ANTHROP 1AA3 Final: Domestication - Anthro
3 May 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The mesolithic: approximately 17,000 - 10,000 years ago, extinction of large game species. **note: origins of agriculture are not one localized event but spread around the globe. Lower egypt to the persian gulf, includes mesopotamia: 11,000 - 10,000 years ago, domesticated wheat and barley, climatic and ecological changes occur at the end of the ice age and people/plants/animals adapt, teosinte -> maize -> corn. Domestication: when plants or animals become dependent upon human intervention for survival, they"re selected for certain traits by humans, these traits are typically not beneficial for survival in the wild. How did it happen: unconscious v. methodical, routine human interactions with plants and animals, deliberate selective breeding. Domestication drawbacks: dental problems, nutrition, resource access. Longest human companion is the dog: wolf - dog transition, wolves start to use humans as hunting partners, wolves become smaller, with wider skulls.
