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Archaeology 100-D200
Ancient Peoples and Places
Archaeology and the Study of Prehistory…
Week 6: THE NEOLITHIC: NEAR EAST, THE AMERICAS AND THE WORLD. INCREASING SOCIAL COMPLEXITY
WITH DOMESTICATION
February 20th & 22nd 2012
Dr. Alvaro HiguerasSimon Fraser University, Spring 2012
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Agenda of Week 6
The Middle East and the Neolithic
Early agriculture in other parts of the world
Political structures and increasing complexity in human organization.
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Those 15 points for Session 4 & 5
A. Population of the Americas.
B. The Magdalenian on the way to the
Mesolithic.
C. "Sampling” and “sampling”.
D. The sequence of political evolution.
E. Differences between Chiefdom and State?
F. "Qualitative" aspects of the political forms.
G. What are empires for?
H. The most variable stage in the evolution…?
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I. Redistribution and its evolution.
J. Decline, small vs. large scale societies.
K. The Mesolithic and the environment.
L. What is there to love about the
Magdalenian?
M. Megafauna and the evidence.
N. Symbiosis of humans and animals towards
domestication.
O. The most important factor in the formation
and consolidation of state-level societies?
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ChiefdomsRedistribution… in “simple” chiefdoms
Other mechanisms in more “complex” ones… without R > Accumulation (then “gifts”)
Concentration of power and goods, used of them
in “strategic” ways
Chiefdom as a non-existent or short stage in some areas…
Or archaeologists have not been able to document it in the archaeological record of
some regions
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State> Cooperation and good teamwork, as a cluster
of chiefdoms…
> Sustainable resources, dense population, and (further) evolution of a hierarchy
> Physical environment where it controls the activities aspect of social organization such as
farming, irrigation, buildings…
> Resolution of Conflict/competition in densely populated societies is the factor, as the state is
thereon needed for conflict resolution and management of the land.
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The center of it all: The Fertile Crescent
It is an area of Mediterranean climate characterized by dry summers and winter rains with enough precipitation to support vegetation ranging from woodlands to open park woodland
South and east of the Fertile Crescent, the open park woodlands give way to steppes and true deserts
It environment today is much drier that at the onset of the domestication process
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Historical context for the development of agriculture
> Spatial continuity & formation of mounds
Çatalhöyük
Jericho
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Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran
These sites identified by characteristic stone tools — bladelets
Most sites are remains of small camps made by highly mobile hunter-gatherers
Burials at these sites are rare No evidence of plant or animal domestication
during this period Plant remains recovered include wild grasses,
fruits, nuts, and animals
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The Natufian
Sedentary hunter-gatherers foraging for food such as emmer wheat, barley and almonds, and hunting gazelle, deer, cattle, horse, and wild boar.
For at least part of the year, Natufian people lived in communities, some quite large, of semi-subterranean houses.
These semi-circular one room structures were excavated partly into the soil and built of stone, wood and perhaps brush roofs.
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They located their settlements at the boundaries between coastal plains and hill country, to maximize their access to a wide variety of food.
They buried their dead in cemeteries, with grave goods including stone bowls and dentalium shell.
The largest Natufian communities (called ‘base camps’) found to date include Jericho, Ain Mallaha, and Wadi Hammeh 27.
Smaller, short-range dry season foraging camps may have been part of the settlement pattern, although evidence for them is scarce.
