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Summary BLGY1211 Applied Biology and Agriculture
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BLGY1211BLGY1211 Domestication and Agriculture
A brief history of domestication and agriculture
The earliest farmers worked longer hours, were malnourished, smaller and more
diseased than hunter-gatherers only in the long run has technology made our
lives more “comfortable” than hunter-gatherers We still work harder, and are
probably less happy
Food production could not have arisen through a conscious decision as the first
farmers had no model to observe so wouldn’t know consequences only people
who could make a conscious choice about becoming farmers ere hunter-gatherers
living adjacent to the first farming communities and they generally disliked what
they saw and rejected farming
To switch to an agricultural life style both opportunity (domestication of crop
species) and motive (agricultural lifestyle had to outcompete H-G lifestyle)
Possible tipping points; expanding population, diminishing prey, unpredictable
climate, local depletion of resources
Once the transition is made competitive advantages accrue (auto-catalytic)
The transition is generally irreversible because population density increases
Around 10 independent centres of domestication (this doesn’t equal fertile areas
rather the natural range of easily-domesticated species)
Early adoption of agriculture directly correlated with number and productivity of
domesticable crops
Proto-domestication
H-G societies gained experience of managing plants and animals
Dogs are earliest known domesticate
Management of plants and animals are likely pre-requisite for domestication
, Increasingly sedentary lifestyle also pre-requisite
Domestication
Domestication is a sustained multigenerational, mutualistic relationship in which one
organism assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care
of another organism in order to secure a more predictable supply of a resource of
interest and through which the partner organism gains advantage over individuals
that remain outside this relationship thereby benefitting and often increasing the
fitness of both the domesticator and the target domesticate
Domestication is at the core of the switch to an agricultural lifestyle
Domestication (eventually) allowed farming to outcompete hunting/gathering
The key signature of domestication is the genetic change in a species relative to its
wild ancestors
400,000 species of plant – only around 200 domesticated
Includes ‘commodity crops’ – flax, cotton, tobacco, coffee, tea, sugar cane
12 plants provide 80% of the world’s food crop yield
Many millions of species of animal – less than 50 domesticated
~25 used for food (inc. honeybee), or mixed use
6 used primarily for transport, labour or materials (inc. silkworm)
Others mainly companions/pets (inc. dogs, cats)
Ideal plants or domestication; edible, nutritious and high yielding in the wild, easily
grown from seed, fast-growing annuals, storable, self-pollinating, einkoen wheat,
emmer wheat, barley, rice, lentils, pea, chickpea, beans, peanuts
Few plants as; there aren’t many easy-to-domesticate plants, the most suitable
plants were the first ones to be domesticated, sub-optimal crops were also
domesticated – but much more slowly, anything with multiple disadvantages unlikely
to be domesticated
Ideal animals for domestication; big, simple diet (no carnivores or fussy eaters),
breeds in captivity, fast-growing, not overly violent, not overly flighty, social
structure – herding instinct, dominance hierarchy
Few animals as; 148 species of big mammal, only ~15 domesticated, most of these
domesticated by 2500 BC, cows & pigs domesticated independently in multiple
places, other large mammals have major disadvantages that prevent domestication –
even now, smaller mammals, and birds, were also domesticated, but primarily in
societies that lacked domesticated large mammals, same principles apply – few are
actually suitable for domestication
Agriculture ≠ domestication
Agriculture is not a necessary outcome of domestication
Often thousands of years between initial domestication and fully-fledged agriculture
Transition period between H-G and agriculture based on exploiting a broad spectrum
of resources
Furthers the trend towards sedentary lifestyle
Transitions: the fertile crescent
8 crops domesticated – some with high protein levels
4 animals domesticated – protein, labour, transport, clothing
, Broadest domestication event - ‘a complete package’
The crops are highly productive and easily cultivated
Evidence for settled H-G villages pre-dating agriculture
Relative paucity of big game animals, and aquatic environments for fishing
Agriculture was very competitive with H-G lifestyle. Small ‘hunger gap’
Once domestication occurred, agriculture was quickly adopted
Transition may have been relatively seamless
Transitions: the Americas
Mississippi basin: goosefoot, knotweed, artichoke, sunflower
Mesoamerica: (early) maize, beans (x3), squash (late) turkey, tomato
Amazonia: cassava, peanut
Andes: potato, sweet potato, quinoa, lima bean, llama, alpaca, guinea pig
Multiple sites of domestication
Paucity of easily domesticable species
Relatively low potential of those that were – even maize
No balanced package anywhere
Even when domestication occurred, agriculture was not immediately viable
Americas settled ~20-15,000 years ago
Initially abundant large game species rapidly declined
Should have made agriculture much more appealing!
Lack of suitable crops led to late adoption of agriculture
Large ‘hunger gap’ needed before eventual adoption
Food
Astonishing (if unsustainable) yields of crops worldwide
Overall increase in yield of 138% in the last 50 years
In developed countries an extraordinary confluence of farming, science, technology,
distribution and retail
There is no such thing as a ‘post-agricultural’ society
, Jobs
Early farming allowed increased population density and habitation
Gradual improvements in yield generated reliable surpluses
More people could be fed than are needed to produce food
Allowed development of specialist occupations
Technology
Simple technologies predated agriculture
Intensification of agriculture drove many technological innovations
Specialization in society allowed these innovations to be refined
Specialist trades also gave rise to their own innovations
‘Technological spiral’
Culture
Culture and religion also predate agriculture
Increasing population/urbanization resulted in the intensification of socio-cultural
experience
Agricultural surpluses allowed societies to sustain priests, artists, philosophers
Customs and religions increase social cohesion
Government
As societies grow and increase in complexity, government became necessary
Governments are delegated (initially) control of agricultural and labour surpluses
Writing systems arose as a bureaucratic tool to manage resources
Allowed institutionalization of warfare
The broadest patterns of history
Agricultural societies exponentially accrue the ‘benefits’ of technology, culture and
governance at any point in time, the societies that adopted agriculture early will
be more ‘advanced’ early-adopting societies will outcompete late-adopting
societies The bigger the head-start, the more unequal the competition is
Agriculture was adopted earliest in Eurasia the general course of world history
was effectively determined by this
The spread of farming and culture;
Eurasia’s predominant east-west axis facilitated the spread of farming,
technology, culture, ideas and writing
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