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Human Adaptation: from Foraging to Intensive Agriculture

Explore how human societies have adapted to their environments over time, from foraging and horticulture to intensive agriculture and pastoralism. Understand the role of resource availability, technology, and organization in shaping cultural practices.

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Human Adaptation: from Foraging to Intensive Agriculture

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  1. Chapter 7, Adaptation: Environment and Cultures • Understanding Human Adaptation • Foraging • Domestication • Horticulture • Intensive Agriculture • Pastoralism • Adaptation and Culture

  2. 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. 

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

  4. Organization of Production Three factors: • Allocating productive work to different kinds of people. • Cooperating to harness resources efficiently. • Potential conflicts over access to natural resources.

  5. Pre-industrial Food Production • Foraging (hunting and gathering) • Agriculture (cultivation) • Herding (pastoralism)

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

  7.  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.

  8. Domestication • 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.

  9.  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.

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

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

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