-relationships between Neanderthals and modern humans

-chipped stone tools

-in NE, during last glaciation, Levant occupied by hunters and foragers

                -mobile, lived in camps

                -diet based on “broad spectrum” of plants and animals

                -preadaptations to agriculture (storage facilities like pits, ground stone tools)

-type site: Ohalo II

later addition into Three Age System for Middle East

-Holocene foragers

-includes Natufian culture

-Middle East is one of first places where people began to select and care for plants and animals, leading to domestication

-neolithization

-sedentism

-sites bigger than Natufian

-use of mud-brick, absent from Natufian culture

-first blades (specialized product, length 2x width)

-abundant fire-cracked rocks

-silos

-specification of gender in human depiction for first time

                -emerging role of women

                -predecessor to mother-goddess

-continued to gather/hunt

                -broad-spectrum subsistence like Natufians

domestication, occurs at different rates in different places

-traditional indicator of sedentism

-earliest constructed dwellings: semi-subterranean, single-room, round abodes, walls of poles and reed

-PPNA: houses are freestanding structures, round or oval, often semi-subterranean, mostly single rooms, but one 2-roomed structure at Netiv Hagdud, long axes 4-6 m

                -generally stone foundations, superstructure of mud-bricks, stone slabs, and small stones in mud

-internal hearths, mud plaster floors, reed mats on floors, some exterior hearths

                -internal partitioning at Jericho, Mureybit, Netiv Hagdud

-PPNB: mudbrick houses, multi-room, rectangular, for extended families

-Ubaid: tripartite houses with long central hall and smaller rooms to sides

-can be used in cross-dating (not too common)

9500-8500 BC, from Jordan to Euphrates

-crop cultivation (earliest evidence for plant domestication), gathering, hunting, no animal domestication

                -ate barley, wheat, lentils, legumes, wild plants inc. fruits

                -gazelle, wild ass, capra-ovines, deer, boar (in Jordan)

-first clay figurines, both female and male but few anthropomorphic figurines, no zoomorphic figurines

-focus on female monotheism

-small and large stone sculptures to north, associated with special purpose buildings with human and animal images—regional centers for ritual? (ex: Jericho tower)

-all settlements at low elevations, close to perennial water source

                -in Mediterranean zone, close to source of wood

                -often on or near renewed alluvial soil

-houses are freestanding structures, round or oval, often semi-subterranean, mostly single rooms, but one 2-roomed structure at Netiv Hagdud, long axes 4-6 m

                -generally stone foundations, superstructure of mud-bricks, stone slabs, and small stones in mud

-internal hearths, mud plaster floors, reed mats on floors, some exterior hearths

                -internal partitioning at Jericho, Mureybit, Netiv Hagdud

                -square houses at Jerf el Ahmar, square and round houses at Mureybit—evidence that square architecture developed in north during PPNA, adopted by south during PPNB

8500-6000 BC

-expansion in varieties of cereals cultivated, addition of critical new crops

-hunting of herd animals still important, esp. gazelle

-development of herding sheep and goats

-architecture: mudbrick houses, multi-room, rectangular, for extended families

                -sometimes have hearths, ovens, benches, basins, and storage containers or bins

                -extremely fine, hard plaster on floors and walls (decorated in south)

                -similarities of houses across long distances

-revolution of symbols

-differences in rituals between Levant & SE Anatolia

-social function of PPNB rituals = group cohesion

-4 structuring principles underlying PPNB rituals and ideology:

                -communality (public display): integrate communities, conflict resolution

-BUT only a few people could fit into ritual buildings—were they in use simultaneously? Used by certain people for specific purposes?

-dominant symbolism: use of highly visual, powerful, and evocative symbols (coming to terms with socioeconomic changes?)

-vitality: focus on head (artificial deformation of heads, auroch horns)

-human-animal linkage (counteraction to domestication?)

-skull separation, plastering, and display characterizes Levant

                -cranial deformation

-3 burial styles in MPPNB:

                -subfloor and courtyard, decapitated

                -courtyard, skull intact (lower status than decapitated?)

