Anthropology Chapter 10
2 Early Neolithic Sites in the Near East
Ali Kosh and Catal Huyuk
__________ _________ are one of the many early domesticates from Highland Mesoamerica
Bottle Gourds
In place of the one piece flint implement, the preAG peoples in Europe, Asia and Africa equipped themselves with
Composite tools- tools made of more than one material
A similar shift toward more broad spectrum gathering occurred in the NEW WORLD (Mesoamerica) at the end of the paleo-indian period about ___________ years ago?
10,000 years ago
There is evidence of rice cultivated in Thailand ________ BC but do not know exactly when domesticated
4000 BC
Farming became widespread in the northern half of Africa after
6000 BC
There is evidence of long distance trade in the
Neolithic Obsidian, marble, seashells
Mesolithic
The archaeological period in the OLD WORLD beginning about 12,000BC, humans were starting to settle down in semi permanent camps and villages as people began to depend less on big game. (Big game have to follow for long distance) Depend more on stationary food resources like fish, small game, wild plants
Food Production
The form of subsidence technology in which food getting is dependent on the cultivation and domestication of plants and animals
Archaeologically we do not see the beginning of _________--
food production- we can see the signs of it only after plants and animals show differences from their wild varieties
The archaeological record for the domestication of seed crops is better known than for the soft flesh crops because
the latter do not preserve well
Microband camps were also inhabited seasonally probably by a single family when groups
were not assembled into macroband camps
What are some reasons that may have stimulated people to exploit new food resources?
Decreasing availability of big game Population growth
A comparison of settlements on the Peruvian Coast suggests that more permanent settlements were located nearer, within 3.5 miles to most if not all of the
Diverse food resources exploited during the year
Differences in physical characteristics may not be the only indicators of
Domestication
It is only when the crops cultivated and the animals raised are modified- different from wild varities- that we speak of plant and animals
Domestication
Some archeologists believe that the imbalances in the sex and age ratios of animal remains at particular sites also suggest that
Domestication had occurred
BS collecting may have involved exploitation of new food sources, but that does not necessarily mean that people were
Eating better
Genetic Studies suggest the changes in only 2 corn genes occurred which are
Kernel Glumes (outer casing) and Stalk Shape
The increased utilization of stationary food sources such as wild grain may partly explain why some people in the Near East began to
Lead more sedentary lives during the epipaleolithic
People who lived in ___________________, _______________, and _______________ are often credited with the invention of planting maize, beans and squash together in the same field
Mesoamerica, Mexico and Central America
Domestication
Modification or adaptation of plants and animals for human use. It is only when the crops cultivated and the animals raised have been modified- are different from wild varieties- that we speak of plant and animal domestication
Natufians are in which region?
NEAR EAST
Gordon Childe
Archeologist Came up with the name Neolithic Revolution (named the changeover to food production)
In the highlands of MESOAMERICA we see a shift from big game hunting to broader use of resources in part due to a change in
Climate
Mesoamerica were not forced into domestication by
Climate change or population pressure but actively turned to domestication to obtain more of the most desired or useful plant species
An economic transformation occurred in widely separate areas of the world beginning after about __________- years ago as people began to domesticate plants and animals
10,000 years ago
The oldest maize cobs dating to about ______ years ago, are tiny and only about an inch long
7,000
About __________ years ago, the archaic peoples in MESOAMERICA appear to have moved seasonally between communities of two different sizes. Microbands (2-5 residents) and macrobands (15 to 30 residents)
8,000
Dakhleth Oasis in Western Desert of Egypt- between ____________ and ________ years ago, the inhabitants lived in circular stone huts on the shores of rivers and lakes. Fishing allowed people to remain along R and L for much of the year
