After you've read Part II: Rise & Spread of Food Production, identify one point or issue with which you agree, disagree, or about which you would like to learn more. Use the SVHS databases or the Internet to find out more.
Your comment to this post should include the author, title, source, link or database title, and a summary of the source. In your summary, please explain why you choice this particular topic for further exploration.
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ReplyDeleteAuthor: Andrea Cohn
ReplyDeleteTitle: Radiocarbon Dating: A Closer Look At Its Main Flaws
Source: Michigan State University Department of Anthropology
Link: http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss13/2013/02/07/radiocarbon-dating-a-closer-look-at-its-main-flaws/
Summary:
The article informs the reader that radiocarbon dating was discovered in 1949 by Willard Libby and is used in many archaeological studies. Next, the article discusses how radiocarbon dating functions. It states that radiocarbon dating measures the amount of the isotope Carbon-14 to determine the age of organic substances. This works through mathematical equations which estimate when the specimen stopped consuming Carbon-14. The article then examines flaws with radiocarbon dating. The main flaw is that Carbon-14 levels in the atmosphere fluctuate from time to time. These changing levels can make radiocarbon dates inaccurate. Then, the article provides a solution for this blemish in radiocarbon dating. The article explains that calibration curves designate the changes in Carbon-14 levels over time. The calibration curves then modify the end date to match the varying Carbon-14 levels. Furthermore, the article explains how radiocarbon dating is limited to a specific time period. Radiocarbon can only be used to date materials from around 62,000 years ago to 1,200 A.D. The next fault of radiocarbon the article analyzes is how if someone touches or smokes near the specimen, the entire test can become erroneous. Lastly, the article expands upon the “Old Wood Problem”. This problem occurs when scientists want to date something made out of a tree, for example wooden tools. If the scientists date the tree used to make the tools, they will get the date the tree died, not the date the tools were made. In essence, the article builds upon Diamond’s explanation of radiocarbon dating in “History’s Haves and Have Nots”. The article proves incredibly interesting because radiocarbon dates are used to date incredibly important historic materials, and some of these crucial dates could be inaccurate due to flaws with radiocarbon dating.
Author: Not given
ReplyDeleteTitle: Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers
Source: History World
Link: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab63
Summary:
The article goes through the history of how hunter-gatherers became farmers. First it talks about the communication between individuals in a population as they hunt or gather food. The neolithic revolution, about 10,000 years ago, was when people first discovered how to cultivate crops and domesticate animals. The crops from farming were not used to live on at first, the people still used meat from hunting and food from gathering as their main food source which started around 8000 BC. The first known domesticated animal that was used as a food source was sheep in the Middle East. Next were goats then once communities settled down, cows and pigs. Cattle had the largest effect on the new farmers. Since people began to settle down in one place, they began to bury their dead in a meaningful place. Also, the trade of salt began because of the farming of crops which did not have the needed amounts of salt. I chose to further explore this topic because it is one of the main topics in part two of this book and it was a very important change in the history of the world. The change from hunter-gatherers to farmers helped to form the world we have today.
Evidence from the text
ReplyDeleteDiamond states in GGS “It was only within the last 11,000 years that some peoples turned to what is termed food production: that is, domesticating wild animals and plants and eating the resulting livestock and crops” (86). This intrigued me to find out what happened when the expansion of food production finally arose. I wonder whether Diamond stating that food production initiated the expansion of humans?
Brief History of food production
Diamond implies in his book that food production started somewhere in 8500 B.C. and later states that it has direct correlation to human expansion and growth. “But, as we’ll see, food production was indirectly a prerequisite for the development of guns, germs and steel” (GGS, 86).
Origin of food production
Author: Anil K. Gupta
Title: Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration
Source: Google Scholar: Indian Academy of Sciences
Link: http://repository.ias.ac.in/21961/1/333.pdf
Summary:
Gupta states that “…large-scale domestication of plants and animals ca. 10,000–7000 cal years BP”. Gupta also states that this enormous advancement in agriculture directly effects humans by not only densifying populations but also extending human reaches in places of homely interest. Gupta makes an exceptional point on the ideal climate being linked with the birth of agriculture (such as the Fertile Crescent that Diamond uses).
