The Origins of Agriculture

1
The Origins of Agriculture

• Anthropology 101
• Dr. Scott A. Lukas

2
Significance

• Goudie describes the development of agriculture
  as one of the most significant human impacts in
  the course of human history (Goudie 1990 2).
  Redman concurs and suggests that "no development
  has had a greater effect than the introduction of
  agriculture" (Redman 1978 89). Additionally,
  the discussion of agricultural origins has
  important ramifications in many areas of study

3
Significance

• Alexander von Humboldt (1807) "The origin ... of
  the plants most useful to man and which have
  accompanied him from remotest epochs, is a secret
  as impenetrable as the dwellings of our domestic
  animals. "

4
Agriculture Defined

• Agriculture, in general, refers to "a reliance on
  domesticated plants or animals or both with the
  specific conditions.

5
Agriculture Defined

• (1) propagation the selective sowing of seeds
  or breeding of animals, what Goudie refers to as
  the genetic changes brought about through
  conscious or unconscious human selection (Goudie
  1990 15)
• (2) husbandry the care of plants and animals
  while they are growing
• (3) harvesting collection of the food
  resources, and
• (4) storage and maintenance of seeds and
  select animals to assure adequate reproductive
  success for the subsequent year (Redman 1978
  91).

6
A Real Revolution

• The period in which agriculture received its
  impetus is described by Childe as the Neolithic
  Revolution (ibid 89) the term revolution has
  been applied due to the relatively quick speed
  during which agriculture developed, and for its
  significant effect on human life (ibid).

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A Real Revolution
8
The Time

• We are generally speaking of the Upper
  Pleistocene, about 12,000 - 10,000 b.p. During
  this time we can note a number of interesting
  cultural and intellectual advancements of our
  ancestors.
• (1) Regional differences
• (2) Population increase
• (3) Social stratification
• (4) Broad Spectrum Resource Use
  (Intensification) the ranking of resources by
  costs and benefits

9
The Place

• The centers of agriculture included
• The Near East
• China
• Asia

10
The Big Debate

• How and Why did it happen?

11
The Big Debate

• Although the definition of agriculture is
  generally accepted, there has always been
  speculation about the origins of agriculture
  (Binford 1983 195). The debate over the origins
  of agriculture is a recent one (Flannery 1973
  271), as "only since 1950 has the origin of
  agriculture become a field of inquiry of its own"
  (Redman 1978 89). The variety of theories
  regarding this debate reflects both the changing
  epistemic climate within archaeology and its
  growing utility as a discipline capable of
  holistic explanation.

12
Criteria Necessary for Agriculture to Occur

• Harold Peake and HJ Fleure (1927)
• Natural Area must provide abundant annual
  harvests and annual wild harvests
• Topography must constrict population movement so
  people would be forced to stay in one place and
  develop agriculture (geographical isolation)
• (3) Ecosystem no forests or swamps
• (4) Cultural Contact people must have cultural
  contact with other people in the area. Why?
  Encouragement of the breakdown of old ideas and
  the acceptance of new ones (the idea of
  agriculture).

13
The Theories

• Since the 1950s a number of archaeologists have
  offered theories to explain how and why
  agriculture became all the rage with our early
  human ancestors. Like seeds themselves, the
  theories of agricultural origins have continued
  to propagate themselves.

14
The Seed Genius

• In the 19th century an idea circulated that
  offered one early yet simplistic explanation for
  the rise of agriculture. It suggested that one
  individual was a literal seed genius, he or she
  discovered seeds and eventually circulated the
  idea to others.

This particular theory emphasizes knowledge,
note that some of the subsequent ones emphasize
environment.
15
Darwins Notion

• Darwin was convinced that agriculture represented
  a better way of life.

16
The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis (V. Gordan
Childe)

• Childe's belief is that the invention of
  agriculture resulted from a climatic crisis
  adversely affecting those communities in which
  the earliest farming was conducted.

Propinquity nearness in space proximity
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The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis

• Childe's theory, lacking in archaeological
  evidence, is based on evidence from early
  agricultural theories, such as those of Pumpelly
  in 1908, and the understanding of paleoclimates
  (Redman 1978 93). . Before the retreat of the
  glaciers and the subsequent drying up which took
  place, Childe argued that much of the Near East
  had been "fertile and well-watered" (Redman 1978
  93). As a result of the glacial movement and
  climatic shifts, the hunter-gatherers who had
  taken residence in the now drying areas had to
  take refuge in the few remaining well-watered
  areas, the river valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and
  Euphrates, or near oases that had not dried up
  (ibid).

