Lecture 4, Agriculture: Between Life and Death

Question 1

Agro-pastoralism:

Answer 1

• Global temperatures began to rise after 9600 BCE.
• The changes in the environment changed the way humans lived.
• Humans were able to plant crops, cultivate fields, and store the surplus, instead of gathering/hunting food and moving from one area to another.
• The advancement in agriculture contributed to the transition of human communities from a pastoral nomadic lifestyle in small groups to a settled lifestyle in large communities.
• Societies that had agriculture were considered civilized, and those who didn’t were considered barbarians.
• Increasing hierarchy of authority in the social world
• Change labour relationship between the genders in particular for women who had to weave, cook, grind grain, make pots, make baskets, sew clothing, take care of children

Question 2

whats Agriculture?

Answer 2

• combination of food farming with animal herding to the demands of humans
• The main animals that were herd were sheep, pigs, and cattle.
  Grain was used to produce beer, bread, and porridge.

Question 3

Agro-pastoralism revolution?

Answer 3

• Beer dams, which were used to irrigate water away from the crops.
• Construction of walls and fences.
• Transforming landscape through irrigation, the construction of walls and fences
• The construction of granaries as a new architectural form
• Pottery as a new artistic form milk and water
  The ability to produce food as a symbol of civilization

Question 4

what were beer dams used?

Answer 4

they were used to irrigate water away from the crops.

Question 5

changes in labor duties?

Answer 5

• Change in labor relationships between genders.
• The duties of women in settled communities included:
  o Weaving
  o Cooking
  o Grinding grain
  o Make pots
  o Make baskets
  o Sew clothing
  o Take care of children
  Women started to harvest, while men continued to hunt along harvesting.

Question 6

what was the use of pottery?

Answer 6

• Pottery was used as a new artistic form.
• Pottery was also used as vessels for milk and water.

Question 7

what is a sickle?

Answer 7

Sickle is a tool for harvesting crops that dates back to 4,000 BCE

Question 8

Grain as a deity?

Answer 8

It had a spiritual property
- Grain produced bread, beer, etc
- We call this agriculture, but we must remember that agriculture succeeded largely because the activity of growing grain made the farmer a tender or the goddess

Question 9

Grain Management

Answer 9

• This called for the need of a management system, where someone would need to be in charge of dividing the grains appropriately.
  
  • This introduced the concept of social hierarchy, which created a societal shift within these communities

Question 10

Irrigation

Answer 10

Weir dam

Question 11

Fertile Crescent

Answer 11

• an arch-shaped area that stretches from the foothills of zagros mountains across the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, along the borderlands between present day northern Iraq and Syria and southeastern Turkey.
• early civilization started there
• it was a volcanic area; and there was obsidian
• and the use of obsidian was contributed to the agriculture revolution

Question 12

Obsidian

Answer 12

• is a black material made from lava; therefor it was found in volcanic areas.
• it was very sharpe
• it was used for making knives and medical equipments

Question 13

Çatal Hüyük

Answer 13

• catal huyuk is a village in the fertile crescent.
• it was in a hillside and there was a river near by.
• they used to trade with obsidian
• the river was a source of transport and trade
• the houses were clustered and stuck together, the house entrance was from the roof; possibaly for protection, there was no streets.
• there houses was made of mud brick
• their houses was a very sacred space; they would sometimes bury there ancestors in the house.
• they had storage units in the house, for food and pottery.

Question 14

Wall painting (specifically at Çatal Hüyük):

Answer 14

• back then the people were associated with bull cults, and a lot of the wall paintings were bulls.
• some of the room and courtyards had horns.

Question 15

Stone Circles

Answer 15

• stone circles was the arragemnt of stones in the megalithic tradtion.
• there would be burial sites where the stone circles were; so it was a sacred space.
• clans desgined the exterior and interior of the stone circles.
  and different clans would change and add desgin to the stone circles throughout the years

Question 16

stones

Answer 16

• stones were seen more than just minerals, they were seen as living and animated things.
• stones were associated with ancestors and burial traditions
• where the stones were brought from gave it meaning.

Question 16

Stonehenge

Answer 16

• (3,000- 2,400 BCE)
• sacred space
• one of the largest religious site.
• it wass built in phases.
• it was arranged in a specfic way to align with the sun during solstices.
• in summer solstices, the sun would rize from the nourtheast part of the horizin and align with the heart of the Stonehenge.
• in winter solstices, the sun would rise from the southwest side.

Question 17

Sacred Landscape

Answer 17

is a geographical area that have a special meaning to people.

Question 17

Solstice

Answer 17

is an event that occurs when the sun appears its most southerly or nourthely peak.

Question 18

stonehenge Cursus

Answer 18

it was a long area that has trenches dug into the ground, and it was a pathway that links the river to the stonehenge

Question 19

hydria, water jar

Answer 19

• cage and wheel
• and the deity was an important person to them spirtually
• it stores water / grain

Question 19

menhir, england

Answer 19

• is a type of standing stone
• usally next to villages
• and they would be as a marker of a sacred space, where they would interact with the living spirtits

Question 20

Kermario alignment at carnac, france

Answer 20

• thousands of familys and clans contributed to this place
• it was a very sacred place, where their ancestors living spirtits lived.
• they brought the stones from different areas