Barley and early wheat production
Author: Peter L. Morrell and Michael T. Clegg
Title: Genetic evidence for a second domestication of barley east of the Fertile Crescent
Source: Google Scholar: National Academy of Sciences
Link: http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2227/content/104/9/3289.short
Summary:
Morrell and Clegg state that “The Fertile Crescent domestication contributed the majority of diversity in European and American cultivars, whereas the second domestication contributed most of the diversity in barley from Central Asia to the Far East” as early wheat and barley production in the second domestication (1500-3000 km East of the Fertile Crescent) to subsidized the diversity of barley in Central Asia and the Far East. The domestication of wheat and barley in the Fertile Crescent contributed to the diversity in Europe and the Americas.
Conclusion
In all of the articles above, all state that domestication of plants and animals and the rise of food production was a key role in the expanse of the human species. The Fertile Crescent was conducive to growing crops because of its rich soil, moderate climate, and proximity to water. These factors here were crucial in growth of agriculture around the world. In addition, the Fertile Crescent was able to produce adequate crops (early wheat and barley) for the consumption of humans in and around the Fertile Crescent.
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ReplyDeleteAuthor: Carol R. Ember
ReplyDeleteTitle: Hunter-Gatherers (Foragers)
Source: Yale University
Link: http://hraf.yale.edu/resources/faculty/explaining-human-culture/hunter-gatherers-foragers-2/
Summary: I find Diamond’s chapter about early hunter-gatherers very interesting. The article I read introduces the topic by stating that studying hunter-gatherer groups that are still around today, can help us understand early human cultures, many years ago. Until about ten thousand years ago, almost all people were hunter-gatherers. Then, food production was such an advancement, that in the last few hundred years, only five million people around the world are hunter-gatherers today. The problem with looking at these groups is that some have adapted and improved over time, so we cannot get an exact look at how these groups went about many thousands of years ago. On the other hand, many of these groups still use the same processes as did the people who lived many years ago. Anthropologists have been studying these groups by actually going and living with them for a period of time. Some of the most recent studies have been of the Mbuti of the Ituri Forest (central Africa), and the Copper Inuit of the Arctic (North America). From these studies, the scientists found that these groups are fully or semi-nomadic and live in very small communities rather than larger communities. Another point they could draw was that hunter-gatherers tend to fight less than food producers, which is a very important fact because that can allow us to figure out why, if a certain event happened, it did happen and that point could be the reason for it. DIamond states that it seems obvious that people would rather be food producers than hunter-gatherers, but then states that there are certain drawbacks to being a food producer that hunter-gatherers do not have to deal with (Diamond 104). The article also talked about how hunter-gatherers vary based on location. Groups near the equator will rely more on gathering than hunting, and the farther away from the equator the more they will rely on fishing and hunting. Diamond point seems valid about the choice between hunter-gatherers and food producers, and how there are positives and negatives to both, and this article furthered my understanding of how hunter-gatherers were many years ago, and how they are now.
Title: Is Carbon Dating Reliable?
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Helen Fryman
Source: CARM
Link: https://carm.org/carbon-dating
Summary: The article attempts to answer the question of “what is radiocarbon dating” and “is it accurate”. According to the article, C14 sating is very accurate and reliable when concerning dates within the last 4,000 years as these dates are easily calibrated and supported by other evidence such as historical records. In spite of this any objects trying to be dated that are in excess of 4,000 years old cannot be accurately dated in this manner as there are very few to no artifacts to cross reference the accuracy of these objects. While some scientists refute this by attempting to cross-reference them using rings on ancient trees. These too can be misleading in the respect that the rings on the trees me in reality be indicative of far more recent dates. A key reason why this is so is that we have no record of ancient atmospheric carbon levels and s such the ratios of C14 to C12 may appear to us as being older or newer than the actually are a carbon levels are constantly shifting erratically.
