Chapter 8 The First Farmers broad spectrum revolution period during which a wider range of plant and animal life was hunted gathered collected caught and fished revolutionary bc in the Middle East it led to food production human control over reproduction of plants and animals first middle east then Europe I The Mesolithic broad spectrum revolution in Europe includes the late Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic which followed had a characteristic tool type microlith greek for small stone tells a lot about way of life of the people who made them after ice age 10 000 bp Europe was turning into more forest rather than treeless and tundra as it had been during the Upper Paleolithic were exploiting a much wider variety of resources and gearing their lives to the seasonal appearance of particular plants and animals as big game supply diminished had to resort to faster reproducing animals fish mollusks rabbits II The Neolithic Neolithic Revolution describes origin and impact of food production plant cultivation and animal domestication Neolithic coined to refer to new techniques of grinding and polishing stone tools significance of Neolithic was the new total economy transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic occurs when groups become dependent on domesticated food for more than 50 of their diet usually happens after a very long period of experimenting with and using domesticates as supplements to broad spectrum foraging archaeological signature of Neolithic Cultures includes dependence on cultivation sedentary life and the use of ceramic vessels economies based on food production were associated with changes in human lifestyles started intervening in the reproductive cycles of plants and animals by 7500 bp most Middle Easterners had abandoned broad spectrum foraging for more specialized Neolithic economies based on fewer species which were domesticate Kent Flannery 1969 proposed a series of eras where Mid East transitioned Era of seminomadic hunting and gathering 12 000 10 000 bp encompasses last stages of broad spectrum foraging period just before first domesticated plants wheat and barley and animals goats and sheep were added to the diet Era of early dry farming and caprine domestication dry farming farming without irrigation depended on rainfall caprine goat and shepp which were domesticated during this era Era of increased specialization in food production new cropped added to diet more varieties of wheat and barley cattle and pig were domesticated agriculture extended to rivers where Mesopotamians lived after more than 2 mil yrs of stone tool making the genus Homo was living in the Bronze Age when metallurgy and the wheel were invented III The First Farmers and Herders in the Middle East Natufians to domesticate and Middle Eastern food production arose in the context of four environmental zones Highest Lowest 1 High Plateau 2 Hilly Flanks subtropical woodland zone that flanks those rivers to the north 3 piedmont steppe treeless plain 4 Alluvial desert area watered by Tigris and Euphrates rivers thought food production began at alluvial desert but today know started in areas with reliable rainfall Braidwood proposed that production started in hilly flanks but was questioned wild grain supply in that zone already provided and excellent diet for the and other Middle Easterners There would have been no incentive at alluvial deserts was where the world s first civilization developed in this zone were farming villages earlier than Jarmo in zones adjacent to the Hilly Flanks jarmo climate change played a role in the origin of food production end of Ice Age brought greater variation in climate conditions in some areas local environments were so rich in resources that foragers could adopt sedentism sedentary lifestyles prime example is Natufians collected wild cereals and hunted gazelles had year roud villages bc could harvest nearby wild cereals for six months climate had become warmer and humid before natufians which expanded the altitude range of wild wheat and barley thus enlarging the available foraging ara allowing a longer harvest season climate got drier cereals started to dry up optimal zone for foraging shrunk Natufian had to adopt new subsistence strategy now restricted to areas with water bc of this determined that food production began in marginal areas piedmont steppe rather than in the optimal zones such as hilly flanks could no longer maintain nomadic lifestyle bc they needed to stay close to grain in Middle East sedentary village life developed before farming and herding did had no choice but to build villages near the densest stands of wild grains fact that basic plants and animals were available in same area favored village life Natufian settlements occupied year round show permanent architectural features and evidence for the processing and storage of wild grains Early cultivation began as an attempt to copy in a less favorable environment the dense stands of wheat and barley that grew wild in the Hilly Flanks Middle East is a region that for thousands of years had Vertical Economy exploits environmental zones that although close together in space contrast with one another in altitude rainfall climate and vegetation allowed broad spectrum foragers to use different resources in different seasons Early seminomadic foragers in the Middle East had followed game from zone to zone certain resources were confined to specific zones so relied on trade movement of people animals and products between zones was a precondition for the emergence of food production as they traveled between zones people carried seeds into new habitats mutations genetic recombination and human selection led to new kinds of wheat A Genetic Changes and Domestication differences between wild and domesticated plants seed of domesticated and often whole plant are larger and produce higher yield in very dry weather wild wheat and barley ripen and axes totally disintegrate wild is more brittle than domestic wild edible part is enclosed in a tough husk people also select certain animals based on their features plants got larger with domestication while animals got smaller easier to control B Food Production and the State shift from foraging to food production was gradual over time economies grew more specialized geared more toward crops and herds marginal zones became centers of the new economy and of population increase some increasing population spilled into hilly flanks where people had to intensify and