Anth 3511 Professor Gibbon

The Origins of Agriculture and Village Life

First Steps Toward Village Life.

A. Village life with maize horticulture and a community-ceremonial settlement organization present in the Southwest in the late Archaic period (by .c. 500 BC). The result, perhaps, of earlier trends toward tending wild plants, increasing sedentism, and larger storage facilities. B. Glimpses of this development at a number of sites:

(1) Bat Cave in highlands of west central New Mexico has maize by 15001000 BC, along with large storage pits and a variety of perishable materials (e.g., earliest known rabbit-fur-robes, wooden implements, and yucca fiber cordage in the SW; baskets, cradle boards, sandals). (2) Recently discovered series of sites in Tucson along Santa Cruz River (e.g., the Santa Cruz Bend site) indicate presence of sophisticated village culture between 700-200 BC in some areas (sedentary society, intensive agriculture, social stratification; hundreds of pithouses, storage pits, hearths, burial pits, trash deposits; central plazas, dwellings clustered around large community structures; pottery, beads, first signs of tobacco in the SW).

C. Raises questions: What is agriculture? Why did it emerge?

2. Agriculture and Cultivation A. Stages in the process of food production: foraging, cultivation, domestication. Know the difference between these three stages.

(1) Provide examples of tending plants. What was the role of fire, selection of larger seeds, transplanting, and sowing wild seeds in the eventual development of domesticated plants? B. Theories for the Agricultural Revolution (V. G. Childe) (1) Population pressure and environmental stress key factors in most theories. "Situations of Regional Imbalance." (2) In SW several responses to environmental uncertainties: collect food from larger areas in conjunction with better knowledge of potential food resource locations; concentrate on less preferred food plants and difficult to process foods like acorns; deliberately cultivate plants. A trend in the SW from the first to the third.

The earliest SW domesticates (maize, squash, beans - the Upper Sonoran Agricultural complex) developed in Mesoamerica before 5000 BC. So imports.

(1) First maize in SW a small-cob, low-yield popcorn (Chapalote) later (aRer c. 1200 BC) replaced by a type (Maize de Ocho) with larger kernels adapted to dry conditions and shorter growing seasons. Larger kernels make grinding easier. Squashes by 1000 BC and beans by 500 BC.

Rise of Village Life in Southwest, 500 BC - AD 700/900 A. Although villages in SW by c. 500 BC, didn't become widespread until AD 700. Why the time lag? One reason agriculture has its own problems: (1) People have to work harder (2) Lack of sufficient protein (maize and squash need beans) (3) Times of planting and harvesting conflict with optimal hunting times for larger animals, whose neglect at an early date could lead to nutritional problems (4) Crop failure has greater risk of malnutrition and starvation (5) So in order to make the transition to a primary agricultural economy needed further innovations B. Pithouses and Houses in Pits. A trend toward increasing numbers and sizes of various structures and facilities (houses and storage) (1) Early flimsy structures give way to well-defined dwellings. (2) Typical house in north a pithouse (4-6' deep); houses in pits in south. Pithouses keep warmth in colder areas.

(3) Apparent trend toward family ownership of food resources.

(4) Most villages occupied only during colder months. C. Public Buildings and Collective Ritual. Another trend is construction of community buildings. Usually larger, have fewer trash/storage pits (1) probably the focus of calendrical ceremonies to control processes of nature as in historic period. Some may be early forms of kiva. D. Rise in population. Population increases as people settle down (why?), have more stored food. A by-product was increasing social tension caused by growing demand on food supplies and resource areas. E. Diet, Nutrition, and Technological Innovations. Some other changes: (1) Addition of beans from Mexico by 500 BC. (lysine). (2) Increasing use of ceramic vessels. Appear by 500 BC or earlier but not widespread until c. AD 500. Allow more efficient and longer food boiling, especially of dried foods like corn and beans that were stored. (3) Development of larger two-handed manes and deep-trough metates.

More plant material could be ground more quickly.

(4) Bow and arrow appears. Better for individual hunting of small game near sedentary villages. Arrows are now smaller.

Roots of the Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi A. By AD 700, northern, central, and southern traditions in ceramic styles appearing. But lack of sharp boundaries in artifact styles in general suggests that major social boundaries were lacking as well. B. Great changes were about to take place (between AD 700-1130).