Explanation: What this article does is to confirm Diamond’s claims that due to the inaccuracies in the of ancient radiocarbon calibration we cannot truthfully use radiocarbon as a absolute timeline for earths history. What this does is weakens both scientists and creationists arguments in the respect that is weaken the credibility of the scientists but at the same time keeps the door open to the possibility of finding future evidence that may lean towards creation or to contemporary scientific explanations.
I choose this topic for further research due to skepticism towards the corruption of both the scientific community on of the religious community as well.
Title: Fertile Crescent
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Joshua J. Mark
Source: Ancient History Encyclopedia
Link: http://www.ancient.eu/Fertile_Crescent/
Summary: While reading the chapter "Apples or Indians" I became interested in the Fertile Crescent, which is claimed to be the site of many developments in human history such as cities or even empires, as well as agriculture (Diamond 135). I learn about any disputes over the land or any other interesting trivia about the area. In the article, the Fertile Crescent is regarded as "the birthplace of agriculture". The article provides some background on agricultural advancements in the area. Around 10,000 BCE, residents of the area began to tame wild animals. Then, in 9,000 BCE, wild grains and other plants were beginning to be cultivated by natives. By, 5,000 BCE, they crops that had been planted now had irrigation. Around the same time, the practice of harvesting wool from domesticated sheep was used. In addition, the article also explains how many wars were fought over the land because it was such a valuable resource. The Roman, Persian, and Babylonian Empires were only a few of the ancient civilizations that fought for control of the Fertile Crescent in ancient times.
Title: “Animal evolution during domestication: the domesticated fox as a model”
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Lyudmila Trut, Irina Oskina, and Anastasiya Kharlamova
Link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2763232/
Source: US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health
Summary:
In chapter nine of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond states that many domesticated animals possess striking disparities from their ancestors. For instance, many farm animals have become smaller in size after becoming domesticated. Also, many breeds of dog all vary greatly from wolves. After reading this section of Diamonds book I became curious as why many animals differed so greatly from their ancestors. The essay I found observes and talks about the evolution of domesticated animals and uses Belyaey’s domestication of silver foxes experiment as an example of this evolution. Belyaey used artificial selection in order to find the differences that would occur with the specific types of evolution; he did this with the best traits and temperance towards humans in mind, for the gene pool. Then, after fifty years of selection, the foxes varied greatly in a number of traits such as coat color, some possessed floppy ears and curly tails, and in general became very dog-like. For instance, they would wag their tails when they were approached by humans, and the foxes would also seek human attention. Many people believe that this artificial selection based on the foxes taming changed their genes to create greater variation in both their behavior and appearance. However, it remains uncertain how and why this would occur. In summary, this articles explains how animals have evolved during domestication, and similar selections, and has told that even though there have been experiments on it, the reason that this selection and change occurs is still unknown.
Title: Hunting and gathering culture
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.britannica.com/topic/hunting-and-gathering-culture
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica (from Infotopia)
Author: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Summary/Explanation:
This article provides insight and information on a plethora of different aspects of hunting and gathering. This culture, also known as foraging, consists of depending on wild foods. Many years ago, this was widely popular and was very diverse as strategies were tailored to the environments. When the rare occasion of an abundant food supply occurs, villages and towns could be made possible. Groups of people are able to band together, but they must be small in order to save food supplies. Men were to often hunt larger animals, while the women and children would collect small items such as plants or insects.
This article is relevant to “Guns, Germs, and Steel” as Diamond discusses hunter gathers frequently and how they utilize the wild foods. This is included in Chapter 6: To Farm or Not to Farm. Diamond also talks about the evolution of hunter-gatherers to farmers to food production. In addition, the article and book share similar location ideas as Southwest Asia is said to be where animal domestication and agriculture originated from.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: World population-food supply balance is becoming increasingly unstable, study finds
Source: http://phys.org/news/2015-05-world-population-food-increasingly-unstable.html
Summary: This article states that as food production increases so does the population of the world. The article discusses how the demand of food production is increasing due to the increasing of the total population. Study shows that the supply of food is also becoming unstable because of the increasing population. It also shows that the correlation between these two are becoming fragile and more susceptible. The article also states how if this trend continues the world may be faced with a food crisis. This article relates to the book because in Part 2 Diamond explains how people who practiced food production had a higher population than those who practiced the hunter-gatherer technique.