                -infant

-rectangular houses in large settlements sometimes referred to as “megavillages”

-non-domestic buildings and stone stelae at Nevalı Çori, Çayönü, and Göbekli Tepe

-burgeoning of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric figurines in middle PPNB

                -animal and human figurines recovered from almost all PPNB sites

-religious shift to bull/masculine god

-chipped stone

                -blades from bipolar cores, stemmed projectile points, sickle blades, burins, borers

-ground stone in profusion (slabs, mortars, pestles, beads, pendants)

6400-5800 BC

-irrigation agriculture

-to south of Hassuna culture

-chocolate-brown painted pottery, patterns maybe inspired by basketry

during 7^th millennium BC in Northern Mesopotamian plain, areas with rainfall farming

-new styles of pottery: more elaborate, incised

-copper tools and jewelry

early occupation of Southern Mesopotamian plains, 6000-4000 BC

-tripartite houses with long central hall and smaller rooms to sides

-pottery

-seals

-widespread communication and interactions (supported by far-reaching similarities in material culture)

-some large settlements with temples, storehouses, & cemeteries… social hierarchy?

-copper-based metallurgy in some areas, 5^th millennium BC

4^th millennium BC = urbanized societies

-clay tokens, cylinder seals

-weaving of woolen textiles became major Mesopotamian industry for local consumption and export

-domesticated donkeys in Mesopotamia (transport for goods or people over long distances)

-Uruk tradition reached way far by late Uruk—termed “Uruk expansion”

5^th millennium = substantial metalworking in Turkey, N. Iraq, the Levant, and Iran

-major industry in Levant during Uruk period, implies specialization

-hammered native copper into sheets, then bent or rolled sheets to form artifacts

-some tools subjected to heat, “annealed” to reduce strain built up in metal due to working, reduces cracking, increases hardness

-awls, hooks, beads at Çayönü, sheet bead at Ali Kosh

-copper tools and jewelry characteristic of Hassuna culture

later addition to Three Age System for Middle East

-use of metals

-rise of urban states

large-scale cities, states, empires

-begins ~3000 BC

2900-2350 BC

-city-states

-oikos economy in S. Mesopotamia

-fluorishing trade

-smaller urban centers in N. Mesopotamia and Levant than in S. Mesopotamia

-distinct material culture in S. & W. Iran

hierarchically organized households control land, other means of production, and a dependent labor force

-in S. Mesopotamia during Early Dynastic Period

work within a historical framework, focusing on regions

-emphasis on history and historical models

-emphasis on area, language, all periods in that area (ex: Schwartz)

-philologists study language form, writing system, texts (ex: Cooper)

-historians focus on documents and the way they chronicle events (ex: van de Mieroop)

variant of traditional NE archaeology

-focuses on relationship of archaeological remains to the Hebrew bible

-usually not very interested in other parts of the NE

work in historical periods, must know language and texts

-strongly art historical

-a few influenced by anthropology and prehistory (ex: Kemp)

-know the Egyptological material but trained also in anthropology, very rare, difficult to have a good knowledge of both (ex: Bard, anthropologist)

-trained in prehistory, use Egypt as example of process (ex: Meskell, Australian postmodernist)

different set of assumptions, different history of development of field

-study images that emphasize style, iconography, artistic traditions

-Egyptology strongly art historical so few would identify themselves as pure art historians working in Egypt

-in NE, small but growing number of art historians trained in field archaeology

European discipline

-in past, relied on historical models, but today very much influenced by American prehistory as practiced by anthropologists, European cultural anthropology, and post-processualism

-(ex: Bernbeck, Akkermans, Verhoeven)

work on all periods

-interested in everything that people do

-adopt anthropological perspective, interest in comparison, understanding reasons behind change based on processes observed or known from ethnohistorical and historical sources (ex: Pollock, a Marxist, and Wattenmaker)

-focus on economic and socio-political aspects of the past, but increasingly interested in ideology, values

