Food Plants example essay topic

Our species have been hunter-gatherers for most of the time we have existed on the Earth. The people of the Paleolithic period adapted themselves to the environment of the time, taking food as and when it was available and hunted game which resulted in a high percentage of their food being meat. Evidence suggests that before the end of the Paleolithic period, hunters would have noted the migratory patterns of the herds they hunted and learned which plants were nutritious and not poisonous. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and berries where gathered when in season and, being nomadic, they followed the sources of food rather than growing crops. Learning to control fire helped them adapt to their environment, both by providing a source of warmth and safety (extending the temperate range in which they could survive) and by making food more palatable and appetizing. (I. Kuijt, pp. 103-107) Approximately Twelve thousand years ago the most recent Ice Age retreated.

The herds of large cold-climate animals moved north and our ancestors had to change their habits in order to survive. As the more southern locations warmed, some hunter-gatherers found enough food to support the group short distances from their camps. These food plants attracted a wide variety of smaller game such as horse and rabbit. Conditions around the major river systems in warm climates were favourable to settlements, since these areas had sufficient food available for survival year round. Evidence suggests that at this time settled life and the deliberate cultivation of food plants began in five different parts of the world; Euphrates, and the Nile rivers; the Indus River in the northern Indian subcontinent; in China along the Yellow River; the Fertile Crescent area in West Asia along the Tigris; in sub-Saharan Africa and the Niger River system; and in Central America. (web civilization. htm) The change to settlement from nomadic living marked the beginning of the Neolithic period. The people now produced food, rather than procuring it, they no longer adapted themselves to their environment, but adapted their environment to them.

This involved actions as simple as weeding around food plants, bringing water to the plants during dry periods, and planting seeds so that food grew in a more convenient location. Settled life meant food could be stored as a reserve for times of scarcity, such as winter, and, as farming techniques became more advanced, there would be surpluses. (R. L Bettinger, p. 84) The existence of surplus food had two main consequences. The first was job specialization, and the second was economic inequality. When a group produced more food than was readily consumable, it could afford to have individuals (other than infants) that did not contribute to the production of food.

They would have traded a skill for food. These people included potters and weavers, builders, warriors (guards), and a priestly class to intercede with the gods. A social hierarchy developed based on these specializations, with those jobs requiring these specialized skills ranking higher than evolving unskilled labour. Surplus production was not uniform across the new society, resulting in the concepts of ownership and economic inequality becoming realities. (R. Redfield, p. 42. I. Kuijt pp. 314-319) Population increase was another change in Neolithic society. Child spacing of about three to four years was necessary in migratory groups, assuming infant survival, where the only alternative to milk was meat or course plant fibres meaning children were weaned after the age of three. When young children no longer had to be carried with the migration of the group and when new foods and new preparation methods resulted in more digestible grains, women began to have more children.

Having many children was an asset, because it meant a larger workforce for farming. There was also an increasing need for replacement children. Living in one place among a larger population resulted in an increased risk of disease and more danger of the disease spreading. (I. Kuijt pp. 103-137, R H Steckel et al) Migratory groups were typically small and had little contact with outsiders carrying different diseases, also migratory groups seldom stayed in one place long enough for wastes to contaminate a water supply. Archaeological records show a sharp decline in stature and health that accompanied the change to the agricultural diet and lifestyle.

Early hunter-gatherers were up to four to six inches taller than the early farmers were. The hunters also had stronger bones, fewer cavities, and, barring accidents, lived longer. Hunter-gatherers were rarely obese and had low rates of autoimmune diseases like arthritis and diabetes. (R H Steckel et al p 5) A growing population requires an increase in food production.

There are two ways to achieve this; improve the productivity of the lands farmed or farm more land. Farming more land is not always possible- it requires a larger workforce immediately and outlying land may be poor quality and not worth the investment of time, also another group may be using the land you want. The simplest way of improving existing or marginal land is to bring water to semi-arid lands. A single farmer might carry enough water or dig a ditch to bring it to his patch of land, but, to best serve a community, an irrigation system is required. This would involve cooperative effort for the sake of the community as a whole, requiring planning and organization, especially of labour. It was the need for irrigation that triggered the organisational developments key to the development of civilization in most places.

Small villages had become urban areas by the end of the Neolithic period, with economic specialization and social stratification. As population and individual wealth increased and these villages and communities multiplied, they often became targets for remaining nomadic groups and each other. Defensive forces and tactics became a part of society and these were based on the cooperation began with field irrigation. Subsistence tasks in migratory groups were performed by people who had the time and who were best suited. Women were more likely to have contributed to the subsistence requirements of the group by gathering. They were the ones who reproduced, feed, and nurtured the newest me myers of the group.

