but in low quantities found around hearths. the cave was possible temporary live stock shelter

Question 36

what was used side by side in Egyptian settlements?

Answer 36

there was domesticated species alongside the use of wild plants and animals with increasing social organisation within settlements in Egypt also an importance of storage facilities that were perhaps non-communal

Question 37

what are we still uncertain about?

Answer 37

uncertainty remains over the routes by which domesticated plants and animals arrived in and spread throughout Egypt and North Africa

Question 38

what was contained within the fertile crescent?

Answer 38

the fertile crescent contained the wild ancestors of wheat, barley, peas, sheep, goats and pigs

Question 39

with what did farming begin in Europe?

Answer 39

farming began in Europe with the arrival of South Western Asian crops and animals, the spread of agriculture marks the end of the Mesolithic and beginning of the neolithic

Question 40

what marked the beginning of the Neolithic?

Answer 40

beginning of the Neolithic was also marked by the first widespread of pottery and ground stone tools, big increase in settlement sites and in some regions, the first ceremonial monuments suggesting population growth

Question 41

what were farming settlements like in 6700BCE?

Answer 41

in 6700BCE, farming settlements were in the Aegean coast of Anatolia and Crete , in 6500BCE this moved ti mainland Greece with their farming closely resembling Anatolia

Question 42

how did all ‘founder’ crops or domestic animals of Near Eastern agriculture appear?

Answer 42

all ‘founder’ crops or domestic animals of Near Eastern agriculture found on EN sites in Greece all appeared simultaneously

Question 43

what happened as farming spread?

Answer 43

As farming spread, it changed character, it adapted to local conditions and distinctive regional cultures emerged with their own forms of architecture, material culture and social customs

Question 44

what began in 5500BCE?

Answer 44

in c5500BCE, a new phase of expansion began, farming established over large part of Europe, north of the alps and carpathians associated with development and spread of the linear pottery (LBK) culture

Question 45

how was LBK material culture different from early Neolithic cultures of SE Europe?

Answer 45

LBK material culture was very different form Early Neolithic cultures of SE Europe, it had distinctive features such as pottery ornamentation - straight or curved incised lines - and a special type of polished stone known as adze-axe (shoe-last)

Question 46

what were the settlements like?

Answer 46

there was also settlements of massive timber long houses, most settlements comprised few houses and were usually on well-drained soils due to being less than 500m from a river or stream

Question 47

what contributed the most meat? what other non animal product was cultivated?

Answer 47

cattle contributed most meat, but no evidence of plaoughing or animal traction. cereals were also important, with lentils and peas also being cultivated

Question 48

what does inter community conflict in LBK culture show?

Answer 48

inter community conflict in late LBK shows several apparent examples of massacres as well as fortified settlements.