-also focus on images, which represent ideas that structure societies

main transportation arteries, irrigation sources

-deposit alluvial sediments in Lower Mesopotamian Plain

-before dams, Euphrates flooded every year—deposited silt but at a time that would damage the crops

                -levee formation -> irrigation

-fed from snow on Pontic Ranges

ca 12000 BP, people in Near East developed agriculture

-people began cultivating wild animal and plant species

                -selective harvesting/selective breeding led to new varieties

-led to sedentism and architecture, metallurgy, pottery

-often comes in a package, with sheep/goat pastoralism, cultivation of cereals/pulses (beans, lentils, peas), garden crops, small animals/birds

-emergence of farming = response to effects of Younger Dryas on Late Natufian culture? (Flannery); others suggest it was related to communication and social complexity; post-Pleistocene aridification brought humans, plants, and animals together around water sources (“enforced juxtaposition”) (Childe); resource pressure in marginal zones (Binford); abundance of resources led to a desire to compete (Hayden); shift to thinking of humans as being in a dominant position (Cauvin); attempt to maintain egalitarian status quo (Zeder)

forested with deciduous and pine trees

-cold, wet winters & dry summers

-mountain ranges to North and in Eastern Turkey, connecting to ranges in Iran

-control rainfall (rain from West across Mediterranean where it picks up moisture, rains on mountains)

-pine juniper in Anatolia

-Pontic and Hyrcanean forests with undergrowth

-restricted movement

open Mediterranean forest

-extends along coast

-mild, moist winters, and warm, dry summers

along SE margin of foothills

-mild dry winters and hot dry summers

-grassland

interior of Arabia and Iran; desert also in Egypt

-worst desert = Dasht-i-Kavir, but people live even here: create soil and farm, collect minerals and metals

-oasis; geographical place with cultural continuity (long term cultural unity around Nile Valley)

-contains desert to East, begins abruptly near Cairo

-North coast: Alexandria—thriving towns, yachts, important ancient site, remains from Pharoanic times

bordered by seas, but desert

-sites along coast

-water holes could be used by pastoral nomads

-sites in Yemen—important prehistoric occupation of highlands

-multistory houses in cities

-rich land high up—moisture brought by monsoon, but topography makes it difficult to cultivate so extensive terracing is created (resulting in anthropogenic topography)

-long-term cultural unity due to topography, routes, resources
-easy movement, numerous well-used trade routes

highlands of Turkey; mountain ranges within; certain geographical integrity

-broad rolling plains/open valleys with limited rainfall, some perennial streams

-very well-watered, but heavily deforested

-in valley, good opportunities for agriculture (wheat, barley)

-areas of grassland too steep for crops—good for pastoralism, leads to mixed economy

-at highest elevations, mostly wildlife (wildflowers, etc.)

-long-term cultural unity due to topography, routes, resources

-easy movement, numerous well-used trade routes

high area with a certain cultural continuity; empty areas in the middle

-long-term cultural unity due to topography, routes, resources

not unified, tends to be split apart

-in Syria/Iraq

-does not have the cultural continuity of a culture area

-Levant tends to be lumped in with Mesopotamia but is not a structural unit

-disparity in resources(clay, reeds, bitumen, and fertile soil) as compared to highlands (forests, metal ore)—led to hostilities; perhaps historically overemphasized, however

-creative use of raw materials in lowlands

along Mediterranean and Aegean, Persian Gulf, Caspian, and Black Sea

-people on coast tend to relate most closely with people across sea

so called because of depth (no oxygen in middle)

-not connected to Mediterranean until recently

-people living along coast and inland

-forest near coast (Pontic Forest); one of major crops is tea

-a lot of conflict along coast—necessary to build fortresses

folded limestone mountains, highly regular

-can move easily within the folds, but restricted movement elsewhere

-cold on valley floor

-Russians were active in this area

-luxury goods from south

traceable to original source

-evidence for long-distance trade well before Neolithic

large, dense, heterogeneous settlements

-membership based on residence though kinship may be an important organizing principle

