Anthropology 150

 Sedentism and food production radically altered human life

 Food production emerged in at least 6 distinct areas of the world, beginning about 10,000 years ago

 SW Asia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Northern China, Southern China, sub-saharan Africa, Mesoamerica, South America

 The regions where food production emerged embarked upon what Robert Mc. Adams has called “The Path of Fire” a path of very rapid social and cultural change that involved increasing populations, the intensification of production, social inequality, and political centralization

 Many parts of the world, however, did not undergo those changes. Those people continued to lead perfectly good lives as hunters and gatherers.

Southwest Asia

18,000 B.C. to 3,100 B.C.

P Stages  1) Late Pleistocene Hunters/gatherers

 2) Sedentary hunters/gatherers

 3) Initial Agriculturalists

 4) spread of agriculture to the Hilly Flanks

 5) colonization of the Mesopotamian plain

 6) Intensive irrigation agriculture

Climatological Change

P From 21,00 t0 16,000 B.C., southwest Asia was cool and dry (corresponds to Weischel glaciation).

P The Period From 16,000 B.C. to 13,000 B.C. is marked by an unstable climatological regime, but with a general warming trend.

 Changing landscape

 Megafaunal extinctions or retreat

 Cultural response is the ABroad Spectrum Economy@ P Bolling-Allerod Interstadial (c. 12,700-10,950 B.C.)

 Characterized by increased warming, retreat of ice sheets, rising sea

levels.

P Younger Dryas (ca. 10,950 - 9,650 B.C.)  A dramatic return to Pleistocene-like conditions. Temperatures drop

rapidly. Some argue that the cold and dry Younger Dryas lowered the

carrying capacity of the area and forced the sedentary Early Natufian

population into a more mobile subsistence pattern, but the response may

have varied by region. In some areas, Natufians continued in sedentary

villages.

P Intensive Hunters/Gatherers in SW Asia  Complex hunter gatherers are known from many

different areas of the world, with different strategies of

resource utilization.

 Economy is intensified by cultural change

BHarvesting of new resources (broad spectrum economy), especially those than can be stored.

BStorage technologies allow the collection of surpluses during periods of abundance, e.g, salmon runs, nut

availability, game migrations, etc.

 More specialized hunting, fishing, and plant-

processing equipment

18,000-12,500 B.C.

P Mobile Hunter/gatherers  Possible seasonal aggregation into larger

bands

 Diverse subsistence regime

P Inhabited varied environments P Microlithic Technology (small blades hafted or Abacked@ to make composite tools

Early Natufian 12,500 B 10,800 B.C. Late Natufian 10,800-9500 B.C.

P Developed out of Kebaran P Late Natufian is Co-eval in large part with the Younger Dryas

P Sedentary Hunter-Gatherers relying on dense stands of wild grains (wheat, barley), nuts, and game

P Habitation sites have architecture and storage facilities P Technology includes sickles and grinding tools

Important

Settlements

Ain Mallaha

Jericho

Kebara

Abu Huyera

Natufian houses

show substantial

investment of labor

Use of stone

cobbles as

foundations

Settlement

covers 2000

M2

Population

estimated at

200-300

Ain Mallaha

Artifacts

from

Ain Mallaha

An

emphasis on

seed

harvesting

and

processing

technology

Post-Natufian

P The End of the Younger Dryas brought about 150-200 years of intense heat and intense seasonality

P Stress was placed on resource availability P Mobility was curtailed by arid zones surrounding Natufian settlements

P Technological shift was made to planting grain, rather than harvesting wild plants

P Human intervention brought about genetic change (domestication) P The change was abrupt, accomplished in less than 100 years P After Natufian shift to food production, agriculture spread throughout the Fertile Crescent. This is a zone where there is

adequate rainfall to practice cultivation without irrigation.

The Fertile Crescent

 Domestication -- human modification of plant or animal genomes through selection

 Sedentism -- year-round residence in a settlement

 Food production -- reliance upon cultivation and/or domesticated animals

- horticulture: simple technologies

- agriculture - use of enhanced technology, such as plows, irrigation, fertilizers, etc.

Sedentary Agricultural Villages

P Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (ca.9,500 - 8,000 B.C.)  Cayanou

 Abu Hureyra

 Jericho

P Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (ca. 8,000 - 6000 B.C.)  Catal Houyuk

 Jarmo

 Jericho

Occupied by

about 7000

B.C.

About 25

mudbrick

houses

Subsistence

base was

80%

domesticate

d resources

Catal Huyuk

(Anatolia)

PPNB settlement

- 13 ha in size

- Occupation

begins ca. 7000

B.C.

-Extensive trade

networks with other

Neolithic towns

-Elaborate

ceremonial

development

An excavated house at Catal Huyuk

Hassuna

Hassuna

Hassuna Pottery

Samarra

Tell es-Sawaan

Samarra Culture

ca. 5600 B.C.

Samarra

Pottery

Halafian Pottery

Four Ceramic Sub-phases

from ca. 5500-4200 B.C.

Ubaid Period

Ubaid

Ceramics

Ubaid

Material

Culture

Eridu

Temples

Eridu Temples I-VII

4200-3100 B.C.

P Divided into Early, Middle, and Late Phases

P Development of True Cities in Middle of Phase

P First Appearance of Regional Polities P Possible Chiefdoms P Clearly >Sumerian= Culture P Early Writing B Clay Seals P Expansion out of Sumeria in Late Uruk - The Uruk >World System=

Sumeria:

The Southern portion of

Mesopotamia. (shaded area

Of the map).

Sumerian was a now-extinct

Language. Sumerian language

And culture is distinguishable

From those of northern

Mesopotamia.

Beginning in the Uruk period,

Sumeria was composed of

Numerous cities. Although

Politically independent, the cities

Shared a common language,

Religion, and culture.

View of

Uruk

Uruk

The World System of Uruk?

Jmdet Nasr Period

(a.k.a. Protoliterate Period)

Ca 3100 – 2900 B.C.

2900-2350 B.C.

P Cities reach urban proportions P Development of kingship P 10-15 city-states in competition P No overall rulership of Sumeria

Ur of the Chaldees

Ur

Leonard Wooley

The Tomb of Queen Pu-Abi

Part of the “Royal Cemeteries” of Ur

The

Standard of

Ur

Sargon of

Akkad

Naram-Sin

Akkadian Cylinder

Seals

Stela of Ur-

Nammu

Ur

Ziggurat of Nanna (Moon God)

Built by Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 B.C.)