ANTH 1000 Lecture 11: Subsistence
4 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Origins of domestication, agriculture, and the rise of civilization. Connections between subsistence practices, political organization: social organization- scale of food acquisition/ production. 120 kya- anatomically modern humans in africa. 50 kya- behaviorally modern humans left africa, reaching as far as australia. During this entire time (until ~10 kya) humans lived in band or tribal level societies: hunting and gathering, fishing. Last ice age ends we enter the holocene, a warmer period. To achieve and maintain this relationship requires the genetic transformation of a wild species by selective breeding or other ways of interfering with a species natural life processes. Increase in size and abundance of usable portions. Other evidence: overabundance of taxa, out of natural range, vermin, tools, human teeth. The processes of change from hunting and gathering to agriculture. During dry spells, the only places people could survive were oases. But- not supported by climate or archaeological data.