-most people do not produce their own food, occupational specialization

-ethnic diversity

-supporting hinterland

                - Çatalhöyük has density, but no supporting hinterland

relatively small sedentary communities with mixed economy (100-1000 people)

-few if any stores, dependent politically and economically on urban centers

-kinship and residence as basis for social organization, variable depending on regional traditions, and strength of tribal/kinship ties in the past

-houses often constructed from mud-brick

                -in Turkey, have an interior open courtyard, spaces for animals; lots of activity on roof for sleeping, storage, chillin; tiny windows, high threshold on doors

-house size related to household size

-building materials can be used as an index of wealth and status

-now, usually represented by mound

people with no fixed residence, economy focused on animal herds

-kin-based units, size  of group varied greatly

-strongly tied to cities where goods were exchanged

-formed effective military units

-most have settled over last 50 years

-leave behind campsites

used in houses in NE
-how to make: dig hole, sieve dirt (possibly), mix water with soil and straw temper, stomp/mix it, shape bricks with frame, dry them in sun, rotate as they dry

-to construct house: dig foundation trench, lay mud in to make a level foundation for house, lay bricks in trench, use mud as mortar, which creates holes everywhere, wood across top for windows, beams for roof, cross-beams, create roof (ex: reed mat), plaster outside of walls

often used as roof of mud-brick houses, walls for earliest constructed dwellings

most excavated sites in NE that represent villages are mounds

-easily found if investigator knows landscape

-represent settlements, relatively long-term occupations

-created when abandoned mud-brick houses “melt”—built up as a result of continuity of site

using what we can observe in the present, or know from historical documentation, to model the past

important archaeological tool used with excavation or with an independent methodology

-2 types: extensive (finding the most obvious sites, not useful for most kinds of analysis), intensive (finding sites, understanding environmental context, can be powerful tool for understanding economy, political structure)

arose around 13,000 BC, existed until around 9500 BC (of Mesolithic period)

-evidence in Kebara Cave and Hayonim Cave; open settlements at Ain Mallaha/Einan

-lived in Mediterranean forest, climate wetter than present

-predated by hunter-gatherers

-semi-subterranean houses made of stone and wood, temporary campsites for hunting

-lived in groups of up to 300 (based on evidence from Ain Mallaha)

-secondary foragers… earliest farmers?

-base camps in Woodland belt

-variability in mortuary practices

                -joint human-dog burials (ex: old woman with puppy at Ain Mallaha/Einan)

-domestic dogs—help with hunting?

                -decorated burials in Early Natufian

                -both single and collective burials

                -graves outside houses

-subdivided based on presence/absence of microburin technique

-picks/sickle blades, grindstones (used for nuts to be ground into flour?), retouched blades with sickle sheen

-hearths, storage pits

-use of bowls
-bone industry

                -tools for hideworking, basketry

-shells for jewelry—differences in jewelry = distinct group identities

-carvings on bone, stone (animals, geometric reliefs, humans)—difference in distribution of designs may indicate different social or ethnic groups

-late Natufian—invention of Harif point (more efficient arrowhead)

-intensive harvesting of wild cereals, at least

                -selected for varieties with a tougher rachis (made harvesting easier)

-hunted gazelle, fallow deer (seen in sculptures), water fowl

-evidence for at least one specialized role: shamanism at Hilazon Tachtit cave? (material culture similar to Khoi San bushmen)

-reaction to abrupt environmental changes?

tools as early as Natufian, for hideworking, basketry

-vary in importance during PPNB

-include needles, weaving tools, hooks

used for jewelry as early as Natufian… differences in jewelry represent distinct group identities

-headdress from el Wad of Natufian individual made of shells—indicator of status and role?

