Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 June 3 2013 Lecture 8 Notes The Neolithic Revolution Late Pleistocene Early Holocene Adaptations Epipaleolithic Near East Mesolithic Europe Archaic North America o Period of transition between upper Paleolithic and Neolithic Hunter gatherer bands Microliths small thin pieces of stone tools End of Pleistocene cold and dry climate and emergence of modern humans 16 000 years ago climate begins to warm 10 000 years ago sudden drop of temperature o Theory that domestication was experimented with during this change o Beginning of the Neolithic period Holocene end of Pleistocene Loss of mega fauna no need for group hunting Broad spectrum array of animals and plants to consume Agriculture domestication Domestication Rejection of hunting gathering and transition to 1 Propagation selective sowing or breeding of animals 2 Husbandry care of animals and plants during growth 3 Harvest Slaughter the active collection of these food resources 4 Storage maintenance saving seeds or selecting animals to ensure adequate reproductive success for the following year Cultivation Herding Agricultural Origins Middle east India 9000 bc China 7000 bc Africa and South America 3000 North America 2000 9000 8000 first farming 8000 first animal domestication 7000 first emergence of pottery Domestication of Cereals Mutations developed in wild plants that were desired by humans selectively brought out by breeding by humans o Near East Wheat barley lentils o Mesoamerica maize beans Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 June 3 2013 o China South East Asia rice o Africa yams Paleoethnobotany The study of plant remains from archaeological sites Archaeozoology The study of animal remains from archaeological sites Using faunal remains to answer questions of diet domestication Domestication of Wild Animals Near East Goat sheep dogs pigs and cattle Development of Agriculture Theories Natural Habitat Hypothesis Robert Brainwood Directly challenge oasis hypothesis o Archaeologists should look to areas were wild resources were natural it is in those places where domestication would have started first o Never explained why agriculture occurred better pursuit than hunting gathering natural cultural progression Population Pressure Edge Hypothesis Lewis Benford o Argued that the turn to agriculture was not a choice but a last resort o Increasing human population led to agriculture as a means of getting more food only happened when it was forced o Population pressure would have been felt first in the edge zones not as bountiful resources o Populations may not have been high enough to apply this pressure Oasis Hypothesis End of ice age marked a shift towards a warmer dryer climate o As temperatures increased and water sources decreased people plants and animals were forced around close quarters in oasis Nile led to seeking out alternatives such as domestication o No major climactic change happened at end of Pleistocene Social Hypothesis Barbara Bender o Agriculture was adopted by certain cultures because certain individuals thought that the surplus would give power V Gordon Childe Australian prehistorian 1892 1957 Coined phrases Neolithic revolution and Urban Revolution Consequences of Agriculture Sedentism more stable settled lifestyle o Village life and community o Permanent houses concept of territory Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 June 3 2013 o Increased chances of conflict and war Food Reserves surplus o More reliable economy o More reliable existence New technology tools new needs based on storage o Ceramic technology o Technology for the processing and cooking of these foods Axes hoes microblades mortar and pestle More complex social organization tribes o Leave egalitarian society and start to get hierarchal society Foundation for state societies civilizations o Society getting ready for the emergence of state societies o Beginning of social hierarchy o Beginning of long distance trade Disadvantages Advantages of Domestication Disadvantages Advantages o More of a full time job hunter gatherers had more leisure time o Less variety of food resources tend to stick with 1 or 2 crops o Greater risk not very adaptable crop can be ruined o Ability to achieve a surplus store and last o Specialization of tasks better utilization of skills time o Accumulation of wealth more surplus means more money o Secondary products from animals Hides wool milk blood egg bone Natufian Culture 11 000 9 000 B C Pre adapted for agriculture o Houses with storage pits o Year round settlement o Gathering of wild wheat barley acorns almonds pistachios Not yet full domestication prior to Neolithic culture not yet Neolithic Hunter gatherers predisposed to agriculture Located in Israel Jordan Lebanon o Exploited greater availability of wild food resources o Intensive foragers o Exploitation of small member game Natufian Artifacts processing wild plant and animal o Microliths o Mortars Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 June 3 2013 o Pestles o Grinding slabs o Arrowheads o Figurines o Needles o Fishhooks o Beads Burials placed beneath the houses structure Natufian Site at Ain Mallaha Israel 11 000 9 000 B C A village of 200 300 people o Feature hearths and storage pits o Beginning to exploit wild cereals and stone technology Grinding tools slabs o Not cultivating but gathering resources will eventually become domesticated Tell Abu Hureyra Syria Long term settlement spanning Natufian and Neolithic culture 10 500 9 000 BC Natufian o Semi subterranean oval huts o Year round occupation of 200 300 people 9 000 5 000 BC Neolithic o Mudbrick rectangular houses o Tell artificial mound o Prime location for gathering different plants Found skeletal deformities o Spine o Knees o Toes Negative physical disadvantages of domestication Jericho Jordan River Valley A classic tell site Excavated by Kathleen Kenyon o Natufian Jericho 10 500 9 000 BC Pre pottery Neolithic Jericho 8 500 7 000 BC o 10 acre village o 14 m stratified deposits o round mudbrick houses Zara Mahmood Professor Belkin AR100 June 3 2013 o no pottery o domesticated barley emmer wheat o wild gazelles cattle goats boars o NO domesticated animals at first later domesticated sheep and goats Evidence of Communal organization tower o 9 meters tall o 10 meters diameter o internal stone staircase o Function Defense Ritual Burials o Group of skulls in house o Burials below house floors removal of skulls Neolithic Catalhoyuk Southern Turkey Excavated by James Mellaart 1960s