Hunter Gatherer to Agriculture
Of all the cultural innovations created by man, certainly one of the most profound in its
effects has been the invention of agriculture. This seemingly simple discovery of
planting, cultivating, and harvesting food provided the basis for larger populations and
opened the way to all the complex societies and higher civilizations that followed.
Characteristics of Hunter Gatherer Societies.
 Low population densities – 0.1 – 2 people per
square kilometre.
 Small groups – maybe 25 – 30 individuals in a
few families
 Simple technology with tools being limited to
what can be carried. Versatile rather than
specialized tools.
 Shelters are fairly temporary
 People have deep knowledge of natural
history of plants and animals of the area.
 Possessions are shared with no concept of
property.
 Little division of labour other than that
based on age or gender.
 Little or no social hierarchy , decisions being
taken by consensus.
 Low birth rate by prolonged suckling of
infants ( inhibits ovulation)
It is interesting to note that humans have been hunter gatherers for the longest period
of our history – this is the way of life to which we are biologically adapted.
The change from nomadic hunter gathering to village agriculture was a huge step in
human evolution. Farming affected human societies in two different ways.
 Direct effects of a change in the quantity and variety of food.
 Indirect effects due to a change from a nomadic to a sedentary life.
A farming system dependent upon domesticated plants and animals has four component
activities:
 Propagation – a purposive breeding of plants and animals.
 Husbandry – a care of growing animals and growing plants.
 Harvesting – the collection of the food resources that were propagated and
husbanded.
 Conservation – retention of a reservoir of selected seed and animals to breed
from.
Read the chapter in your edition of Apes and Ancestors. (Ch 18 Pg 98 or the chapter
about Neolithic times; Designs of Life Pg 290 - 292)
Draw up a summary chart ( could be four quadrants) in which you explain the
advantages and disadvantages of domesticating plants and animals.
Advantages are well documented – disadvantages may be:
Animals
Many of the diseases that afflict modern humans are caused bu pathogens that
originally affected domestic animals- eg smallpox, measles and TB have probably
come from cattle. After thousands of years, some degree of resistance to these
diseases has evolved in Eurasian populations but other groups can still be vulnerable
(Sth American Indians, Maori)
The disadvantage to the animals themselves of having artificial selection
perpetuating traits that are not necessarily adaptations in a natural environment.
Plants
Since agriculturalists use a small number of species of plants, they are consequently
more vulnerable to adverse weather conditions ( hence the farmers’ preoccupation
with the weather.)
The surpluses after harvest are food for insects and rodents which in preagricultural times would have been less common.
Single species crops (particularly if they are genetically less variable as a result of
selection) are more vulnerable to disease agents such as fungi.
Monocultures
One of the disadvantages of farming in general
is the problem of maintaining monocultures in
the face of natural systems which tend to push
them back to diversity. In a monoculture,
humans have a lot of competitors - they
produce large amounts of food in one
concentrated area and insects, rodents and
other animals want to share! Humans have to
take measures like insecticides to get rid of
the competition.
Monocultures are energy-expensive to maintain
– in modern societies, the product that is
grown on the land is seldom consumed on that
land and so the exported nutrients must be
replaced in fertilizers if crop yields are to be
maintained.
Weeds don’t think they are weeds! It is a
human definition for a plant growing in an area
where we don’t want them. Naturally in a monoculture other plants will attempt to
grow in areas where there are resources for them – and so we get rid of them with
herbicides.
Food for thought!