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Chapter 6

Chapter 6. Understanding Human Adaptation. Chapter Outline. Foraging Domestication Horticulture Intensive Agriculture Pastoralism Adaptation and Culture. Adaptation.

melinda-crawford
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Chapter 6

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  1. Chapter 6 Understanding Human Adaptation

  2. Chapter Outline • Foraging • Domestication • Horticulture • Intensive Agriculture • Pastoralism • Adaptation and Culture

  3. Adaptation • Process by which organisms develop physical and behavioral characteristics allowing them to survive and reproduce in their habitats.

  4. Adaptation and Environment • Environment includes resources that people can use to meet their needs: food, water, wood, stone etc. • Environment includes problems people must overcome: resource scarcity, high/low temperatures, diseases, rainfall variability, etc.

  5. Components of Production • Time and energy to do the work (labor). • Available tools and knowledge (technology). • Natural resources in the environment.  

  6. Organization of Production Three factors: • Division of labor: allocating productive work to different kinds of people. • Patterns of cooperation: cooperating to harness resources efficiently. • Rights to resources: potential conflicts over access to natural resources.

  7. Pre-industrial Food Production • Foraging (hunting and gathering) • Adaptation based on harvest of wild plants and animals. • Agriculture (cultivation) • Adaptation based primarily on planting, tending, and harvesting domesticated plants. • Herding (pastoralism) • Adaptation based on breeding livestock, which are taken to naturally occurring pasturelands.

  8.  Foraging • Division of labor based on sex and age. • High degree of mobility especially from season to season. • Seasonal congregation and dispersal of groups.

  9.  Foraging • Small mobile groups of 50 or less (bands). • Cooperate in production and and share rights to harvest wild resources in a territory. • Share food and possessions based on need.

  10. Principle Regions of Foragers

  11. Domestication • When people control distribution, abundance, and biological features of plants and animals to increase their usefulness to humans. • Arose 10,000 years ago in the Old World and 5,000 years ago in the New World. • Supports greater numbers of people per unit of land.

  12. Horticulture • Use only hand tools in planting, cultivating and harvesting gardens. • Produces more food per unit of land than foraging. • Requires a labor investment in a piece of land.

  13. How Horticulture Shapes Culture • Living groups are larger and more permanently settled. • Families have more definite rights of ownership over particular pieces of land.

  14. Principle Regions of Horticulture

  15. Intensive Agriculture • A system of cultivation in which plots are planted annually or semiannually. • Usually uses irrigation, natural fertilizers, and plows powered by animals.

  16. Consequences ofIntensive Agriculture • Allowed a single farm family to produce a surplus over and above its own food needs. • Supported the rise of civilization and city life.

  17. Principle Regions of Intensive Agriculture

  18. Ancient Civilizations

  19. Pastoralism • Occurs in regions that are unsuitable for agriculture. • Allows people to convert indigestible vegetation into edible flesh and dairy products. • Doesn't produce as much food per unit of land as agriculture.

  20. Nomadism • Seasonal mobility often involving migration to high-altitude areas during the hottest and driest parts of the year.

  21. Principle Regions of Pastoralism

  22. Quick Quiz

  23. 1. Human adaptation refers to: • the development of better genes • both cultural and genetic adjustments to the environment • moving to a different and better environment • trail and error learning

  24. Answer: b • Human adaptation refers to bothcultural and genetic adjustment to the environment.

  25. 2. The three components of production are labor, technology and: • time • climate • resources • land

  26. Answer: c • The three components of production are labor, technology and resources.

  27. 3. A band: • is constant in size numbering about 500 individuals • is usually strongly territorial over its environmental resources • typically shares food and other possessions among its members • is a mobile group of about 50 people

  28. Answer: d • A band is a mobile group of about 50 people.

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