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The Natufian tools
Characteristic stone tool is the lunate, a crescent-shaped bladelet served as hunting tools or as parts of tools made of multiple small pieces Michael Chazan
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Natufian settlements
People began the transition to village life during this period
Structures are ovals or open semicircles Structures consist of undressed stones piled to
form walls up to 1 metre high Structure floors covered with refuse—including
stone tools and animal bones The stone walls are thought to have supported
superstructures made of wood and brush Not clear what function structures served
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Natufian burials
Burials are commonly found on Natufian sites
In some cases, the skull has been removed prior to burial
Some Natufian burials include shell necklaces and head coverings
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Natufian subsistence
Natufians practised a broad-spectrum subsistence strategy
They exploited a wide range of wild plants Most plant species do not show any evidence
of having been domesticated Hunting focused on a single species, gazelle No herd animals were domesticated Burials indicate that dogs were part of human
society and being domesticated
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The Early Neolithic
Early Neolithic is divided into two major periods:
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A–Dates between 12,000-10,800 years ago–Corresponds to end of the Younger DryasThe Big Freeze, was a geologically brief (1300 ± 70 years) cold climate period
between approximately 12800
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B–Dates between 10,800-8,500 years ago–Corresponds to a period of improved climate
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The Early Neolithic technology
A shift away from tools made on bladelets This period’s toolkit is made on
blades with an emphasis on arrowheads
Toolkit includes sickles, ground stone axes, and adzes
Grinding stones for processing grains found in extremely large quantities
Pre-Pottery B sites exhibit highly developed use of plaster
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Pre-pottery A Neolithic
Settlement size increased during this period First evidence of communal structures appears
Most impressive of these structures is Jericho tower—9 m high, made of undressed stone and mud brick, attached to the inside of a massive wall
Houses continue to be circular, but settlements larger than Natufian ones
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Pre-pottery B Neolithic
Round houses give way to rectangular ones Settlement size increases significantly Rectangular houses allow sites to be more
densely packed than previously Villages often show high degree of planning No sense that the regular layout of the sites
reflects presence of centralized authority
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Early Neolithic RitualMany ritual objects were hidden—in pits, under
floors, in caves—their functions are unknown Most striking hidden objects are plastered skulls
Human skulls on which plaster faces have been molded
Plaster figures have been found in pits A cache of ritual objects were found in a cave
includes a cap, a bag, beads, bone tools, arrowheads, a painted stone mask, and a human skull with a net pattern on the cranium
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Chinchorro burial, Northern Chile
Plastered Skull, Jericho
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Early Neolithic Domestication
Earliest evidence of plant domestication is seen in contexts from the Pre-Pottery A
Farming developed during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period
A wide range of domesticated crops is found including–Cereals—emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley–Pulses—lentils, peas–Legumes—bitter vetch, chick peas
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The Late Neolithic
Characterized by the development of pottery manufacture
Stone tools, expedient tools, made on local materials with minimal energy investment
Characterized by a limited number of large sites and small dispersed hamlets
Large sites are not densely packed
Symbolic artifacts tend to be stylized animal figurines
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Late Neolithic subsistence
Importance of hunting continuously declines throughout period
Evidence for animal domestication includes changes in the shape of goat horns
Despite symbolic emphasis on bulls, main source of meat was domestic goat
People still relied on the full range of plants domesticated in the Early Neolithic
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Tabaqat el-BumaDirected by University of Toronto archaeology professor Ted Banning Part of the Wadi Ziqlab Project;
survey of this area of Northern Jordan
Late Neolithic site Characterized by a number of
dwellings that make up a small community
Banning suggests that these small, dispersed communities may have replaced the larger nucleated villages of the Early Neolithic
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The “cereals used at the Natufian site of Mureybet... may not have been growing locally [but]... may have been imported or introduced from farther north... Transport of raw materials across considerable distances is well known in the Near East, adding weight to the argument that cereals were also transported” (Willcox 2005, 539).
We need not imagine this to be the result of an institutionalized market in cereal futures (Bernstein 1996) in order to ask whether microeconomic tools will help us to understand how differential valuation in zones of production and consumption, balanced against the transaction costs associated with such movements of goods, rights, and/or consumers, will further analysis and explanation.
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Willcox’s : The distribution, natural habitats and availability of wild cereals in relation to their domestication in the Near East: multiple events, multiple centres
(pattern shown as well at a world scale… plants micro adapted to initial environmental features)
The proximity of a perennial water source was the main priority when choosing a settlement location, not the proximity of wild cereal stands. Settlement sites are all situated near a river, spring or lake... Due to the patchy distribution of the two wild wheat species, many sites were situated at some distance from the wild stands.
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The change from gathering to cultivation was a gradual process. Hillman suggests that it had already started on a small scale in the Natufian, and a knowledge of planting may go back even farther – Mesolithic broad spectrum experiences –
During the initial stages early farmers may have been obliged to frequently replenish their seed stocks from wild stands, which would slow the domestication process. It is not until the end of the 9th millennium BC that we see the appearance of well established farmers with fully-fledged agriculture which produced conditions favourable for the selection of domestic traits
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Microeconomic models for framing the question of agricultural origins in terms of risk, discounting, economies of scale, and transaction costs.
Rather than a functional approach: productive environment or inequality function to facilitate this transformation?
Causal approach: climate change, population growth, or feasting.