9,000 and 8,500 years ago
Many of the early domesticates in Mesoamerica were not
Basic to subsistence, even if they were highly desirable
First plants to be domesticated in the Near east
Cereal grain Crops
When people plant crops, we refer to this process as
Cultivation
WE know that several varieties of domesticated wheat were being grown in the ________________ after about 8,000 BC as were oats, rye, lentils, peas, fruits, nuts
Fertile Crescent
Most archaeologists believe that the __________ was one of the earliest centers of plant and animal domestication
Fertile Crescent (arc of land stretching up from Israel and west jordan valley through southern Turkey, downward to western slopes of the Zagros Mountains in Iran
New world independent centers of cultivation and domestication are
Highlands of Mesoamerica, Central Andes, Peru 7,000 BC Eastern woodlands of north America 2,000BC or 4,000 years ago, possibly earlier
Examples of Natufian villages are also found at the
Eynan site in Israel
Tools of the Natufians suggest that they
Harvested wild grain intensively
In ___________ the seminomadic Archaic hunting and gathering lifestyle persisted long after people first domesticated plants
MESOAMERICA
Many of the plants grown in North America such as corn, beans, squash were apparently introduced from
MESOAMERICA
Urban societies seem to have developed first in the _____ _________ and somewhat later around the Eastern Mediterranean in the Indus Valley of Northwestern India, in Northern China, and in Mexico and Peru
Near East
At the front of Natufian rock shelters, they hollowed out basin shaped depressions in the rock, possibly for
Storage pits
The Natufians are the earliest Epipaleolithic people known to have...
Stored surplus crops
Eynan in Israel
Stratified site containing the remains of three villages in sequence, one atop another 50 circular pit houses- retained heat longer because half underground cemeteries Stone paved walks, stone pavements, permanent hearths
Nancy Howell and Richard Lee
Suggested that the presence of baby foods other than mothers milk may be responsible for the decreased birth spacing in sedentary agricultural !Kung groups
Agriculture
The practice of raising domesticated crops All types of domestic plant cultivation
Groundnuts (peanuts) and yams were first domesticated in
West Africa
The community that did not have year round settlement seems to have depended on more
Widely distributed resources
____________- ____________ ___________ may have been a place of domestication as early as the Near East was
Mainland Southeast Asia Spirit Cave (Thailand) 9500 BC to 5500 BC
There is _____ evidence of social differences among the archaic people of highland MESOAMERICA
NO evidence
First domesticated animals in Africa
One form of cattle, donkey and Guinea fowl
Microliths
Small blades half an inch to two inches long, made in late upper paleolithic times, now used in quantity Fitted into grooves in bone, wood, form arrows, harpoons, daggers, sickles Made from variety of available stone Did not need the large nodules to make large core and flake tools, could work with smaller nodules to make smaller blades
About ________BC cities first appeared in the Near East
3500BC Political assemblies, kings, scribes and specialized workshops People settling down has also become civilized and urbanized
Maize and beans together provide all the essential _______- ________ that humans need to obtain from their food
Amino Acids
The settling down period of a nomadic group may reduce the typical spacing between
Births
Old world independent centers of domestication are
China, Southeast Asia and Africa around 6000BC or 8,000 years ago
The near east and Mesoamerica are the areas we know best archaeologically for the developments leading to
Food production and settled life
It is not simply the switch to broad spectrum collecting that accounts for
Increasing sedentarism in many areas
Animals were first domesticated in
Near East
Macroband camps were located near
Seasonally abundant resources, such as acorns or mesquite pods
Outside of Mesoamerica, evidence of independent domestication of plants comes from at least two areas in the NEW WORLD:
South America and Eastern United States
Rachis
The seed-bearing part of a plant. In the wild variety of grain, the rachis shatters easily, releasing the seeds. Domesticated grains have a tough rachis, which does not shatter easily.