-used as ornaments in PPNB, traded for some distance

interaction between humans and other species that results in genetic alteration of that species

-cultural control over reproduction of a plant or animal species (older definition, implies intentionality)

-can be seen as symbiotic: both humans and domesticates benefit from change

-to understand domestication process:

                -understand characteristic domesticates of the region, based on modern food production, evidence from established agricultural communities recovered archaeologically

                -understand where it took place, using present-day distribution of wild forms

                -use archaeological sequence to determine when it took place

                -formulate theories

-first domesticated animal: wolf to dog

-domestication of food species: pigs, goats sheep… in that order. We think.

-What makes an animal species better for domestication?

                -tolerance for penning, social structure involving dominance, sexual precocity, weak alarm systems, reduced wariness and aggression

-dung = incredibly important as fuel

-in Near East, two distinct processes:

                1) domestication of plants in Levantine corridor

                2) domestication of animals in Taurus-Zagros arc

leads to increased birth rate (reduction of stress on woman, regularity of food supply)

-lowered mortality for infants and old

-conflict resolution required

-aggrandizers tolerated (competition not a positive trait in mobile societies)

-a lot more material culture, esp. stone

-communicable illnesses more easily established and spread, sanitation difficult

can tell about climatic conditions

-describes change through time, useful only if linked to an absolute chronology

-in Middle East, only found in waterlogged soils that have been there for past 12,000 years, have good stratification, and can be dated by radiocarbon.  Rough life.

places sites/strata in order (chronological sequence)

-important because to achieve major goals of archaeology one must be able not only to describe human behavior and cultures in specific time capsules, but must be able to see sequence/change and account for change

-difficult to apply if people did not reoccupy same spot and produce most common means of relative dating, stratigraphy (single period sites)

-problems with seriation = making assumptions about what is more “sophisticated”—need a way to determine which end is early, which is late

-figure out based on stratigraphy (direct evidence of order)

-in NE, large numbers of deeply stratified sites once people adopted a sedentary way of life

-two systems of relative dating:

                1) geological stratigraphy/sequence: division of earth’s strata into series of “periods” based on distinctive species of flora and fauna. Very long time periods.

                2) archaeological relative sequence

                -basic sequence in Old World: Three Age System

-methods: stratigraphy, cross-dating, seriation

law of association: all material from a single context is presumed to have been buried/deposited at the same time, and is therefore contemporary in deposition (not necessarily in creation—consider heirlooms, or redeposited material)

-law of superposition: when you have a series of strata/contexts, the lowest is earliest, the top is latest; must take into account processes that disturb stratigraphy

-site formation processes: in order to understand significance of association and accurately interpret stratigraphy, archaeologists must know how material got there

-in Middle East, generally monotone; layers determinable mostly by texture

use similar kinds of artifacts to determine relative dates of sites that are not contiguous

-relies heavily on arguments based on morphology and style of artifacts, or less commonly, architecture

-precision increases with number of attributes shared and distinctive nature of artifacts

-things to consider: motif, design, grammar, vessel shape, technology

-may be used for out-of-context artifacts, or for short-term occupations

place sites or artifacts in order relative to one another

-problematic to make assumptions about what is more “sophisticated”—need a way to determine which end is early, which is late

-most famous use is in predynastic Egypt: Petrie at Naqada arranging grave jars into what he thought was a logical order (oriented by finding coins)

-frequency seriation: count the number of pieces of particular types of artifacts, then arrange them on a histogram that shows “battleship curves”—assume that things are rare when introduced, gain popularity, then fade out

recent era, begins 10,000 years ago

-modern climatic conditions, flora and fauna

begins 2 MYA

-characterized by drastic fluctuations in temperature, glaciation near poles during cold periods

-sea and ice cores used to construct these fluctuations

created by Christian Jorgensen Thomsen organized collection of grave goods belonging to King of Denmark in early 19^th century, based on principles of increasing technological efficiency

-varies from one region to the next

-in Middle East: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age

locate a site or stratum relative to our calendar

-important because it relates isolated sites

-provides information about tempo (pace of change), which can help to distinguish indigenous development of technology vs. adoption from outside (sudden appearance)