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The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis

• Because of this climatic shift (from a cool-wet
  climate to a hot-dry one) in the Near East,
  people and animals were forced to "gravitate
  toward locations having permanent water" (Redman
  1978 94).

Hattusas, capitol city of the ancient Hittite
civilization of northern Mesopotamia/Anatolia.
19
The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis
20
The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis

• Again due to the climatic conditions, plants
  only grew near these oases or sources of water
  as a result, people, animals and plants existed
  in the same general proximity. In turn, people
  "had opportunities to observe the behavior and
  year-round life cycles of those plants and
  animals that were subsequently domesticated"
  (Redman 1978 94).

21
The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis

• According to Childe, plants were first
  domesticated in the Nile River Valley later,
  early agriculturists dug channels to irrigate
  artificially sowed seeds, thus increasing "the
  density and distribution of the harvestable
  grain" (ibid). After the hunter became a
  cultivator, it became easy for the cultivator to
  domesticate various animals - as the stubble from
  the harvested fields offered the herds food
  (Redman 1978 94-5). Having been domesticated,
  animals were then protected from predators by the
  early farmers as a result the animals soon
  became completely dependent on the farmers and
  unable to survive on their own these
  domesticated animals in turn attracted other herd
  animals to the farming areas (ibid 95).

22
The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis
In short (1) Climates dry up (2) People and
animals try to find water(3) People and animals
come together to create domestication (4)
Agriculture was inevitable

• The theory assumes that plants (spread from the
  Nile Valley) had already been domesticated.

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The Oasis / Propinquity Hypothesis Problems

• Although Childe's theory was influential on many
  of thinkers, including historian Arnold Toynbee
  (ibid), his hypothesis has been generally
  disproved in light of recent archaeological
  evidence (Redman 1978 93). Childe's model
  offers insight into the effects of climatic
  fluctuation and environmental pressures, however,
  his model misrepresents the nature of Near
  Eastern climate additionally, the propinquity
  model offers no explanation of cultural variables
  which may have effected the development of
  agriculture in the Near East. The theory also
  wrongly assumes that hunter-gatherers had no
  extensive knowledge of plants and animals after
  the Ice Age.

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory(Robert Braidwood)

• Braidwood, a pioneer in gathering data relating
  to the introduction of agriculture (Redman 1978
  95), was inspired to archaeologically investigate
  the origins of agriculture due to the varied
  evidence presented by Childe and Peake Fleure.
  Braidwood sought out to challenge Childes
  hypothesis.

25
The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• Braidwood's research began in the lower foothills
  of the Zagros Mountains in northern Iraq in
  these hilly flanks, "the wild progenitors of
  potentially domesticable animals were found in
  their natural state, and conditions would have
  been favorable for early experimentation with
  agricultural techniques" (Redman 1978 95).

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• Thus, the author assumes that the present-day
  conditions in the Near East in many ways parallel
  the conditions which existed some 12,000 years
  ago (ibid 96).

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• His hypothesis is that there existed an area of
  the Near East where a "constellation of wild
  progenitors of potentially domesticable plants
  and animals coexisted at the end of the last Ice
  Age" (Redman 1978 96) he then speculated that
  the specific hills and valleys of the
  Zabros-Taurus mountains would have been an ideal
  location for the practice of agriculture - as the
  rainfall of this area is between the optimum 250
  - 500 millimeters per year.

28
The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• His archaeological research led him to the
  conclusion that contrary to Childes hypothesis,
  there had been no drying after the Ice Age in
  this particular part of the world. He found
  that the environment was better, not worse, and
  that a small amount of environmental change had
  occurred.

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• Braidwood named this optimum area the "hilly
  flanks of the Fertile Crescent" (ibid), and he
  spent thirty years in an effort to investigate
  areas of the region for evidence of early
  agricultural communities (ibid).

30
The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• Unlike Childe's hypothesis, which is reliant
  almost exclusively on environmental and climatic
  factors, Braidwood's theory is also dependent on
  the "presence of innovative cultural mechanisms
  for the introduction of agriculture" (Redman
  1978 96), such as the development of grinding
  stones, the refinement of weapons, the relaxation
  of cultural norms and other aspects of sedentary
  accommodations.

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory

• In Short
• In the Middle East agriculture represented a
  natural settling down process--as people became
  more sedentary they developed greater knowledge
  of agriculture.
• (2) Agriculture was likely to develop in the
  fertile hilly flanks areas.