Behavioral ecology economic concepts are applicable whatever the mode of production
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Politics and Borders in Archaeology
• Politics and archaeology frequently intersect in the Middle East
• Archaeology has been an important tool for change in places such as Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria
• However, Steven Rosen has shown that national borders have had a major influence on the reconstruction of the prehistory of the region
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• Problem:–Modern borders affect the limits of where
archaeologists work or visit– Israeli and Syrian archaeologists are unable
to cross borders and visit each other’s countries for intellectual exchange
• Results: –Lack of communication and fragmentation of
the archaeological record–Distorts our view of the past
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Progress:> Signing of a peace agreement between Israel
and Jordan has eased travel between these two countries
> Outbreaks of violence keeps travel to a minimum> But ease in travel has improved understanding of
the connections between Israel and Jordan in prehistory
> Emphasis on understanding local archaeological developments from a global perspective is a useful counterbalance to tendencies to use archaeology to promote nationalist agendas
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Domesticates in Europe
Origins of domesticated plants and animals can be traced to the Middle East, the “wave”…
No evidence of indigenous domestication of plants or animals
Unresolved questions about domestication in Europe include:
> Did populations of farmers sweep across Europe bringing new crops and new lifeways with them
> Did Mesolithic hunter-gatherers adopt domesticated plants and animals to forge a new way of life?
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Sheep and goat, as well as some cereals (emmer wheat and einkorn) and pulses (lentil, pea, chick pea, and bitter vetch) had no wild ancestors in Europe during the Holocene.
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A Feast of Diversity
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Domestication in Africa
There are 3 major regions where plants were indigenously domesticated in Africa:1. Northeast Africa—tef, finger millet, and coffee2. Central Africa—pearl millet, sorghum3. West Africa—African rice
• Domesticated plants introduced from the Middle East include wheat, barley, lentils
• Domesticated animals introduced from the Middle East were sheep and goats
• Considerable debate surrounds the origin of domesticated cattle in Africa
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The Sahara desert
Today the Sahara desert is the most dominant feature of the North African landscape
The current desert environment developed in the Sahara only within the last 4000-5000 years
Between 14,000 and 4500 years ago there was considerably more rainfall in the Sahara
Extensive human occupation of the region was possible before it became a desert
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Hunter-gatherers villages
Small villages of hunter-gatherers existed across northern Africa during the period of increased rainfall in the Sahara
Such sites resemble Natufian sites in the Middle East in several ways: Their size, the nature of the structures on them,
the exploitation of a wide range of resources, the use of grinding stones
African also differ from Natufian sites in significant ways: Pottery and large numbers of storage pits are
commonly found on African sites—not in Natufian period
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African pastoralists
Domesticated animals were introduced before domesticated plants in much of North Africa
Cattle, sheep, and goats appear to have been incorporated into mobile hunter-gatherer societies
Mobile societies with economies focused on maintaining herds of domesticated animals are called pastoral societies
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Agriculture in New Guinea
Today, agricultural societies of New Guinea emphasize the centrality of pigs and sweet potatoes for subsistence and for developing a social hierarchy–The exchange of pigs is an essential element of
political power–Sweet potatoes are an important part of the
diet of pigs; therefore, mean political power Surprisingly, both sweet potatoes and pigs were
introduced to New Guinea fairly recently—they were domesticated elsewhere
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New Guinea domesticates
Genetic research indicates that a wide number of plants were indigenously domesticated in New Guinea
These crops include yams, bananas, taro, and possibly sugarcane
None of these crops are cereals—no seed crops
Traditional agricultural processes in New Guinea involve transplanting suckers, cuttings, or shoots
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The Andes environment
Andes are the second highest mountain chain in the world
The Andean highlands are divided into four zones based on altitude above sea level:
1. Quechua zone: 2300-3500 m, where corn grows well
2. Suni zone: 3500-4000 m, where crops indigenous to the Andes are grown
3. Puna zone: 4000-4800 m, open grassland for grazing alpacas and llamas
4. Cordillera zone: above 4800 m, not used for agriculture
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Andean domestication Domesticated beans
from Guitarrero Cave have been directly dated to 4300 BP.