-depend on presence of specific required materials which may be rare

-depend on range of time that absolute method can cover; inherent limits on many “scientific” methods

                -issues of precision

-methods: radiocarbon, dendrochronology, historical dating

requires organic material, preferably wood (charcoal)

-can’t be used for any sample over 100,000 years old, useful into 16-17^th century, but not after fossil fuels burnt in quantity

-based on decay of radioactive isotopes with known half-lives, most commonly used with C14

-gives a date range, best when uses a large series of dates

-problems with C14: disturbances, sample size, mismatch between C14 and known age samples due to fluctuations in radiocarbon in the earth’s atmosphere because of fluctuation in cosmic radiation

requires wood (look at rings of a young tree, match to old tree, match to sample)

-requires trees sensitive to climatic variation (not poplar)

-sequences from American SW and Europe used to set up calibration

requires dates in text

-biggest problem for early societies is correlation with our calendar

-range variable around the world (earliest attested documents in ME around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia, Iran, Egypt)

connections to social and economic behavioral changes

-physical experience of body modified by social categories; physical and social body are inseparable (Douglas)

-in crafting figurines, attention on key elements on what it is to be human in that society

-few anthropomorphic figurines from PPNA, no zoomorphic

-tons of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric figurines starting in middle PPNB

-representative of birth of gods in Near East?

                -goddess and bull

-used to enhance group cohesion and inter-group peace? (Bar Yosef)

-used to deliberate sexual ambiguity in MPPNB? (Kujit & Chesson)

-related to skull removal mortuary practices?

                -figurines are often missing their heads

-helping to mask social differentiation during advent of storage and sedentism? (Kujit & Chesson)

-types according to Peter Ucko:

-cult image: relatively expensive material, artistically elaborate, well-made, icons, representation of a supernatural being, object of ritual, often identifiable as an individual, very carefully handled

-vehicle of magic: small, really any material, not representing supernatural beings necessarily, purpose is to prevent or promote something

-initiation figure:  when a boy/girl is making transition to adult status—aids in teaching rules to be an adult, mostly of cheap materials but carefully curated, often disposed of in water

-toy: cheap materials, given to kids, might have significance, get beat up

settlement duration

-settlement size (used to infer differentiation)

-variation in size and content of houses (indicators of wealth)

-presence of non-domestic structures (special purpose: political, religious)

-differences in mortuary practices/grave goods

-appearance of large-scale food storage facilities

-evidence for inherited status—shows systematic inequalities

                -graves with children and rich/valuable goods (could not have acquired this status themselves)

-appearance of craft specialization

                -clusters of manufacturing debris rather than even distribution

                -specialization of whole communities (regional specialization)

chipped stone technology of PPNA

-points with side-notches, sickle blades with asphalt, fewer bladelets, more blades and flakes

-at Mureybit and Netiv Hagdud

chipped stone technology (PPNA)

-bifacial flaking

-data from Jericho, Mureybit, Nahel Oren

study still considered unscientific but is fruitful and necessary (Verhoeven)

-defines/modifies social behavior (Kujit)

                -establishes hierarchy and/or maintains egalitarianism

-creates community cohesion, even within households (Kujit)

-participatory aspect of ritual is key—effective ritual requires participants to be aware of broader meanings and messages within ritual activities (Kujit)

-reiteration reemphasizes common rules

-multi-dimensional

-4 concepts necessary to understand ritual:

                -syntax (structure of rituals)

                -symbolism

                -dimensions

                -analogy (use this type of reasoning to understand the past)

-different indications for rituals = different rituals

-private v. public rituals

-ritual system (relationships between rituals

-patterns in PPNB

                -significant expansion of secondary mortuary rituals

                -caching of cultic objects in extramural locations

                -developments of other forms of ritual (caching of animal figurines)

                -evidence for deliberate standardization (groups of 3)

-4 structuring principles underlying PPNB rituals and ideology:

                -communality (public display): integrate communities, conflict resolution

-BUT only a few people could fit into ritual buildings—were they in use simultaneously? Used by certain people for specific purposes?

