· 2017· Book chapter
Origins and ecological effects of early domestication in Iran and the Near East
- 491citations
- 2017year
Short summary
A model of population pressure and environmental disequilibrium is proposed to explain why early Near Eastern cultures shifted subsistence patterns midway through the Upper Palaeolithic, setting the stage for plant domestication.
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Key points
- A model linking population pressure and environmental carrying capacity is presented to explain subsistence changes.
- The model is applied to explain shifts during the Upper Palaeolithic, the onset of domestication, and the start of irrigation in the Near East.
- Binford's equilibrium model is used as a framework for analyzing post-Pleistocene archaeological changes.
- The chapter offers a view of South-western Asia from an Iranian perspective.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This chapter discusses an important change in subsistence pattern, midway through the Upper Palaeolithic in the Near East, set the stage for domestication of plants. A basic problem in human ecology is why cultures change their modes of subsistence at all. The chapter describes, one possible mechanism, a model of population pressure and disequilibrium relative to environmental carrying capacity and draws from enthnographic data on hunting and gathering groups. It examines the equilibrium model proposed by L. R. Binford as a means of explaining post-Pleistocene changes in the archaeological record. This model will be used to offer tentative explanations for subsistence changes which took place in the Near East at the three critical points mentioned: the Upper Palaeolithic, the beginning of domestication, and the beginnings of irrigation. The chapter also describes advance for viewing the rest of South-western Asia through Iranian eyes.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source., 2017 · DOI ↗
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Field: Anthropology
AnthropologySocial Sciences