Origins of Agriculture: Lab Worksheet for ANTH 150 Students

ANTH 150 Fall 2021 Lab Worksheet #3: The Origins of Agriculture 1 TEAM NAME:____________________ Names of group members who actively and fully participated in this worksheet 1. 4. 2. 5. 3. Purpose of this exercise : In class this week, we’ve read and learned about how archaeologists study the process of domestication and emergence of agriculture. In this exercise, you’ll be given a hypothetical example of an area that saw the emergence of agriculture. With your group, read through the data provided and answer the questions below. In doing this exercise, you’ll get a chance to practice thinking through archaeological data to answer anthropological questions about the emergence of agriculture in this region. Background: In the following hypothetical situation, we will suppose that an archaeologist is undertaking the study of the origins of agriculture in Southeast Asia. She selects a coastal region in which to conduct a survey for sites and to make a few small excavations. The coast has a number of lagoons and estuaries, which contain a variety of shellfish such as oysters and mussels. Inland from the swampy zone, the land rises rapidly to a series of hills. The entire study region is drained by a small river. The study of modern plants in the area has been done by a botanist. This study resulted in a map showing the distribution of two economically important species of wild plants (Fig. 1). Wild rice occurs only at higher elevations in the hills (north of the dotted line on the map). Wild beans grow at the higher elevations as well as lower down, almost to the edge of the swamps (all of the area north of the dashed line). The wild rice and wild beans are the ancestors of the most important domesticated plants in the area today. Because geological evidence indicates that there have been no significant climatic changes here since 10,000 BCE, it is assumed that the distribution of wild species has not shifted in that time. 1 This exercise adapted from Price, T. Douglas 2007 Principles of archaeology . McGraw-Hill, New York. 1 Figure 1. The study area. The symbols show the earliest date of settlement at each site

ANTH 150 Fall 2021 Archaeological survey involved systematically walking back and forth over the entire area looking for artifacts on the ground. The archaeologists were able to make a map of the distribution of prehistoric sites. By analyzing the pottery from these sites and using radiocarbon dating, it was possible to assign the sites to various chronological stages. Several sites (indicated by stars) have been occupied continuously from 2000 to 1600 BC. Intermediate period sites (indicated by squares) have been occupied since 1600-1200 BC. Other sites (indicated by circles) have been occupied from 1200 to 800 BC. All of the sites seem to have been sedentary, year- round occupations and all are about the same size. Following the survey work, sites 5, 8, and 20 were excavated, and the paleobotanical (ancient plants) and archaeozoological (ancient animal or faunal remains) information recovered in those excavations is summarized in the graph (Fig. 2). The data are arranged in frequency polygons to show the relative quantities of plant and animal remains through time. The total seeds column in the graph is a summary of all the plant remains at the sites. All of the plant remains found were wild, except the cultivated beans and rice. All of the small mammals were wild and hunted. Table 1 provides additional information about the types of artifacts found at these sites. 2 Figure 2. Percentage graphs of different species in use at different sites through time.

ANTH 150 Fall 2021 1. What were the main sources of subsistence during the earliest period (2000-1600 BCE) Site 5 Site 8 Site 20 2. What are the main sources of subsistence during the intermediate period (1600-1200 BCE). Site 5 Site 8 Site 20 3 Table 1. Artifacts at the excavated sites

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

ANTH 150 Fall 2021 3. What are the main sources of subsistence during the latest period (1200-800 BCE)? Site 5 Site 8 Site 20 4. Drawing on evidence from Table 1, do you observe any changes in artifacts found at the three sites over the three time periods? Site 5 Site 8 Site 20 5. Based on your analysis of the plant, animal, and artifactual evidence at the three sites from the three time periods, please describe changes in subsistence over time in this area. How did the food sources and diet change over time? 4

ANTH 150 Fall 2021 6. What can you conclude about the origins of agriculture in this region based on your analyses? 7. If you were given money to fund another field season to continue excavations in this area, which site in Figure 1 would you want to investigate to better understand subsistence in this area? Why? 5

ANTH150_F21_LabWorksheet3_Agriculture

Related Documents