Chapter 10,The Neolithic Transition: The Domestication of Plants and Animals,Chapter Preview,When and Where Did the Change from Food Foraging to Food Production Begin? Why Did the Change Take Place? What Were the Consequences of the Neolithic Transition?,When and Where Did the Change from Food Foraging to Food Production Begin?,Mesolithic Roots of Farming and Pastoralism,Refers to the Middle Stone Age of Europe and Southwest Asia; began about 12,000 years ago. The term Archaic cultures is used to refer to Mesolithic cultures in the Americas.,Mesolithic Roots of Farming and Pastoralism,After the extinction of Ice Age megafauna, hunters and gatherers expanded their repertoire of foods = broad spectrum revolution This broadening of the diet could not have been accomplished without the technological changes associated with microliths,Microliths,A small blade of flint or similar stone, several of which were hafted together in wooden handles to make tools. Although a microlithic tradition existed in Central Africa by about 40,000 years ago, such tools did not become common elsewhere until the Mesolithic.,Microliths,Microliths could be attached to arrow or other tool shafts by using melted resin as a binder. The Mesolithic peoples could make sickles, harpoons, arrows, knives, and daggers by fitting microliths into slots in wood, bone, or antler handles.,Natufians,The Natufians from Southwest Asia were the earliest Mesolithic people known to have stored plant foods. Basin-shaped depressions are preserved in the rocks outside of their homes.,Natufians,Lived at a time of dramatically changing climates in the region. Shallow lakes dried up, leaving just three in the Jordan River Valley. The plants best adapted to instability and seasonal aridity were annuals, including wild cereal grains and legumes.,Natufians,Natufians modified their subsistence practices: Regularly fired the landscape to promote browsing by red deer and grazing by gazelles. Placed greater emphasis on the collection of wild seeds from annual plants that could be stored through the dry season.,Neolithic,The New Stone Age; began about 11,000 years ago in Southwest Asia. The Neolithic revolution refers to the profound cultural changes which followed the domestication of plants and animals by peoples with stone-based technologies, beginning about 10,000 years ago,The Neolithic and Cultural Change,The cultural changes associated with the Neolithic took thousands of years to develop. Not everyone changed at the same rate or at the same time.,The Neolithic and Cultural Change,The source of all these changes was innovation = a new idea, method, or device that gains widespread acceptance in society. (1) primary innovation = the chance creation, invention, or discovery of a completely new idea, method, or device. (2) secondary innovation = the deliberate application or modification of an existing idea, method, or device.,Domestication,An evolutionary process whereby humans modify, intentionally or unintentionally, the genetic makeup of plants or animals, sometimes to the extent that members of the population are unable to survive and/or reproduce without human assistance. Analysis of plant and animal remains at a site will indicate whether the occupants were food producers.,Evidence of Early Plant Domestication,Domesticated plants generally differ from their wild ancestors in the following ways: Increased size of edible parts reduction or loss of natural means of seed dispersal reduction or loss of protective devices such as husks or distasteful chemical compounds that keep animals from eating them loss of delayed seed germination development of simultaneous ripening of the seed or fruit.,Evidence of Early Animal Domestication,Domestication also produced changes in the skeletal structure of some animals: Most domesticated female sheep have no horns. The size of an animal or its parts can vary with domestication as seen in the smaller size of certain teeth of domesticated pigs compared to those of wild ones.,Domestication of Maize,Teosinte (A), compared to 5,500-year-old maize (B) and modern maize (C). Teosinte, the wild grass from highland Mexico from which maize originated, is far less productive and doesnt taste very good. Domestication transformed it into something highly desirable.,Why Did the Change Take Place?,Beginnings of Domestication,Food production was not the result of new discoveries about planting, people were very knowledgeable about plants and animals. The switch to food production did not free people from hard work. Food production is not necessarily a more secure means of subsistence than foraging.,Oasis Theory,Domestication began because the oasis attracted hungry animals. The animals were too thin to eat, so people began to fatten them up. Theory fell out of favor as studies of the origins of domestication were begun in the late 1940s.,The Fertile Crescent,The Fertile Crescent,Domestication began in the Fertile Crescent. Archaeological data suggest the domestication of rye as early as 13,000 years ago by people living at a site (Abu Hureyra) east of Aleppo, Syria, although wild plants and animals continued to be their major food sources. Over the next several millennia they became full-fl edged farmers, cultivating rye and wheat. By 10,300 years ago, others in the region were also growing crops.,