They were probably usually the gatherers because they were women. Remains suggest the average life span in the Paleolithic period was at less than thirty years; it was probably lower for women because of the hazards of childbirth. This means that it was highly unlikely that there would be childless female relatives to help care for children while the mother hunted or ranged away from camp. When the migratory people began to settle down it was probably the women who became the first farmers. Their experience expertise regarding food plants would have been superior to that of the males. It is also probable that it was the men, with their knowledge of herd animal behaviour, who first domesticated animals.

It may have been found that some of the more docile smaller and mid-sized prey could be captured and taken beck to camp to kill and butcher. This would have given them the advantage of being able to find more game than they could eat before the meat spoiled. This would have been the start of herding. The animals would have probably been kept until their meat was needed at first, but eventually the people might have noticed that animals kept for more than a few weeks would reproduce. Having livestock that were reproducing also meant greater food variety, such as access to milk and eggs for the farmers and herders. Farmers domesticated their plants by concentrating on those that did not drop their seeds randomly, and the herders would have been able to capture and contain the more passive animals only.

This passivity would eventually become a trait of the domesticated animals. Routine subsistence tasks of the Neolithic groups (the settled farmers) would have originally divided themselves into men and women tasks. The reason for this would have been the same as those in migratory societies, practicality. Although the women were no longer restrained by the need to carry infants long distances, and the presence of a crying child would not have had the same effect on domesticated animals as on the hunted prey, they still had to be concerned about the safety of the toddler.

Any task taking place while caring for children also had to be interruptible. Men and women had to spend the majority of their time working to produce and prepare their food; for maximum productivity the women would have taken on the tasks that coordinated best with the demands of childcare. Such tasks are generally dull and do not require deep concentration, they can be easily interrupted and resumed. Gathering and basic gardening, cloth-making and small-scale local barter and trade fit these requirements. The main way to cope with an increasing population is for part of the group to split off and move to a new area, spreading and learning new ways of doing things.

Another way would be to increase food productivity by farming more efficiently. Better preparation of the soil would help increase the yield of a crop, and deeper digging and turning of the soil is part of soil improvement. The digging stick developed into a hoe with a cutting edge, and the hoe evolved into a plough, which dug a deeper and continuous furrow. Even a simple plough was nearly impossible for one person to manage.

Working a plough required two people, one to pull, and one to steer. When large domesticated animals were readily available, they were put to use pulling the plough. This made the task of farming to dangerous to involve women with small children and led to agriculture being a male domain. In a cooperative hunter-gatherer society, men are dependent on the activities of the women. In a situation like this, women tend to have a high and equal social status to men. In settled communities, territorial and property rights emerge and the status of women plummets.

Women are no longer vital providers, but part of the property and part of the territory dominated by the more aggressive male. (R. Redfield, pp. 11, 13, 20, 39) A group settling in one place became able to accumulate surplus goods to store for the winter or to trade. Migratory groups had to carry all their possessions as they moved about, making it very impractical to storing anything of significant size or volume. This was the beginning of a social hierarchy based on economic productivity and the concept of individual ownership of resources and wealth. When men became the traders in Neolithic society, this was again for practical reasons, the long distances prevented travel with toddlers. Mining and metalworking also became men's work because of concerns the safety factors regarding young children. Men will have realized their role in reproduction from observing and breeding herds, they will have wanted their children to get their property, this meant knowing the paternity of the children of their mates.

This will have ultimately led to the desire of men to control sexual access to women. (R. Redfield, pp. 10, 85) The introduction of farming had dramatic effects on early man and directly effected how human civilisation developed to this day. The impact of farming was diverse- it affected our physical development, gender socialisation, population size and class systems. This early farming resulted in the extended kinship networks and economic trade systems that existed as late as the industrial revolution. It affected our culture and changed our drives making us territorial and materialistic, but it also created the hierarchical systems that allowed cooperation within our species beyond that normal in the anima kingdom. It was this cooperation that allowed us to change the world our species lived in, giving us the abilities needed to dominate the planet.

Bibliography

1959) R.
Redfield The Primitive World and its Transformations Great Seal Books, New York (1991) R.
L. Bettinger Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological and Evolutionary Theory Plenum Press, New York (1995) Hansen international world history project web civilization.
htm Accessed On: 30102003 (2000) I.
Kuijt Life in Neolithic Farming Communities: Social Organization, Identity and Differentiation Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York (Sept 2001) R H Steckel et al A History of Health in Europe from the Late Paleolithic to the Present: a Research Proposal (online- web accessed on: 30102003).