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... the example of competitive feasting as a socioeconomic explanation for the origin of domestication. Ambitious individuals could have used the economically based competitive feast in order to gain control over peoples labor as a symbol of success or power. If the first domesticated species were highly desirable foods, but labor intensive to produce or otherwise difficult to obtain, it is most likely that domestication developed within the context of competitive feasting (Hayden 1992: 13). Another important possibility for the transition to agriculture is ideological in nature. The cultural development of humans in the Neolithic Period does not reveal any dynamic impulse in favor of change, and so they must have wanted to change.
Such an initiative could only come from the area of collective psychology, where dissatisfaction's emerge and culture transformations which do not necessarily have economic reasons as their basis are elaborated. An ideological revolution of symbols preceded the agricultural economy and provided the initiative for change (Cauvin 2000: 66). Early humans may have found themselves dissatisfied with their mode of existence due not only to malnutrition, but may also be due to a cultural revolution. In this time period man called into question his integration and role in nature and the cosmos, felt himself to be powerless and appealed to divine authority through prayer. This new chasm between man and god had no direct affect on the environment, yet it changed the desires of the human spirit and gave it the initiative to bring about progress and change. Humans had been spectators of the natural cycles of reproduction in the living world.
Neolithic societies now took it on themselves to intervene as active producers. Technically speaking, it would have been possible well before, but neither the idea nor the desire ever came to them (Cauvin 2000: 72). There are gaps in the available data which cause difficulty in getting an accurate view of the development of agriculture. The coverage on the transition to agriculture is limited to a few similar geographic areas. These areas tend to be arid or semi-arid and most of the plant staples are seed-crops. The limited and relatively similar areas in the sample of archaeological sites mean that attempts to pinpoint cross-cultural regularities must be suspect.
Even in areas which have been studied, the coverage is often fragmentary. Excavators often concentrate on small tell sites, and as a result, early farming is often seen in terms of small peasant communities living in scattered villages (Bender 1975: 210). Quality of different excavations varies considerably, and may be a reflection of when the excavation took place and what techniques were available at the time. Coverage by disciplines other than archaeology also lack adequate data. For example, only a fraction of the wild distributions of potential domesticates is known (Bender 1975: 211). There is a need for examination of archaeological sites in a wider variety of regions and with a more successful method of retrieving adequate information.
There are a number of human developments which accompanied the transition to agriculture. The consequences of domestication include the invention and adoption of new agricultural technologies, widespread use of ceramics, forest clearance and humanly induced changes in the landscape, cultivation of hard-shelled cereals, animal husbandry, increased scientism and population, and ultimately more advanced social and political organization. The hard grained, storable nature of most cereals permitted the accumulation of surplus and provided a supply of food in lean periods (Gebauer and Price 1992: 9). Increases in population growth occurred at advanced rates in areas in which domestication occurred.
Even with primitive agricultural technologies, population densities could average 10 - 50 times higher than for foragers (Cavalli-Sforza 1986: 71). Population growth then proceeds to grow and will get close to, or even above, the carrying capacity of the land. The population growth will then stimulate migration to occupy new places. Thus the development of agriculture resulted not only in the growth of the population, but also in the migration to other areas. Through mans manipulation of plants and animals, he was able to increase the carrying capacity of the land. It is estimated that the average Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer carrying capacity was probably 0. 1 people per square kilometer, while the early dry farming carrying capacity was 1 to 2 persons per square kilometer (Bender 1975: 6).
Food production has also led to an expansion in the range of animal and plant consumption since most of the foods eaten in modern society are products of the early farmer in the Old and New Worlds (Smith 1976: 13). Areas in which plant cultivation was practiced mimicked naturally optimal conditions, and increased the possible area in which people could settle. Since optimal area was limited, the concept of territory would have been important and further encouraged people to settle permanently. In these new settlements, humans built themselves more elaborate homes of clay, stone, and wood. Immobile storage facilities further served to tie the population to specific places. Sedentism also resulted in an increased population since births are more widely spaced among mobile populations and because of the larger rate of infant mortality (Bender 1975: 7 - 8).
