ANTH 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Fertile Crescent, Economic Anthropology, Pastoralism
Document Summary
Economy: the system of production, distribution and consumption of resources in a society. Subsistence strategy: the way a group of people transform the material resources of their environment into food, clothing, shelter, and other material items. Every society relies on a combination of different subsistence strategies. Foraging: depends on gathering and hunting what can be found in nature. Prior to 12,000 years ago all humans were foragers. Misconception contemporary foragers are living examples of human history. Reality recent and contemporary foragers are not good examples of ancient foragers. They are located in marginal environments where agriculture is impossible (deserts, arctic, jungle) Contemporary foragers live in small bands due to the marginal environments. Horticulture: a cultivation strategy that does not use land intensively. Depends on simple non-mechanized technology and human labor. Vegetation is cut, allowed to dry and burned. Burning clears debris and provides some nutrients. Plots are cultivated for 2-3 years left fallow to regenerate for 10-60 years.
