PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY Course Name: ANTHROPOLOGY Paper No. & Title: B.A. / B.Sc. 5th Semester (Theory) Topic No. & Title: (13/21) General Features of Neolithic Revolution Introduction The term Neolithic was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 in his book Prehistoric Times to denote an Age in which the stone implements were more varied and skilfully made and often polished. V. Gordon Childe defined the Neolithic-Chalcolithic culture as a self-sufficient food producing economy. M.C. Burkitt further outlined some characteristic features for the Neolithic culture such as the practice of agriculture, domestication of animals in terms of economic life and grinding and polishing of stone tools, and also manufacture of pottery in terms of technology. These concepts have been modified time to time with new research and archaeological evidence found at different sites all over the world. The Neolithic or New Stone Age denotes to a stage of human culture following the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods and is characterized by the use of polished stone implements, development of permanent dwellings, cultural advances such as pottery making, domestication of animals and plants, the cultivation of grain and fruit trees, and weaving. The change in the economic mode and life style from hunting/gathering/foraging to primitive farming appeared so abruptly that this overall change in human life is often referred as the “Neolithic Revolution”. Slowly in course of time, the later Neolithic periods with the discovery of smelting and the creation of copper tools have been identified as Chalcolithic period and then, cultures with bronze artefacts have been given the name or coined as Bronze Age. These developed periods with invention of different metals with developed agriculture and farming activities led to the emergence of more complex societies. All of these complex societies emerged in the fertile valleys of different river located in different parts of the globe. Some of these early groups settled in the fertile valleys of the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Yellow, and Indus Rivers. These settlements with surplus agricultural product and trade subsequently resulted in the rise of the great civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India. Some of the early centers where early domestication of plants and animals has been recorded are: (1) In West Asian context, several early Neolithic sites have been identified at Jericho and Ain Ghazal in Jordan, Tepe Guran and Ali Kosh in Iran, Catal Huyuk in Turkey, and Cayonu in north Syria which revealed evidence of early agriculture of wheat and barley and domesticated animals such as sheep and goats. (2) In Southeast Asian context, excavations at the Spirit Cave in Thailand revealed plants remains of almond, pepper, cucumber, betel nut, beans, and peas, however, it is yet to confirm whether all of them were cultivated. (3) In East Asian context, south China has revealed evidence of rice cultivation and the domestication of water buffalo, dog, and pig. (4) In South American context, the people of Mexico were growing corn, beans, squash, gourds, avocados, and chilli pepper, and were domesticating turkeys, dogs, and honeybees. (5) In sub-Saharan African context, the cultivation of finger millet, sorghum, rice, teff, and yams, and the domestication of sheep, goats, and cattle have been recorded. (6) In South Asian context, Mehrgarh has yielded evidence of barley and wheat cultivation, and cattle, sheep, and goat domestication. Recent excavations at the site of Lahuradeva in Uttar Pradesh have brought to light early dates for rice cultivation in India. Comparison between hunter-gatherers and farmers The table below indicates the basic differences between hunter-gatherers and farmers. Hunter-gatherers Farmers Hunting gathering economy, economy Economy based on domesticated based on wild resources crops and animals Mobile (very few possessions of Sedentary (some accumulation of material culture) possessions, esp. pottery, in permanent dwellings) Low population density High population density Overall stability of groups Expansion necessary due to population increase Relatively little impact on Clearance of land for arable farming; environment impact of livestock (use of ground Stone axes and fire in clearance) Sparse archaeological record Archaeological imprint on landscape (campsites, rock shelters, debitage (settlements, boundaries, monuments) scatters) The term ‘Neolithic Revolution’ was introduced by V. Gordon Childe in 1936. The Neolithic revolution led to several changes in human societies which include the creation of cities and permanent dwellings, food storage and granaries, pottery making, labour specialization, sense of personal property, more complex hierarchical social structures, non-agricultural crafts specialisations, trade and barter systems, etc. From being nomads before the onset of agriculture, human adopted the sedentary life style relying on domestications of plants and animals for their survival. Here we shall discuss some of the features of Neolithic Revolution. Domestications of Plants The human evolution in the last 10,000 years BP, which is geologically termed as the Holocene period, witnesses a revolutionary change in the history of human being. During this time, early man acquired slowly the knowledge of taming and bringing several animals and plants under their control, which finally lead to the early domestication process. Domestication simply means ‘to bring plants/animals under human control, to tame’. It is an evolutionary process during which many behavioural traits have changed from the wild types to the existing domesticated populations. The grains of wild varieties of plants like wheat, barley, rice etc. usually fall on the ground before maturation which makes difficulties for harvesting. With the beginning of farming and irrigation, these plants lost many of their wild characters. Yields gradually increased with intense care of the early farmers. The Neolithic farmers selected those varieties which could retain the seeds longer for mature harvesting. Agriculture refers to a series of discoveries involving the domestication, culture, and management of plants and animals. Agriculture was adopted repeatedly and independently in various parts of the world after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice around 12,000 years ago. The precise origin of the first centre of agriculture is unknown. The earliest evidence of agricultural development occurs in the area known as the Fertile Crescent (present day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel). Agriculture also developed in other areas such as China and Meso-America but at a later date. The precise push to develop agriculture is not clear but a number of reasons have been speculated. Different plants were cultivated in different areas by the early Neolithic people, i.e. wheat and barley Southwest Asia, rice in East, South and Southeast Asia, maize in America and sorghum and millet in Africa. Centres of Agricultural Origin: Single or Multiple? The hunter-gatherers of the Near East (Fertile Crescent) were probably the first to adopt an agricultural lifestyle around 8500 B.C., based upon the cereals barley and wheat and on domesticated goats and sheep. They were followed by the maize-cultivators of Central Mexico around 8000 B.C. and the rice producers along the Yangtze River around 7500 B.C. Recent genetic research has indicated that multiple domestications of the same wild plants and animals probably have occurred more often than previously believed. For instance, it has been shown that apart from in the Near East, the goat was independently domesticated in the Indus Valley whereas cattle were domesticated both in the Near East and in East Asia. In Europe, agricultural practices were adopted only after the spread of domesticated plants and animals from the Near East. Map of the world showing approximate centers of origin of agriculture and its spread in prehistory, i.e. eastern USA (4000–3000 BP), Central Mexico (5000–4000 BP), Northern South America (5000–4000 BP), sub-Saharan Africa (5000–4000 BP, exact location unknown), the Fertile Crescent (11000 BP), the Yangtze and Yellow River basins (9000 BP) and the New Guinea Highlands (9000–6000 BP). In a review published in the journal Science on the expansions of the farmers to different parts of the world, Jared Diamond and Peter Bellwood show intimate connections of agricultural origins with language spread and dispersals. They discussed the possible dispersal routes of Neolithic/formative cultures worldwide. According to them, until the end of the Pleistocene, all people on all continents lived as hunter-gatherers and subsequently at different times between about 8500 and 2500 B.C., food production based on domestication of relatively few wild plants and animal species arose independently in different homelands of agriculture and herding, scattered over all inhabited continents except Australia. As food production was advantages to farmers compared with hunter-gatherers living outside those homelands, it triggered outward dispersals of farming populations, bearing their languages and lifestyles. Plate 1: Archaeological map of agricultural origin and spread of Neolithic cultures around the world Causes of Domestications of Plants Several hypotheses are made for explaining the causes of domestications of plants which is the basis of Neolithic Revolution. V Gordon Childe in 1952 suggested that environmental changes at the end of the Pleistocene were the impetus towards food production and argued