Chapter 8 Anthropology

The era of early dry farming and caprine domestication

(10000-7500 BP) Dry farming refers to farming without irrigation; such farming depended on rainfall. Caprine refers to goats and sheep

The era of seminomadic hunting and gathering

(12000-10000 BP) encompasses the last stages of broad spectrum foraging, this was the period just before the first domesticated plants and animals were added to the diet

The era of increased specialization in food production

(7500-5500 BP) New crops were added to the diet along with more productive varieties of wheat and barley. Cattle and pigs were domesticated

What are some differences between wild and domesticated animals?

Although domesticated plants got bigger, animals were smaller with domestication, prob because small animals are easier to control.

When did sedentary life develop in the Middle East?

Before farming and herding

Who were the Natufians?

Broad-spectrum foragers who lived in year-round villages in the Middle East

How does domestication affect the reproduction of plants?

Domesticated plants lack natural seed dispersal mechanisms.

What was the first hominin to arrive in the New World?

H. sapiens sapiens

Which of the following is not one of the areas where food production was independently invented?

Indus Valley

What is sedentism?

Life in permanent settlements

Where do scholars believe that food production first began in the Middle East?

Marginal zones

What is the name given to the cultural period in which the first signs of domestication are present?

Neolithic

What did Braidwood propose?

That food production began in the Hilly Flanks zone

What are some problems with the wild plants?

The axis was too brittle, causing the wheat to break off and fly away. The edible portion is enclosed in a tough husk.

What are the main differences between wild and domesticated plants?

The seeds of domesticated cereals, and often the entire plant, are larger. Compared with wild plants, crops produce a higher yield per unit of area. Domesticated plants lose their natural seed dispersal mechanisms. Domesticated cereals have tougher connective tissue holding the seedpod to the stem.

With domestication, what happened to the husks of wild cereals?

They became more brittle.

When does the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic occur?

When groups become dependent on domesticated foods for more than 50 percent of their diet

the Hilly Franks

a subtropical woodland zone that flanks those rivers to the north

Why did food production spread less rapidly in the Americas?

because of north-south contrasts

What does the archaeological signature of Neolithic cultures include

dependence on cultivation, sedentary life, and the use of ceramic vessels.

10000 BP

domesitcated plants and animals were part of a broad spectrum of resources used by Middle Easterners

The first animals to be domesticated in the Middle East (between 10,000 and 7500 B.P.) were

goats and sheep.

There were atleast 7 independent inventions of food production:

in the Middle East, sub saharan africa, northern and southern china, mesoamerica, the south central andes, and the eastern US

In the New World, what were the most important domesticates

maize, potatoes, and manioc

7500 BP

most Middle Easterners were moving away from broad spectrum foraging toward more specialized food producing economies,

When did animal domestication occur?

occurred as people started selecting certain features and behavior and guiding the reproduction of goats, sheep, cattle, and pigs.

Adavantages of wool

protection against extreme heat and for clothing

When were metallurgy and the wheel invented?

the Bronze Age

15000 BP

the big game supply diminished, Mesolithic foragers sought out new foods.

What slowed the Neolithic transition in the Americas

the lack of large animals suitable for domestication

the broad spectrum revolution in Europe includes

the late Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic

what was the largest animal domesticated in the New world

the llama

The Mesolithic had a characteristic tool type...

the microlith "small stone." it relates to anthropology because it tells us about the total economy and way of life of the people who made them

What was the primary significance of Neolithic

the new total economy rather than just its characteristics artifacts, which also included pottery.

Childe used the term Neolithic Revolution to describe

the origin and impact of food production--plant cultivation and animal domestication.

broad spectrum revolution

the period beginning around 15000 BP in the Middle East and 12000 BP in Europe, during which a wider range, or broader spectrum, of plant and animal life was hunted, gathered, collected, caught, and fished. It was revolutionary because it led to food production--human control over the reproduction of plants and animals.

Neolithic

was coined to refer to new techniques of grinding and polishing stone tools