-dominant symbolism: use of highly visual, powerful, and evocative symbols (coming to terms with socioeconomic changes?)

-vitality: focus on head (artificial deformation of heads, auroch horns)

-human-animal linkage (counteraction to domestication?)

social act focused on the regular and socially sanctioned removal of objects, pieces, or entire remains of a deceased individual from temporary to permanent resting place

-involves collective social memory and social identification

-co-participation beyond household lines (community festival)

-usually planned in advance, unlike primary rituals

-children treated differently from adults

-highly visible

-expanded during PPNB

-skull cults

                -cranial deformation from infancy

                -actual decapitation

                -symbolic decapitation, in pictures, of figurines

                -skull caches – often found in sets of three

                -plastered skulls, sometimes given headdresses

                -often modeled so they are looking up

                -indication that individuals were purposefully selected

early occurrence sporadic

-two primary traditions

                -vegetable-tempered in Zagros, spreads elsewhere

                -grit-tempered in N. Levant and Anatolia

                -sites in N. Syria and Mesopotamia have both types

-difference in forming methods

                -Zagros tradition uses molds, slabs

                -Anatolian/N. Levant tradition—coil-made?

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Childe

-climatic change at end of Pleistocene: conditions of increasing aridity in Near East… People and animals cluster in oases

-in close proximity people learn habits of plants and animals, eventually experimented and gained cultural control over reproduction

-follows general principles/laws derived from cultural evolutionists: Marx, Engels, Morgan

-supporting data: presence of earliest civilizations in river valleys

-problems: domestication must occur in natural habitat zones, not river valleys; end Pleistocene climatic changes not for greater aridity

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Braidwood

-end-Pleistocene conditions like the present

-experimentation occurred in natural habitat zones of wild ancestors of earliest domesticates, because these cultures were ready to experiment

                -derived from cultural anthropology theory of the “superorganic” in which culture exists outside of and above individuals, but organizes individual action

-studies at Jarmo in Zagros (place of early domestication) support this model—show no significant change at end of Pleistocene

-problems: conditions at end-Pleistocene were slightly wetter than present, does not explain how/why these changes in culture occurred

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Binford and Flannery

-late Pleistocene saw innovations in storage and ground stone technology

-wetness at end-Pleistocene allowed people to exploit a broader range of resources, and allowed for settled life (ex: aquatic resources)

-settled life led to population growth—communities expanded into areas not as well-suited for dependence on foraging, and food shortages led to experimentation with cultivation

-problems: archaeological evidence that agriculture took place in heart of natural habitat zone, not on fringes, no evidence for population growth at period just before agriculture, no evidence for Natufian reliance on aquatic resources

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Cohen and Moore

-population growth was inevitable, and under resource stress people were more likely to undertake more labor intensive subsistence strategies

                -agriculture could be means of maintaining large groups in areas not suited for large-group foraging

-supported by Khoi San data on sedentism leading to population growth

-problems: lack of evidence for resource pressure

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Bender and Hayden

-hunters maintain a population equilibrium, and food is shared, so increased labor seems silly

-food production might only occur when resources are abundant, leading to experimentation with resources that might not be shared

                -food production for delicacies at feasts, to demonstrate leaders’ success and ability to control others

-supported by ethnographic data on leaders who accumulate surplus and turn it into socially valued objects, evidence for trade and grave goods, lack of evidence for population pressure, communal areas at early sites, relatively elaborate serving utensils

theory for origin of agriculture advocated by Katz

-cereal protein cannot be fully synthesized by humans unless grains are processed and changed into compounds that humans can digest

                -sprouting and fermenting is one of these ways

                -bread or beer would do, but barley doesn’t work well for bread, and barley is way important early on (evidence at Netiv Hagdud)

-people who consumed beer had a selective advantage, being better nourished

-ritual behavior surrounding mind-altering food

-problems: relies heavily on knowledge of living societies, how do you explain early domestication of lentils and rye?