Author: Tia Ghose
ReplyDeleteTitle: Prehistoric Massacre Hints at Hunter-Gatherer War
Link: http://news.discovery.com/history/prehistoric-massacre-hints-at-war-among-hunter-gatherers-16012.htm
Source: Discovery News
Summary:
After I read about Jared Diamond’s interpretation of hunter-gatherer societies, the topic evoked interest in me. Following my reading of that section, I wanted to further investigate the specific ways in which these societies interacted with each other, especially during periods of conflict. The article I found focused on the discovery of about thirty skeletons that were found in Kenya. Supposedly, these skeletons are ten-thousand years old. The finding of these skeletons, and the presumed injuries that these ancient people died from, hints that there could have been a hunter-gatherer war. Within the article, I found it particularly interesting that the behavior of chimpanzees, the closest human ancestor, was connected to the behavior that the ancient people demonstrated in what was presumed to be a violent skirmish that left many people dead. At the site where the skeletons were found, in Lake Turkana, Kenya, archaeologists found the twenty-seven skeletons, accompanied by arrows and blunt-force weapons from around ten millennia ago. The presence of these skeletons in proximity to the prehistoric weapons provides the first evidence of war between ancient tribes.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Domestication
Source: National Geographic Education
Link: http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/domestication/
Summary/Explanation:
This article supports Jared Diamond by explaining the first plants and animals domesticated and the resulting effects on humans. First, this article discusses that plant domestication first occurred between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia. The first plants to be domesticated included wheat, barley, lentils, and peas. With the domestication of plants, people were able to develop permanent civilizations. Secondly, this article discussed animal domestication. The domestication of animals resulted in the use of animals for meat, milk, hides, clothing, storage, assistance in hunting, and transportation. The domestication of animals was very difficult, although it proved to be very beneficial throughout history. I chose this article because it further explains plant and animal domestication and it supports Diamond's theory of domestication leading to higher population density and increased food production.
Title: The First Farmers
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Gemma Tarlach
Source: Discover
Link: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=08615477-497b-4d4b-adaa-53045b1ce0e0%40sessionmgr115&hid=125&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=110877416&db=f5h
Summary: The Agricultural Revolution occurred 12,000 years ago, however it is thought that in some places people had already begun farming before that. In fact, evidence points to people in Israel having been farming as early as 23,000 years ago. Researchers found evidence of people having harvested and used crops many years ago.
This relates to Diamonds thoughts on farming in Guns, Germs and Steel. Diamond mentioned that people went from being hunter-gathers, to an in-between stage, to farmers, which is demonstrated in the article.
I chose this topic because I found it interesting that the Agricultural Revolution started 9,000 years after the first farmers were said to have begun farming.