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The Nuclear Zone / Natural Habitat Zone
Hypothesis/ Hilly Flanks Theory Problems

• Braidwood's hypothesis, dealing a strong blow to
  Childe's theory (ibid 97), relies upon the
  interaction of a favorable environment, the
  proper plants and animals, and a sufficient level
  of cultural development (ibid). Unfortunately,
  Braidwood's model does little to answering the
  question as to "why was agriculture invented at
  this time" (Redman 1978 97)? Wright also has
  offered that the hilly flanks are not great areas
  in which to grow food.

33
Chidles and Braidwoods Theories

• Both lead archaeology to an evolutionary
  understanding of agriculture and its impact on
  humans

Population Growth
Sedentism
Domestication
34
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses (Smith Young,
Cohen)

• The influence of the thinking and re-thinking of
  the ideas of Malthus has had an impact on
  demographic studies as well as on theories of the
  development of agriculture.

Demography--the study of the nature of
populations.
35
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses

• Many scholars have begun to regard demography and
  population growth as "an independent variable
  affecting other cultural and environmental
  factors, as well as being affected by them"
  (Redman 1978 99). Boserup, for example,
  regarded population growth as an independent
  variable solely responsible for the initiation of
  agriculture (Sept 1988) thus, she saw the reason
  for shifts to agricultural production as
  resulting not from voluntary decisions, but need
  (Redman 1978 99).

36
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses

• Smith and Young relate the limited knowledge of
  paleodemography and "knowledge of agricultural
  tools to developing subsistence systems" (ibid).
  They assume that, due to a number of
  environmental and cultural factors, the
  population of the Near East fluctuated at some
  points this fluctuation resulted in a population
  to large for the limitations of its food
  procurement systems as a result additional food
  supplies had to be secured (ibid 100).

37
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses

• Hence, "population grew rapidly with the advent
  of sedentism" (ibid). However, some have argued
  that a population, confronted with demographic
  pressures and food shortages, would not have
  likely taken the important step of saving a
  portion of a given harvest to be used as seeds
  for the subsequent year (Redman 1978 100).
  Cohen, in much the same manner, argued that at
  the time of the agricultural revolution
  population was growing worldwide.

38
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses

• Due to "saturation" (Sept 1988) (no one could
  move anywhere), and the fact that people could
  not look elsewhere for food, people were forced
  to adopt new food-producing techniques.
  Demography, again, is seen as the prime-mover
  behind agriculture.

39
Demographic Pressure Hypotheses Problems

• Unfortunately, both Smith Young's and Cohen's
  models fail to move beyond the simplistic level
  of deterministic explanation. It seems unlikely
  that a complex development like agriculture could
  be the result of one factor--population increase.

40
Marginal Zone Hypothesis (Demographic
Shift)(Binford And Flannery)

• The theory associated with Lewis Binford, and
  later refined by the work of Kent Flannery, is an
  attempt to explain the origins of agriculture in
  the Near East as a result of "a response to
  cyclical demographic pressure on the margins of
  the optimal environmental zone for wild
  progenitors of domestic plants and animals"
  (Redman 1978 101).

41
Marginal Zone Hypothesis

• Binford assumed that Late Pleistocene hunting and
  gathering societies would have been in a state of
  relative equilibrium, and that humans would not
  look for methods of increasing their food supply,
  as doing so would have potentially placed the
  populations above the limitations of their
  environment's carrying capacity (ibid) - hence
  Binford's "Slug Principle" (Binford 1983 200).

42
Marginal Zone Hypothesis

• Only under two conditions is a change in
  adaptation advantageous according to Binford (1)
  a change in the physical environment which would
  reduce the biotic mass, (2) a change in the
  demographic situation in a region that "brings
  about the impingement by one group on the
  territory of another" (Redman 1978 101). The
  introduction of agriculture was an attempt to
  meet the food crisis when human groups were
  forced into a tension zone (between successful
  hunter-collectors and more nomadic
  hunter-gatherers) and "artificially produced the
  dense stands of grain that characterized tracts
  of the optimal zone" (Redman 1978 102).

