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Summary Domestication and agriculture
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BLGY1211 Domestication and AgricultureA 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
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