Quinoa seeds have been found in layers 5700-4500 years old at Panaulauca Cave
The earliest evidence for domesticated potatoes dates to 4000-3000 BP. Probably not the earliest domesticate
potatoes because they were found along the coast, not where wild potatoes grow
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Andean domestication Llamas and alpacas
(camelids) were domesticated beginning10,000-5000 years ago
Llama as pack animal25 kg at most
Vicuña and Guanaco are still wild camelids
The other domesticated Andean animal is the guinea pig, when domesticated unknown, but perhaps after camelids
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Preagricultural coastal villages
By 8000 BP small settled villages developed along the Peruvian coast–Houses were built of reeds and grasses
over a wooden structure–About 10 families lived in a village at any
given time–Burial data indicates that there were not
higher status individuals
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The Cotton Preceramic
Prevalence of cotton seeds and absence of pottery on its sites
These sites are often quite large and contain evidence of monumental architecture The flat-topped pyramid, Huaca de los Idolos,
dates to 5500-4500 BP., the earliest known monumental architecture in the New World
The bulk of the Cotton Preceramic diet consisted of fish and shellfish Populations obtained gourds, squash, chili pepper,
beans, and jicima from wild plants The dominant crop species was cotton, also in the
wild, used for making textiles and nets
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Caral, World heritage site, 2009
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Preagricultural coastal villages
Inhabitants of these villages were hunter-gatherers who relied heavily on the rich coastal marine resources–A wide range of wild plant resources
including seeds, fruits, and tubers were exploited
–Cultivated gourds were domesticated; beans and squash may have been cultivated, but they were not significant parts of the diet
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Pacific currents & society
Humboldt Current: brings cool waters up from the south along the Andean coast–Responsible for the wealth of marine
resources that allowed villages to thrive without agriculture
El Niño: a severe reversal of the Humboldt Current; occurs every 25-40 years–When major El Niños occur, there is a
massive decline in fish and shellfish populations on the coast
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Pacific currents & society
–Also causes torrential rains that cause massive flooding and mud slides
Some argue that El Niños have only happened for about 6000 years–The onset of the Cotton Preceramic and
El Niño seem to correlate–Perhaps climactic uncertainty played a
role in the development of large centres with some reliance on agriculture
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Domestication in East Asia
Rice was domesticated along the Yangtze and Huai River Valleys, China by 9000 BP.
Millet was domesticated in the Yellow River Valley, China by the Peiligang culture, c. 8000 BP.
Dogs, pigs, and water buffalo were domesticated in southern China
Pigs and, possibly, chickens were domesticated in northern China
Pottery vessels from Banpo Village site, China.
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Development of Chinese farming societies
Yangshou culture developed out of the Peiligang culture of the Yellow River
Yangshou villages consisted of both round semisubterranean houses and rectangular houses built on the surface
Wild plants and animals were exploited Millet was fully domesticated as were dogs and pigs Pottery vessels were made in many forms with
elaborate painted decorations
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Mesoamerica and North America
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Mesoamerican domestication
Squash (Curcurbita pepo) was the earliest plant domesticated in Mesoamerica–Earliest squash seeds dated to 10,000-8300
BP.–Ancestor of squashes eaten today including
pumpkins, acorn squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, etc.
Maize was domesticated from teosinte, a wild grass found in the highlands of Mexico–Earliest maize dated to 6250 and 5500 BP.
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Mesoamerican domestication
Beans were domesticated independently in Mesoamerica and in the Andes–Earliest date for a Mexican bean is 2500
BP.– It is very likely that beans were
domesticated earlier, at the same time as maize
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Maize in SW North AmericaMaize and squash agriculture spread to northern
Mexico and the southwestern U.S. about 3400 BP. in the Southwestern Late Archaic Period
Initial impact of maize and squash varied across the region
In some areas there was increased sedentism In other areas, agriculture did not substantially
alter the lives of the Late Archaic hunter-gatherers
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The Formative period
The introduction of pottery into the American Southwest marks the beginning of the Formative period
The introduction of pottery overlaps with the introduction of beans
Sites with pit houses are common in this period Formative sites range in size from 1-2 houses to
as many as 25-35—one village site has 60 houses
Regional variation in the impact of maize continues into the Formative
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Optimal foraging model
Assumes that humans act on the basis of rational self-interest to maximize efficiency in collecting and processing resources
Archaeologists use this theory to explain the variation in adaptation to the introduction of maize agriculture
According to optimal foraging theory, diversity exists in the uptake of maize agriculture as the result of rational decisions about the productiveness of the landscape and the returns from maize agriculture
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Eastern North American domesticatesLate Archaic peoples of eastern North America
independently domesticated a variety of plants– Including sunflower, marsh elder, chenopod,
and squash Late Archaic peoples also narrowed their
subsistence base—especially in areas with rich supplies of shellfish–Shell middens
The impact of domesticates on subsistence in the Late Archaic was minimal–Hunting and gathering continued to be the
basis of Late Archaic subsistence
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Adena
Adena culture corresponds to the Early Woodland period of Eastern North America
The Adena culture is found in the Ohio River Valley
During the Adena period increasingly large burial mounds were constructed accompanied by increasingly elaborate burial practices
The Great Serpent Mound, Ohio.