43
Marginal Zone Hypothesis

• Agriculture developed in the marginal areas (Sept
  1988), as there would be no reason to develop in
  the "Gardens of Eden" (Binford 1983 201). The
  Marginal Zone Hypothesis is important for its
  emphasis on changes within demographic structure,
  the equilibrium of local subsistence systems, and
  local environmental factors (ibid 103). As one
  criticism, it has been noted that this theory
  minimizes the importance of the actual onset and
  invention of agriculture, and instead
  concentrates on the behavior of population
  systems and conditions of adaptive behavior
  (ibid).

44
Marginal Zone Hypothesis

• Binford had problems with Braidwoods
  understandings.

Population Growth
Sedentism
Domestication
In fact, Binford points our that this order does
not occur in the archaeological record.
Agriculture is a risk--it is more labor intensive
than hunting and gathering. And, as the !Kung
show us, a hunter-gatherer lifestyle leaves more
time for leisure.
45
Marginal Zone Hypothesis

• Binfords query is why did humans want to become
  farmers? He answers by offering that they must
  have been forced to as a result of living in
  marginal areas.

Population Growth
Domestication
Sedentism
46
Coevolutionary Model (David Rindos)

• In 1984 David Rindos offered a coevolutionary
  model of agricultural origins. He based his
  notions on Darwins concept of natural selection.
  He suggested that the development and evolution
  of domesticated plants and animals occurred
  simultaneously with human cultural evolution.
  Domestication is seen as a natural outcome of
  human and animal interaction. He termed his
  general evolutionary theory, Cultural
  Selectionism.

47
CO2 Model

• Sage suggests it is possible that the increase in
  CO2 at the global scale may have played a key
  role in explaining the synchrony of agricultural
  origins around the globe.
• Sage, R.F., 1995, Was low atmospheric CO2 During
  the Pleistocene a Limiting Factor for the Origin
  of Agriculture? Global Change Biology, 1, 93-106.

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Agriculture is a Drug Model

• The ingestion of cereals and milk, in normal
  modern dietary amounts by normal humans,
  activates reward centres in the brain. Foods that
  were common in the diet before agriculture
  (fruits and so on) do not have this
  pharmacological property. The effects of
  exorphins are qualitatively the same as those
  produced by other opioid and / or dopaminergic
  drugs, that is, reward, motivation, reduction of
  anxiety, a sense of wellbeing, and perhaps even
  addiction. Though the effects of a typical meal
  are quantitatively less than those of doses of
  those drugs, most modern humans experience them
  several times a day, every day of their adult
  lives. (Greg Wadley Angus Martin)

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The Theories

• The discussion of these various theories of
  agricultural development among early humans
  leaves many questions unanswered. Many theorists
  have failed to answer the most basic questions
  concerning the impetus of agriculture. After
  all, why would anyone want to take-up agriculture
  in the first place (Redman 1978)?

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References

• Bender, Barbara
• 1978 "Gatherer-Hunter to Farmer a Social
  Perspective." World
• Archaeology 10204-222.
• Binford, Lewis R.
• 1983 In Pursuit of the Past Decoding the
  Archaeological Record.
• NY Thames and Hudson.
• Davis, Simon J.M.
• 1987 The Archaeology of Animals. New Haven
  Yale University Press.
• Flannery, Kent V.
• 1973 "The Origins of Agriculture." Annual
  Review of Anthropology
• 2271-310.

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References

• Goudie, Andrew
• 1990 The Human Impact on the Natural
  Environment. Third Edition.
• Cambridge The MIT Press.
• Harlan, J.R.
• 1976 "The plants and animals that nourish man."
  Scientific American
• 235(3)88-97.
• Keeley, Lawrence H.
• 1977 "The Functions of Paleolithic Flint Tools."
  Scientific American
• 237(5)108-128.
• Lewin, Roger
• nd. "A Revolution of Ideas in Agricultural
  Origins." Science 240
• 984-986.

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References

• Redman, Charles
• 1978 "The Origins of Agriculture A Giant Step
  for Humankind." In
• The Rise of Civilization from early farmers to
  urban society in the
• ancient Near East. Pps. 88-140. Redman, C.
  Freeman.
• Renfrew, Colin Bahn, Paul
• 1991 Archaeology Theories, Methods and
  Practice. London Thames
• and Hudson, Ltd.
• Sears, P.B.
• 1957 "Man the newcomer the living landscape and
  a new tenant."
• In Man's Natural Environment, A System Approach.
  Pps. 43-55.
• Russwurm, L.H. E. Sommerville, eds. North
  Scituate Duxbury.
• Sept, Jeanne
• 1988 "The Preshistory of Europe and Asia."
  Lecture. 11-88. Bloomington Indiana University.

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