DeleteAuthor: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Ancient Egyptian Cotten
Source: University of Warwick
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120402093938.htm
In chapter 7 of Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond explains ancient plant crop evolution through the difference their size, nut bitterness, or even seed dispersal mechanisms. These changes were brought upon due to the start of plant domestication in different regions of the world. As I wondered how these changes affected individual crops I came across the source above which showed me how cotton changed throughout the years. The researchers, led by Dr. Robin Allaby from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, studied the remains of ancient 1,600 year-old cotton at Qasr Ibrim in Egypt using high output sequencing technologies. Before, he began explaining his findings he stressed how evolution is normally categorized as a slow process. Dr. Allaby and his team found out that ancient cotton from that area actually adapted extremely fast due to the environmental stress, such as not enough water. This article relates with Diamond’s explanation of crop’s changing due to the location of domestication to put up with those conditions. I also learned how extreme factors can make a plant evolve quicker than they would have in a more appropriate environment.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: "Hunter-gatherers and immigrant farmers lived together for
2,000 years in Central Europe"
Source: Science Daily
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131010142704.htm
Summary: This article describes that as hunter gatherers appeared to fade away, they actually integrated with farmers of the same time period and lived together for 2,000 years. It gives an overview of the speculation that hunter gathers were driven out by the introduction of farmers to the land, but more recently it has been discovered that the hunter gatherers lived with the farmers. 7,500 years ago the farming lifestyle was introduced to the hunter gatherers which overcame the hunter gatherer lifestyle and marked the end of the the time period because many of the women from the hunter gatherers went to marry farmer husbands. This in turn intertwined the two societies. The study of Blätterhöhle cave DNA supports this theory. This supports Diamonds statement that hunter gatherer lifestyle will die out in the decades to come. In mixing together farming and hunter gathering lifestyles, farming is clearly the dominant force which is why the few tribes that remain will cross over to modern farming to obtain food. I chose this topic to learn more about a hunter gatherer society transitioning into a farming society.
Authors: Colin Kelley, Shahrzad Mohtadi, Mark Cane, Richard Seager, and Yochanan Kushnir
ReplyDeleteTitle: Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought
Source:PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
Link:http://www.pnas.org/content/112/11/3241.full
Summary/explanation: Diamond makes it quite clear how vital the Fertile Crescent is to mankind. He wrote all through part 2 of Guns, Germs, and Steel that the Fertile Crescent is where agriculture began and where we, as humans, understand is the prime location for plants and animals to live (Diamond 136-137). The article I found describes how there has been a huge drought in the Fertile Crescent area and the negative effects that came because of the weather. It writes that during the dry season, “the agricultural share fell 17%” the wheat production was lacking. Also included is the fact that the drought caused diseases to emerge and caused families to evacuate. It is crazy to think that a climatic change can cause such a disaster to not only the food industry, but the health field as well. This article reinforces the importance of the Fertile Crescent which supports Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond writes that the Fertile Crescent is where civilization originated and how important it is to the start of farming, writing, and food production (Diamond 135). Together, these articles highlight the significance that the Fertile Crescent has on the Earth.
Database: ABC-CLIO
ReplyDeleteWorld History: Ancient
Author: None given
Title: Fertile Crescent
Summary:
This article gives a description of the Fertile Crescent's early cultures and the reasons for its early growth. the Fertile Crescent is the crescent-shaped patch of land on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It has fertile soil because it includes the floodplains of the Jordan, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers. Around 8000 BCE, the first-known permanent human settlements arose in that area. An important development occurred around 4500-4000 BCE,when Sumer occupied the southern portion of the Fertile Crescent: they invented the first writing system. Other major groups of people that later inhabited the region include Assyrians and Babylonians. These civilizations were able to thrive because of the Fertile Crescent's unique properties. The region gave rise to food production, thanks to its fertile soil, abundance of water, much sunlight, and native annual crops, including wheat and barley. The area was also inhabited by the ancestors of modern pigs, cows, goats, and sheep, which are proved to be domesticable. These descriptions of the Fertile Crescent concur with Diamond's statements in chapter eight about the importance of the area. Diamond writes that the region was important because there writing, empires, and civilization were developed. The Fertile Crescent was also important because of its Mediterranean climate, and the native plants and animals that were suitable for domestication, like the cereals wheat and barley. The article and Diamond's argument support each other in explaining why the Fertile Crescent was so important to the rise of food production and civilization.
Author: Alasdair Wilkins
ReplyDeleteTitle: Why Some Animals Can Never be Domesticated
Source: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5756178/why-can-some-animals-never-be-domesticated
Summary: This article talks about the three reasons humans domesticate animals. Either we want to domesticate them so that we have a food source, we want to use them for work like plowing fields. The third reason is for companionship, such as dogs or cats. Tamed animals are not necessarily domesticated animals. Domestication of crops and animals began about 11,000 years ago. It then speaks of 6 things needed for an animal to be domesticated. Domesticated animals become smaller and not as intelligent. Some crops became domesticated due to a dominant mutation. Then it talks about if humans are domesticated. This article supports Diamonds theory of how humans domesticated plants before modern scientific techniques were developed. It says that some plants like wheat had a dominant mutation that caused them to become domesticated.