The shift called the Neolithic Revolution occurred probably independently in other areas of the OLD and NEW WORLDS within the next few ___________ years
Thousand Years
It appears that health declined at least sometimes with the transition
To food production
Technologically, these preAG cultures did not differ radically from
Upper Paleolithic cultures Trend to smaller and lighter tools continued
Obsidian
Volcanic glass that can be used to make mirrors or sharp edged tools
Neolithic now means
We now know that pottery and Ground stone tools were both present in earlier times so.... Now in terms of the presence of domesticated plants and animals people began to produce food rather than merely collect it
Southeast Asia other domesticated plants
Yams, breadfruit, coconuts
Epipaleolithic
Time period during which food production first developed in the NEAR EAST
Archaic
Time period in the NEW WORLD during which food production first developed
In AFRICA, the preagricultural period was also marked by a
Warmer, wetter environment
The Natufians, a people living in the area that is now Israel and Jordan, inhavited caved and rock shelters and built villages on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Israel how many years ago? They are in the NEAR EAST
11,000 years ago!
Dogs were first domesticated before the rise of agriculture around
13,000 BC
The earliest domesticated form of maize (corn) dating from about _______ BC has been found in Tehuacan Mexico Maize was Domesticated from TEOSINTE
5000 BC
We see the first clear evidence of a changeover to food production- (cultivation and domestication of plants and animals) in the NEAR EAST about ____________BC or _______ years ago!
8,000 BC or 10,000 years ago!
A decline in stature often indicates
A poorer diet
Most of the worlds major food plants and animals were domesticated well before __________ BC or ___________years
2,000 BC or 4,000 years ago
The genes for modern corn were already established ________ to __________ years ago
4,000 to 6,000 years ago
Ali Kosh, after ________ BC we see the appearance of two innovations- irrigation and use of domesticated cattle- that seem to have stimulated a minor population explosion during the following millennium
5,500 BC
We can visualize the earliest preagricultural settlements clustered around such naturally rich regions as
Archeological evidence indeed suggests they were
After about ________BC the area around Ali Kosh began to show signs of a much larger population, made possible by more complex AG employing irrigation and plows drawn by domesticated cattle. By 4500 BC the population tripled, part of cultural developments the culminated in the rise of urban civilizations in the Near East
5500 BC
From _______ to __________BC the Ali Kosh increased their consumption of cultivated food plants, 40% of the seed remains in hearths and refuse areas were now from emmer wheat and barley. Proportion of diet coming from wild plants was much reduced, Cult plants have same growing season and grow in same soil as wild plants. Grazing of sheep and goats also reduced wild plants
6750 to 6000 BC
Goats, Sheep, cattle and pigs were domesticated around
7,000 BC and perhaps earlier
From ____________ to ___________ BC the people at Ali Kosh cut little slabs of raw clay out of the ground to build small multiroom structures, no evidence they were for sure houses people spent time in, may have been storage rooms. Bit of evidence suggesting the people may have moved for the summer to the grassier mountain valleys nearby
7500 to 6750 BC
In north America, _________ and _________ were the main domesticated animals before the arrival of the Spanish
Dogs and Turkeys
The preagricultural developments in SOUTHEAST ASIA probably were responses to changes in the
Environment, climate, warming trends, more moisture and higher sea level SA may have been one of the important centers of domestication
Cultural period in which the switch to relatively stationary food resources is called
Epipaleolithic- NEAR EAST Mesolithic- EUROPE
During the PreAG period, height declined as much as two inches in parts of the
OLD WORLD Decreasing nutrition Natural selection against tall
Europe, Near East, Africa, Peru- settlements became more
Permanent
In mesoamerica, people sowed a variety of plants, but after doing so they went on with their
Seasonal rounds of hunting and gathering and came back later to harvest what they had sown
What are some reasons for the spacing of children far apart
if Effective contraceptives are not available (prolonged sexual abstinence/taboo) Abortion or infanticide Problem of carrying small children (Sedentary populations could have children spaced closer because carrying children would not always be necessary)
How did domesticated plants get to be different from the wild varieties?
