Term
| When shift in relationship with environment began |
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Definition
| 8,000 BC (Neolithic period) |
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Term
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Definition
the caring for or cultivation of plants. This caring for plants can be minimal or intensive, ranging from the encouraging of essentially wild
individuals to the careful planting and rearing of selected species |
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Term
| Vernacular term for agriculture |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| used by archaeologists to refer to small-scale or incipient agriculture |
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Term
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Definition
| Often confused with cultivation, involves the genetic alteration of plants brought about by the activities of humans |
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Term
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Definition
Process in which selection of individuals can lead to changes in frequencies of the variants in populations. This can lead to cultivated crops that are are so distinctive in appearance that it is
difficult to trace them back to particular wild species |
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Term
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Definition
Near East/"fertile crescent”: 11,000;
Northern China: 9,000;
Southern China: 8,000:
Central Mexico: 8,000-10,000;
Peruvian Andes: 8-10,000;
Papua New Guinea: 6-9,000;
West Africa: 4,500;
Eastern No. America: 4,000 |
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Term
| Two types of agriculture in seed records |
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Definition
| Seed crop and vegeculture |
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Term
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Definition
| cereal grains (wheat, maize, rice); occur in simple ecological communities (low species diversity); very productive, but unstable - cultivation requires constant human intervention (e.g., burning, tilling, weeding) |
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Term
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Definition
root crops and tree crops (manioc, yams, taro, avocado, potato); complex plant communities
(multi-species); less productive but more stable than seed crop, less labor inputs needed |
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