Link: http://www.britannica.com/science/domestication
ReplyDeleteTitle: Domestication
Author: The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica
Summary: Domestication can be defined as' "the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants." This ancient process was monumental in the development of human society and initiated agriculture and subsistence farming.
"Origins of Domestication": Humans began to domesticate plants and animals for basic purposes such as hunting and food production in the Old World. The early domestication of dogs, goats, cattle, and several grains began the Neolithic Period. Most significant plants and animals were domesticated during this time, making it a very momentous time in human history. Various forms of plants were domesticated for a very broad range of practical uses, including, food, medicines, and even narcotics.
"Domestication of Animals": In the very early stages of domestication, dogs were used for hunting, gathering, protection, and even a source of food. Sheep, goats, and cattle became crucial to settled human life for the wool, milk, clothing, food, and labor value that they provided. Following the domestication of these four essential animals, humans quickly began to domesticate horses, which proved critical for war and transportation; donkeys, camels, chickens and other large birds, cats, rodents, honeybees, silkworms, and a plethora of others. This rapid development began a new era of nomadic animal breeding. Most of these discoveries in the field of domestication were made in the Old World, and were the crucial start to food production and settled civilization.
This encyclopedia entry relates directly to chapter 8 of "Guns, Germs, and Steel," in which Diamond discusses the role of the founder crops and four domestic mammals in the move toward food production. While Diamond specifically acknowledges that of the Fertile Crescent and the article refers to plants and animals from all different parts of the world, they both carry the same explanation as to why such advances led to the abandonment of hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Both texts describe five essential domesticated mammals that served as the base of settled human life. Diamond lists, dogs, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs; whereas the encyclopedia lists, dogs, sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. The same ideas are prevalent in both descriptions.
Title: Why Wolves Are Forever Wild and Dogs Can Be Tamed
ReplyDeleteAuthor: Jennifer Viegas
Link: http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets/why-wolves-are-forever-wild-and-dogs-can-be-tamed-130122.htm
Summary: Wolves and dogs are very genetically similar however wolves are very hard to train while dogs are much easier. The reason for this is because of how they enter the world and their initial thoughts and feelings about new things that they come across. Wolves are blind and deaf when they are first born and rely mostly on smell in order to function. When they first gain their hearing, they are afraid of the new sounds and when they first gain sight, they are afraid of the new visual stimuli. Wolf pups experience more sensory shocks that dog puppies do not go through. Puppies do not fear the new sounds and sights but rather like it and seek for more new things. Dogs usually have a more protected start which gives them more time to grow and develop due to their association with humans. In contrast, wolfs do not have a protected start and need to be able to escape predators and avoid threats right away. I decided to research further on the topic of the differences in dogs and wolves in regards to training and development because Diamond discussed the domestication of some wild animals and the failures to domesticate others. Diamond states the transition from wolves to household dogs but did not go into detail on the real differences between the two.
Author: Louis C. Hunter
ReplyDeleteTitle: The Heroic Theory of Invention
Source: Virginia Education
Link: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/heroic/wdsinvent.html
Summary: Diamond’s mentioning of how inventions are made caught my attention. He provided something that I had never really thought about, and I wanted to delve further into the heroic theory as well as examples of how it could be applied. My article described the theory as a sole achievement and investigated the hero’s role in it. In addition, the article goes on to describe the steamboat, who, Robert Fulton is given the most credit for. The steamboat was a critical part of our nation's economic and national development. Why would there be one person, a hero, to look up to? Yet, there were many others who took part and shared in this process, such as Stevey, Fitch, Oliver, and Evans. Each provided a part in order for the project to be successful. The inclusion of these other men would most certainly downgrade Fulton’s role. They are hardly mentioned with the steamboat. So we have to remember technological achievements are most likely a collaboration between great minds.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Hunters and Gatherers: The Search for Survival - An Introduction
Link: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/none/hunters-and-gatherers-search-survival-introduction
Summary: From the very beginning of part II, I wanted to learn about the ways of hunter-gatherers, and what made them so inefficient. It was said that from the beginning everyone was a hunter-gatherer. Eventually, people began growing crops, and producing food for themselves. This caused for the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to become less popular. Most hunter-gatherers are in areas that cannot be found easily, and are very secluded, such as the jungle. Many people find the ways of hunter-gatherers immoral, which may be a leading factor to why many converted to farming. Many hunter-gatherers were forced to assimilate, but still find themselves using their former skills in daily life. Many hunter-gatherers died out, because their land was taken away. This reminds one of the angry natives in chapter 4 of Guns, Germs, and steel.