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The Hopewell
In the Ohio River Valley, the Middle Woodland period corresponds to the Hopewell—a culture that built complex earthworks and had elaborate burial rituals–Some Hopewell mounds were built over
structures –Massive earthworks were created in a
number of forms including circles, squares, and octagons
–Some mounds were created over a variety of types of burials, other mounds had intrusive burials in them
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The Hopewell
The Hopewell exchange network moved exotic goods across huge distances–Quantities of expertly crafted objects
made from exotic materials in burials indicate the status of elites
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Hopewell settlementAccording to the vacant centre pattern model,
Hopewell earthworks served as the symbolic and ceremonial core of a community that lived across a wide area
Evidence indicates that some earthworks were occupied
Assessing the nature of Hopewell settlements is difficult because of–The widespread modern destruction of the
earthworks and their massive scale–The low archaeological visibility of Hopewell
habitation sites because of alluvial soil buildup
Hopewell bird claw.
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Woodland subsistence
Early & Middle Woodland subsistence was based heavily on the cultivation of indigenously domesticated plants
The earliest dates for maize in eastern North America are between 2000-1800 BP.
Maize is rare in the Early/Middle Woodland and did not play a major role in the diet
Throughout the Woodland period, hunting and gathering continued to be key elements of subsistence along with the cultivation of local domesticates
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Maize Agriculture in Eastern North America By the beginning of the Late Woodland, maize is found as
far north as Ontario Maize was cultivated throughout much of eastern North
America by 1700 BP., however Isotope analysis of skeletal remains indicates that maize did
not play a major role in the diet until about 1000 years ago
Turkeys appear to have been domesticated during the Formative period
Turkey domestication in the Southwest and in Mesoamerica were separate events
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Domestication: Bruce Smith’s model
A coevolutionary model for the indigenous domestication of plants in eastern North America
Smith states that climate change led to increased permanence of human settlements
The shift to more permanent settlements led to gradual ecological changes that resulted in the emergence of domesticated plants over a period of several thousand years
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Domestication: Smith’s model, in 5 major stages
1. Garbage heaps around long-term human occupations provided an excellent ecological niche for weedy plants. In these contexts, seeds that sprouted and grew quickly had an advantage
2. People tolerated edible plants and removed unwanted plants
3. People began to encourage and systematically harvest useful plants while weeding out useless ones
4. Seeds of the best useful plants were deliberately planted every year
5. Plants that were clearly morphologically domesticated emerged
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Domestication: Prentice’s model
Guy Prentice proposed that the domestication of plants might have been the result of intentional actions by individuals
Prentice argues that the introduction of domesticated squash into eastern North America was carried out by male shamans who would have used the gourds as rattles or ritual containers
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Princess Point Complex
Found in southern Ontario; dates to 650–900 A.D. Consisted of Algonkian-speaking hunter-gatherers Important to the debate about whether maize exploitation
(agriculture) moved into the area via migration from the south during this time, or whether it was adopted by local groups
Pottery is believed to have started 900 A.D.; however, University of Toronto at Mississauga archaeologists David Smith and Gary Crawford have found evidence for both pottery and a degree of sedentism as early as 540 A.D. in the PPC– Suggests perhaps both local adoption of agriculture and migration
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Gender Bias and domestication
Watson and Kennedy link the seeming invisibility of people in the origins of agriculture to gender bias–“men are strong, dominant protectors who
hunt animals; women are weaker, passive, hampered by their reproductive responsibilities, and hence, consigned to plant gathering” (Watson and Kennedy 1991:256)
Smith’s domestication model is an example of the “passive” form of bias—agriculture just happened unconsciously
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Gender Bias and domestication
Prentice’s domestication model is active but, tellingly, the agent is explicitly male
Watson and Kennedy propose a model for the adoption of maize in eastern North America that emphasizes the active role of female gardeners
They propose that women, who already had extensive experience growing indigenous cultigens, actively experimented with the Midwestern 12-row maize to develop a variety that was better suited to their region
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Gender Bias and domestication
–The result was the development and spread of eastern 8-row maize
In this model, the adoption of maize in eastern North America was an achievement of the active intervention of women
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Summing up the evidence
• In eastern North America, hunter-gatherer groups had domesticated a number of plant species long before the introduction of maize agriculture
• Regional variability continued into the Formative period–Archaeologists try to explain the pattern in
terms of optimal foraging theory
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• Early and Middle Woodland Adena and Hopewell cultures
• Massive earthworks constructed • Evidence for specialized craft manufacture • Long-distance trade in high status items
• Nature of settlement systems remains poorly understood
• Introduction of maize at the end of the Middle Woodland period had little impact of the diet