Artificial or human selection, deliberate or accidental
Remains of microband camps are often found in
Caves or rock shelters from which a variety of environments could be exploited by moving either upslope or downslope from the campsite
Ali Kosh Food
Cultivated ember wheat Barley Domesticated Goats No bones of elderly goats were found in the site suggesting that the goats were domesticated and headed rather than hunted Seed and bone fragments- depended mostly on wild plants and wild animals Fish, carp, catfish, shellfish, muscles, waterfowl
Ali Kosh tools
Flint tools varied and abundant Thousands of tiny blades Very small amount of Obsidian- volcanic glass Showed they had contact with people elsewhere Also suggested by the fact that emmer wheat they cultivated did not have a wild relative in the area
Domestic animals were less important economically in the _______ _______ than they were in many parts of the OLD WORLD
NEW WORLD
At the site of Ali Kosh (now southwestern Iran) we see the remains of a community that started out about __________ BC living mostly on wild plants and animals. Over the next 2,000 years, until about 5500 BC agriculture and herding became increasingly important
7500 BC
Other areas of the world show a similar switch to what is called broad spectrum food collecting, but do not always show an increasingly settled lifestyle, in MESOAMERICA this period is called
Archaic
Because Bird and Mammal extinctions occurred simultaneously, it is likely that most or nearly all extinctions were due to
Climactic and environmental changes
Semiarid highlands of Mesoamerica the switch to broad spectrum collecting was not associated with
Increasing sedentarism Even after they began to cultivate plants they still did not live in permanent villages
Population growth may have occurred in and around Ali Kosh but did not continue in all areas of the ________ ________ after domestication. Ain Ghazal, decline in population and standard of living over time the environment could not permanently support large village
Near East
Early cultivation in Mainland Southeast Asia seems to have occurred in the
Plains and low terraces around rivers, main subsidence foods of early cultivators was probably fish and shellfish
Sedentism
Settled Life How and why people in different places may have come to cultivate and domesticate plants and animals and to live in permanent villages
Neolithic Revolution
The switch from nomadic lifestyles to a settled agricultural lifestyle
Spindle and Loom developed in
Neolithic Society Spinning and weaving that made textiles possible
First domesticated in New Guinea
Bananas and Taro 7,000 years ago
It seems clear from the evidence now available that the climate of the Near East about ________ years to __________ years ago became more seasonal
13,000 to 12,000 years
Beginning about ___________ years ago, people in some regions began to depend less on big game hunting and more on relatively stationary food resources like fish, shellfish and small game, wild plants
14,000
Natufian foraging
Based on a more intensive use of stationary resources such as wild grain, but archaeological evidence suggests increasing social complexity
The earliest clear evidence of cereal cultivation outside the Near East is from
China Foxtail Millet cultivated (Late 6th millennium BC)
Maize takes __________ from the soil but beans like all legumes put _____ back into the soil
Nitrogen
Neolithic means
Of the new stone age Signified the cultural stage in which humans invented pottery and ground stone tools
Techniques developed during the Neolithic revolution
Plowing, fertilizing, fallowing and irrigation
The overkill hypothesis
Questioned on the basis of bird as well as mammal extinctions in NEW WORLD Decline of big game/herding animals Evidence- extinction in the NEW WORLD of many large Pleistocene animals, mammoth coincided with the movement of humans from the Bearing Strait region of the Americas
Guila Naquitz
Cave, excavated in 1960s by Kent Flannery, provides a good picture of domestication in Highland Mesoamerica Small groups lived intermittently over a period of 2000 years (8900 BC- 6700 BC) the period during which plants were domesticated Thorn forest of the upper piedmont above the floor of the Valley of Oaxaca Remains of domesticated plants found in cave
The __________ ___________ was the only part of the NEW WORLD where animals were a significant part of the economy
Central Andes Used for meat, transportation, wool (Llamas and alpacas) domesticated as early as 5000 BC in the Andes Guinea Pigs domesticated later
Robert Braidwood
Criticized Childe's theory Believed climate changes may not have been as dramatic as childe assumed and therefore the oasis incentive may not have existed Climactic changes that occurred in the Near East after the retreat of the last glaciers had probably occurred at earlier interglacial periods too but there had never been a similar food producing revolution before There must be more to the explanation of why people began to produce food than simply changes in climate