In contrast to flexible structure of hunter-gatherer societies, agricultural communities have corporate structures and long-term stability which permits co-operative land-clearance, defense, etc. Within the corporate structure of the agricultural society, the family operates as a semi-independent economic unit which might lead to different levels of wealth and social stratification, as well as an emphasis on ownership. Differences among groups might stimulate trade, and more affluent members of society will display their superior social position by obtaining luxury items (Bender 1975: 9). The development of larger human communities and the geographical expansion of population and subsistence also increased the human potential for environmental modification and resource depletion. Humans cleared the forests for agricultural purposes and altered vegetation patterns. The increased population and greater needs of food-producing societies caused a more intensive exploitation of the earths resources, such as flint, obsidian, clay, copper, etc.
It is likely that the extinction of many animals is a consequence of food production since it was the acquisition of controlled plants and animals that allowed man the luxury of exterminating his game (Smith 1976: 31 - 34). After the transition to agriculture, many new technologies were developed, and artifacts were often made by processes that were new or had been used only rarely in earlier times. For instance, in some regions there was a new emphasis on heavier tools made out of tougher rocks to produce axes, hoes, and other implements meant for tree-felling, woodworking, and soil preparation (Smith 1976: 36 - 39). Conflict and warfare probably occurred within the early agricultural societies as a result of the need of shifting cultivators to find suitable land in the face of growing shortages and competition as well as to keep population pressure down (Smith 1976: 61 - 62). The transition to agriculture represents an important phase in the development of the human population. Food production has resulted in many advances, changes, and adaptations in the evolution of human society.
There are several theories that have been proposed to explain the reasons for the origin of domestication, however due to the gaps in the archaeological record, it is impossible at this time to definitively determine which of these hypotheses is correct. Bibliography Bender, Barbara. Farming in Prehistory: From Hunter-Gatherer to Food Producer. London: John Baker Ltd, 1975. Cauvin, Jacques. The Birth of Gods and the Origins of Agriculture.
Trans. Trevor Watkins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cavalli-Sforza, L. L.
The Impact of Farming on Expansion of Human Populations. The Origin and Domestication of Cultivated Plants. Ed. C.
Bargiozzi. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1986. 71 - 80 Gebauer, Anne Birgitte and Price, T. Douglas. Foragers to Farmers: An Introduction. Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory. Eds.
Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T. Douglas Price. Madison: Prehistory Press, 1992. 1 - 10. Hayden, Brian. A New Overview of Domestication. Last Hunters, First Farmers.
Eds. T. Douglas Gebauer and Anne Birgitte Gebauer. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1995. 273 - 299. Hayden, Brian. Models of Domestication.
Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory. Eds. Anne Birgitte Gebauer and T. Douglas Price.
Madison: Prehistory Press, 1992. 11 - 18. MacNeish, Richard S. The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. Price, T. Douglas and Gebauer, Anne Birgitte.
New Perspectives on the Transition to Agriculture. Last Hunters, First Farmers. Eds. T. Douglas Gebauer and Anne Birgitte Gebauer. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1995. 3 - 20.
Smith, Philip E. L. Food Production and its Consequence. California: Cummings Publishing Company, 1976. Watson, Patty Jo.
Explaining the Transition to Agriculture. Last Hunters, First Farmers. Eds. T. Douglas Gebauer and Anne Birgitte Gebauer.
Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1995. 21 - 38. Zohary, Daniel. The Origin and Early Spread of Agriculture in the Old World. The Origin and Domestication of Cultivated Plants.
Ed. C. Bargiozzi. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1986. 3 - 15 Zohary, Daniel and Hopf, Maria. The Origin and Spread of Cultivated Plants in West Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
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