Why did humans shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture?

Journal activities in this course are private between you and the instructor. Your journal assignments provide you a chance to think deeply about the concepts
you are learning in this course and to make connections to the real world and society at large. For each of your journal assignments, be sure to incorporate
course concepts into your reflection. In each journal assignment, you will be reflecting on a different anthropological event/topic.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
 Incorporate course concepts into your assignment.
 Address the consequences of anthropological events on modern society.
 Relate anthropological events to your own situation.
A course journal is generally made up of many individual assignments.
Guidelines for Submission: Submit assignment as a Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.
Module 3
Last week we learned about human variation. You also learned about the concept of race and why anthropologists argue that it is based on cultural constructions and not a biological reality. Anthropologists do not say that race does not exist just the categories that a society or culture defines one, is arbitrary.
Week 3
This week we are going to learn a little bit more about human evolution, food production, and the origin of states.
I strongly encourage you to look at the website Becoming Human and there is an option for an Interactive Documentary with Donald Johanson. I also found this short talk by Dr. Rick Potts about human evolution. It is only four minutes long but very informative.
Source: National Geographic- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/human-evolution-101/
Last week I put a small plug about Biological Anthropology and I thought I would do the same this week about another subfield of anthropology called Paleoanthropology. Paleoanthropology is basically a combination of archaeology and biological anthropology. “The field involves an understanding of the similarities and differences between humans and other species in their genes, body form, physiology, and behavior. Paleoanthropologists search for the roots of human physical traits and behavior. They seek to discover how evolution has shaped the potentials, tendencies, and limitations of all people. For many people, paleoanthropology is an exciting scientific field because it investigates the origin, over millions of years, of the universal and defining traits of our species.” (“Introduction to Human Evolution”, 2016). For some of you, this aligns with what your interests are in anthropology.
Check out the Paleoanthropology Society website.
Food Production
According to our textbook, humans began food-producing over 8,000 years ago or at least in the Near East. Southeast Asia, Africa, and Mesoamerica are more recent developments. Why did humans shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture? We don’t really know but there are a few theories out there. According to Module Overview 3, some theories that exist include 1) climate change, 2) by accident, 3) change in population size and 4) cultural change. So, because we still rely heavily on agriculture today that must have been a good decision, right? Jared Diamond (1999) called it “the worst mistake of the human race.” Larsen (1995, p. 204) in a literature review regarding whether or not agriculture was a positive development summarized this “The shift from foraging to farming led to a reduction in health status and well-being, an increase in physiological stress, a decline in nutrition, an increase in birthrate and population growth and alteration of activity types and workloads. Taken as a whole, then, the popular and scholarly perception that quality of life improved with the acquisition of agriculture is incorrect.”
Origin of States
We will also learn about the origin of states. The first state evolved in Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. Feder (2010, p. 653) defined a state as “a class society, often ridged stratified into social levels” and one which “the ruling class controls the populace, not by consensus by coercion and force.” Characteristics of states include dense populations, food surplus, specialization of labor, record-keeping (to keep track of taxes, surpluses, and labor), the presence of monuments and buildings (temples, pyramids), and the presence of art (Feder, 2010, Module 3 Overview).
References
Diamond, J. (1987). The worst mistake in the history of the human race. Discover, 8(5), 64-66.
Feder, K. L. (2010). The past in perspective: An introduction to human prehistory (4th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company
Introduction to Human Evolution. (2016, June 24). Retrieved from http://humanorigins.si.edu/education/introduction-human-evolution.
Larsen, C. S. (1995). Biological changes in human populations with agriculture. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 185–213.
Module 3 Overview
Further Reading
Archaeology info http://archaeologyinfo.com/homo-sapiens/
Diamond, J. (1987). The worst mistake in the history of the human race. Discover, 8(5), 64-66.
Larsen, C. S. (1995). Biological changes in human populations with agriculture. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 185–213.
Website: What does it mean to be human-climate change and human evolution
Climate Change May Have Spurred Human Evolution
History of Agriculture
Class Assignments:
Required Readings: Part II, Chapter 6; Part III, Chapter 10; and Part IV, Chapter 1
Video: The Climate’s Influence on Human Evolution
Website: Becoming Human
Discussion Board 3.1:
After reading Chapters 6 and 10 in your textbook and reviewing all the required resources, imagine you have been invited to speak for three minutes about climate change at a local environmental rally. In your post, draft five points of speaking notes on how environmental changes affected human biological and/or cultural evolution during the Paleolithic and what that can tell us about how climate change might be impacting people today. Make sure that you include a point or two on why you believe climate change affected human evolution and/or cultural evolution or why you think it has not.
I do not mind if you use the examples (even though it says that you can’t), but I don’t want you just to cut and paste the examples into your posts. Your “speeches” should have: an Introduction, your points, and a conclusion.
Introduction
Today, I am here to speak about climate change…
(5 points)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Conclusion
References
Response posts: Look at your classmates’ speeches. Did you choose similar aspects or different ones? Which points did they miss? Offer suggestions how they could improve.
Friendly Reminders:
Posts must be one to two paragraphs and incorporate anthropological concepts found in the textbook or other anthropological sources. Show me that you have read the chapters and use the terms that anthropologists use.
Initial post (this means your answer to the question) is due by Thursday at 11:59 PM EST
Your responses to at least 2 different classmates outside of your initial thread are due Sunday at 11:59 PM EST
You must use sources. They must be cited in the APA format.
Ask questions!
3.2 Journal: Food Production
This week you will write me a short paper (1-2 pages double spaced) on how the historical developments for food production impacted modern-day life. Also, think about your own life. How has food production impacted the things you do today?
Concepts-Discuss some concepts that you learned in this chapter 6 and 10 (or other class materials) of the historical developments of food production. Why and how did food production develop?
Consequences- Discuss some of the consequences of the rise of food production.
Situation- Discuss how has food production impacts you today. Does food production affect what you do or not eat?
Articulation of Response-make sure your journals are sourced properly, free from mistakes. You journal should be 1-2 pages. I will not accept papers less than 1 page long.
3.3 -Final Project Part B Milestone One: Choose a Crisis Situation
This assignment requires you to choose the crisis situation in which you will write your final project and then answer the following questions. 1) The crisis situation you chose and why you chose it 2) A short summary of the video on your crisis situation and 3) Why you think an anthropological perspective would be beneficial to examine this crisis situation.
This assignment should be about 1-2 pages long, double spaced.
(The crisis situations for you to choose from are located on the grading rubric Project B.)
Please refer to the Final Project Part B Milestone One grading rubric for more information.
Please ask any questions that you have.
UPCOMING ASSIGNMENT: 4-2 Final Project Part A Submission: Interview Preparation
Next week your final submission of what you completed in Module 2 will be due.

Last Completed Projects