The first plants to be domesticated in the new world were members of the
Cucurbit family, including bottle gourd, and variety of squashes all domesticated some time after 7500 BC
This vertical zonation means that a wide range of plants and animals were available in relatively close proximity-
Different environments were close by and the Archaic peoples took advantage of these varied conditions to hunt and collect a broad range of resources
Climate change was at least partly responsible for the
Exploitation of new sources of food, Decline in the availability of big game, large herd animals
The faunal remains in inland sites (Southeast Asia) there indicate that many different sources of food were being
Exploited from the same base camps
An enormous number of bird species also became
Extinct during the last few thousand years of the North American Pleistocene, and difficult to argue human hunters caused all those extinctions
Investigators suspect that a critical minimum of
Fat in the body man be necessary for ovulation Sedentary woman more fat than nomadic and may begin ovulating sooner May explain why long distance runners do not ovulate regular
Theories of why food production developed
Most have tried to explain the origin of domestication in the area of the Fertile Crescent Gordon Childe's theory popular in the 1950s was that a drastic change in climate caused domestication in the NEAR EAST According to him, post glacial period was marked by a decline in summer rainfall in the Near East and northern Africa- people forced to retreat into shrinking pockets, oases of food resources surrounded by desert. Lessened availability of wild resources provided an incentive for people to cultivate grains and to domesticate animals
Catal Huyuk
Mountainous regions of Southern Turkey, mud brick town Huyuk is Turkish word for a mound formed by a succession of settlements, one built on top of another About 5600 BC adobe town- 200 houses excavated, interconnected in pueblo fashion. Walls decorated with murals, shrines(Shrine rooms too) with bulls and cattle Murals- religious scenes and everyday events, layers and layers of them repainted over
Did agriculture and a sedentary life develop together?
No not necessarily Some areas settled first then plant Some areas plant then settled
The spread of domesticated plants seems to have been more rapid in the _______ _________ than in the New World perhaps because the old world spread was more along an east west axis where as NW spread was more north south Spreading north and south in NW may have required more time to adapt to variation in day lengths, climates, and diseases
OLD WORLD
Natufian sites
On average 5x bigger than predecessors Communities occupied most of year More social differences between people Wild cereal enabled them to live in perm villages but Diets suffered Tooth enamel shows nutrient deficiency- stature declined over time The remains of many wild animals are found in these sites- concentrated on hunting gazelle
The line between food collecting and food producing occurs when people begin to
Plant crops and to keep and breed animals
Intensive Agriculture probably developed in response to
Population Pressure but we do not know for sure that PP was even partly responsible for plant and animal domestication in the first place
People may have turned to a broader spectrum of resources for another reason....
Population growth! Mark Cohen- hunter gathers were filling up the world, and may have had to seek new and possibly less desirable sources of food
Domestication in Guila Naquitz
Rather informal Supplement to diet already rich in animal and plant species Accomplished by hunters and gatherers who supplemented their basic diet with some desired plants (squashes) There was NO revolution that enabled the people to rely on domesticated plants
In Mesoamerica, Valleys had __________ grassland veg Foothills and mountains had ____________ forests of cactuses
Scrubby and thorn
Ali Kosh participated in extensive trading network. They got
Seashells, Copper, obsidian, turquoise, Ornaments made and worn by both sexes- from remains of bodies
Plants independently domesticated in North America
Sunflower, sumpweed, goosefoot May have been cultivated in the Area of Kentucky, Tennessee and southern Illinois around 2000 BC (corn was introduced about 200 AD)
Farming at Catal Huyuk
Well advanced Lentils, wheat, barley, peas grown in quantity that produced surplus Lots of handicrafts! Carved wooden boxes/bowls, obsidian and flint daggers, spearheads, scrapers, spatulas, spoons, knives Belt hooks, pins, mean and women wore bone, shell and copper jewelry and used obsidian mirrors Depended on exchange with other areas because of area with few raw materials
For the archaic people of the highlands of MESOAMERICA, was altitude and important factor in hunting and collecting?
YES! different altitudes have different plants and animal resources
In other areas of the world, such as Austrailia and what is now the midwestern US, Skeletal evidence suggests
a decline in the general level of health with the rise of broad spectrum collecting
