ANTHRCUL 101 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last LectureI. Meet the (Early) Humans ct’dII. Early Hominin ChronologyIII. Competing Theories of Modern Human evolutionOutline of Current Lecture I. Nova Video ct’dII. “What Do We Mean By Human: and Why Does it Matter” (Wolpoff)III. SvantePaabo on the Human Genome IV. The Origins of AgricultureCurrentLecture2/18: From Early Hominins, Race and Power to Predicaments of Food ProductionI. Nova Video ct’d: difference between modern humans and Neandertalsa. Determining paths of human evolutionb. Ideas about human difference that we have todayc. Wolpoff from UMich: sees one big human species – thinks Neandertals are being subject to the kind of competition between races in modern worldd. Boole believed they were too primitive to be ancestors of modern Europeani. Established image of Neandertals as less than human, more like apese. Neandertal image changed after biology changed after the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement – but answers that they have found have been very subjective and contestedf. Because of migration patterns it appears that Neandertals and modern humans are separate species – but when they met in Europe it is heavily debated whether or not they were able to interbreed g. Today there is positive evidence of interbreeding between the twoII. “What Do We Mean By Human: and Why Does it Matter” (Wolpoff)a. Historical contexti. 19th Century Evolutionary Biology1. Attempts to link human “races” to separate species2. Posits degrees of “humanness”These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.ii. What were the markers of “humanness”?1. To what extent do we inherit the questions we ask from others? b. Argues that assigning types to different kinds of human skeletons is constructed by our ideas about race c. The Cost of Over-Classification i. The challenges of taxonomies1. The formation of categories becomes the starting point for the questions we ask about members of those categories2. We forget that we created the categories to begin withIII. SvantePaabo on the Human Genome (from 2001)a. Certain achievements change how we think of ourselvesi. The human genome is one of thoseb. How?i. comparative studies will likely demonstrate a unity of life (at the level of “our genetic scaffold”)ii. Argues that it will also guide us to understanding differences (at the level of biology)c. Genome project actually proved how similar we are to one another – but also says that we share a lot of dna with things like mushroomsd. On Self Understandingi. Genetic variation found outside of Africa represents a subset of variation in Africaii. Though culturally significant, “race” and “ethnicity” are not products of biologyiii. Approaches to understanding ourselves must include “cognitive sciences, primatology, the social sciences, and the humanities.”e. What happened to human evolution about 30000 years ago (when Neandertals disappeared)?IV. The Origins of Agriculturea. Around 10,000 years ago first Neolithic occurs in Middle East i. Neolithic: Cultural period in a region in which the first signs of food production are present.1. Periods of time where agriculture appears in a certain place (the Neolithic in the Middle East, the Neolithic in South America, etc.)ii. Agriculture credited with a massive shift away from human equalityiii. Didn’t happen because someone invented “growing food”b. Major Precipitating Factori. Glacial Retreat in Western Europe1. 17,000 – 12,000 ya2. Reduction in big-game animalsa. Big animals have longer reproductive cycles, small animals reproduce abundantly3. Initiated the Broad Spectrum Revolutiona. Wider range of plant/ animal life hunted, gathered, collected, caught, fishedb. Focused on animals with quick, prolific reproduction (awayfrom large game)c. Formed groundwork for emergence of food production/ domesticationd. NOT in itself the origin of agricultural but probably the precondition – what made agriculture possibleii. Gradual Shift to Food Production1. Semi-nomadic hunting and gathering (12,000 - 10,000 ya)2. Dry farming and caprine domestication (10,000 - 7,500 ya)3. Increased Specialization (7,500 – 5,500 ya) – associated with rise of the idea of the “state”a. First “state” systems always found where agriculture has already appearediii. Vertical Economy: Contrasting Climate Zones in close proximity1. Alluvial Desert2. Piedmont Steppe3. Hilly Flanks4. High Plateauc. Middle East Agriculture: A Backstory i. Climate change expands natural range of wheat and barley growth ii. Natufian Cultureiii. 11,000 – 10,500 yaiv. Foragers in the Hilly Flanksd. Natufian Foragers adopt sedentism(staying in one place, not constantly foraging) but not agriculturei. Were successful in hunting gathering, had to find places to store things, could gather one year of food in a few weeksii. If you only have to work for 3 weeks a year, why experiment with producing food?iii. What did they do in free time?1. Increased Population2. Second Climate Changea. Optimal foraging zone shrinkse. Agriculture first appears at the marginsi. Attempts to copy the Hilly Flanks food supply in less favorable environmentsii. Aided by the vertical economy1. Seasonal foraging and trade between close but contrasting environmentsiii. Product of unconscious experimentation?iv. Not a single invention of agriculture: does spread quickly, but other placesbesides the middle east independently invented agriculture1. Appears independently in China twice 2. Central Mexico, Peruvian Andes, sub-Saharan Africa, eastern United Statesf. New World – Mezzo-American domesticationi. Maize1. Domesticated from wild teosinte2. Tropical lowlands of southwestern Mexicoii. Potatoes (Andes)1. Manioc (S. American Lowlands)iii. Domestication: New World Focuses less on animals than Old World domestication1. Llama is largest New World domesticated animal, Peru 4,500 ya2. Old World geography eased east/west diffusion of technologya. Doesn’t always spread well – has to do with geography3. North-west diffusion is complicated by drastic seasonal variations and day