Chapter 6

Understanding Human Adaptation

Chapter Outline Foraging Domestication Horticulture Intensive Agriculture Pastoralism Adaptation and Culture

Adaptation Process by which organisms develop

physical and behavioral characteristics allowing them to survive and reproduce in their habitats.

Adaptation and Environment

1. Environment includes resources that people can use to meet their needs: food, water, wood, stone etc.

2. Environment includes problems people must overcome: resource scarcity, high/low temperatures, diseases, rainfall variability, etc.

Components of Production

1. Time and energy to do the work (labor).

2. Available tools and knowledge (technology).

3. Natural resources in the environment.  

Organization of Production

Three factors:

1. Division of labor: allocating productive work to different kinds of people.

2. Patterns of cooperation: cooperating to harness resources efficiently.

3. Rights to resources: potential conflicts over access to natural resources.

Pre-industrial Food Production  

Foraging (hunting and gathering) Adaptation based on harvest of wild plants

and animals. Agriculture (cultivation)

Adaptation based primarily on planting, tending, and harvesting domesticated plants.

Herding (pastoralism) Adaptation based on breeding livestock, which

are taken to naturally occurring pasturelands.

 Foraging Division of labor based on sex and age. High degree of mobility especially from

season to season. Seasonal congregation and dispersal of

groups.

 Foraging Small mobile groups of 50 or less

(bands). Cooperate in production and and share

rights to harvest wild resources in a territory.

Share food and possessions based on need.

Principle Regions of Foragers

Domestication When people control distribution,

abundance, and biological features of plants and animals to increase their usefulness to humans.

Arose 10,000 years ago in the Old World and 5,000 years ago in the New World.

Supports greater numbers of people per unit of land.

Horticulture Use only hand tools in planting, cultivating

and harvesting gardens. Produces more food per unit of land than

foraging. Requires a labor investment in a piece of

land.

How Horticulture Shapes Culture Living groups are larger and more

permanently settled. Families have more definite rights of

ownership over particular pieces of land.

Principle Regions of Horticulture

Intensive Agriculture A system of cultivation in which plots are

planted annually or semiannually. Usually uses irrigation, natural fertilizers,

and plows powered by animals.

Consequences ofIntensive Agriculture Allowed a single farm family to produce a

surplus over and above its own food needs.

Supported the rise of civilization and city life.

Principle Regions of Intensive Agriculture

Ancient Civilizations

Pastoralism Occurs in regions that are unsuitable for

agriculture. Allows people to convert indigestible

vegetation into edible flesh and dairy products.

Doesn't produce as much food per unit of land as agriculture.

Nomadism Seasonal mobility often involving

migration to high-altitude areas during the hottest and driest parts of the year.

Principle Regions of Pastoralism

Quick Quiz

1. Human adaptation refers to:

a) the development of better genes

b) both cultural and genetic adjustments to the environment

c) moving to a different and better environment

d) trail and error learning

Answer: b

Human adaptation refers to both cultural and genetic adjustment to the environment.

2. The three components of production are labor, technology and:

a) time

b) climate

c) resources

d) land

Answer: c

The three components of production are labor, technology and resources.

3. A band:

a) is constant in size numbering about 500 individuals

b) is usually strongly territorial over its environmental resources

c) typically shares food and other possessions among its members

d) is a mobile group of about 50 people

Answer: d

A band is a mobile group of about 50 people.