Author: Christopher Shea
ReplyDeleteTitle: Why Isn't the "Fertile Crescent" More Fertile?
Source: Slate.com
Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2003/04/why_isnt_the_fertile_crescent_more_fertile.html
Summary: Jared Diamond pointed out that the fertile crescent was the cradle of civilization, and furthermore was indeed exceptionally fertile. However, once I realized where the crescent was located - modern day Iraq, I began to question Diamond. If the fertile crescent was so lush at a point in time - what exactly was the catalyst in making it into the arid wasteland that we see today. This article explains that the fertile crescent was undoubtedly rich in fertility at one point. However, the ancient Sumerians and Mesopotamians had to build irrigation system from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in order to sufficiently irrigate the land. This irrigation would maximize how fertile the land could get. However, around the 13th century A.D, these canal systems began to collapse, inevitably leading to the destruction of the fertile land. Today, this land is still technically fertile, but it will never be able to fully recover after almost five centuries of abandonment. In retrospect, my allegation that this arid land could have never been fertile was wrong, for I learned that the failed use of canals would bring upon the destruction of the fertility of this land.
Article title: Why GM is the natural solution for future farming
ReplyDeleteArticle link: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/31/gm-farming-natural-solution
When Diamond discusses food production, he points out that much of the process of plant domestication was possible because of genetic modification. The type of GM that occurred was selective breeding, which produced more bountiful, easily accessible, and easily grown foods. When sedentary civilizations began to farm, the seeds that were planted were those of preferred plants, and unwanted seeds of the next generation were not planted. Over time, crops began to transform from their original structure into the form we know today. This article discusses animal and plant GM through selective breeding, mutagenesis, and transgenesis. Although these methods are different, the author discusses the same type of GM as Diamond to suggest that mutagenesis and transgenesis are similar to selective breeding to deter concern about these methods. There are people against new methods of GM because they think that the crops may contain harmful chemicals or that they will "leak" and become invasive in outside environments. There is little concern associated with selective breeding, so by grouping this method with other GM processes, the others seem less harmful.
Author: None given
ReplyDeleteTitle: Indigenous Farming Methods: Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change While Boosting Food Production
Source: Nourishing the Planet
Link: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/indigenous-farming-methods-mitigating-the-effects-of-climate-change-while-boosting-food-production/
Summary: Indigenous American Crops were brought to many areas around the world many years ago. Many people chose to overlook the agricultural advancement, but it offered so many benefits to the environment that many areas could nof receive without it. Indigenous farming involves a delicate procedure with crops; raising their beds, and covering them with mulch. North and South America were the two continents that really took advantage of this system. The system of cropping helps absorb 90% more water from rainfall compares to a normal bed of plants. The use of the water absorbtion was crutial for the Americas during the period of El Nino, a sparatic climatic period. The water absorbtion, along wth soil improvement, helped save more crops and give more biodiversity to North and South America. The reason I chose this article was because in chapter 8 of GGS, Diamond discusses the sufficient crop growing in the Americas ans New Guinea. I was interested to learn about their excessive vegetation, and I wanted to learn more about what exactly Indigenous agriculture is so I could understand why these areas were advancing so much in terms of plant domestication.