Some say that "survival of the fittest" was the only method that overpopulation influenced the determination to survive. In this situation, social anthropolists can say that there are other adaptive strategies. These methods include foraging (hunting and gathering), horticulture (uncultivated plots), agriculture (intensive land and labor use), and pastoralism (care for herds of domesticated animals). Industrialization is included amongst the strategies but more related to another topic in the study of Anthropology.
Before food manufacturing was initiated, foraging seemed to be the only method that was common amongst cultures. According to the "Worldwide Distribution of Recent Hunters-Gatherers" map (110), foraging was heavily employed in the Northwestern parts of America and the Southern parts of Asia. Food production was not utilized very much because of the natural resources and animal life provided in the economy.
Horticulture and Agriculture are two opposites that attract...get it? They attract people who live on farms and raise herds of domesticated animals. Horticulturalists usually leave a plot fallow for several years, for they believe this will increase the production of vegetables. Burning down forests is a destructive method; however, will eliminate insects and fertilized land will remain.
Agriculture, on the other hand, requires intensive harvesting and continuous labor. Agriculturalists also use irrigating (water) and terracing (hillside) methods.Pastoralism is a cultivation method that requires a passive mode of production. Pastoralists exchange goods with plant cultivators in which both parties benefit off of two adaptive starategies.
Being that the societies are all non-industrial, some would wonder why do so many methods for survival exist. In later societies, which were still non-industrial, a friendship mode of production arose; meaning that people gained foods and resoures through friends as opposed to clerks that sell good and resources around the way. Its not "what you know", but rather "who you know!"
Scarcity, lack of goods, was an unfortunate route to people who didnt know the ones selling the goods and resources. This forced people to search for the resources on their own. I guess Darwin was leading to a more common idea about "survival of the fittest"...it's everywhere!
The question of the week for all you Blogthropolists is...If you lived 10,000 years ago, who would you rather be...a Horticulturist or an Agriculturalist?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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3 comments:
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I would choose to live in a agriculturalist society mainly because there is more security and less risks to take. It is difficult to become a nation and a growing civilization if certain aspects aren't maintained and people are constantly moving and starting over their lives in various locations. I would rather stay in one area and thrive than start over elsewhere and never improve the civilization I am living in.
Perhaps I am just afraid of taking risks since I live in a stable society where enterprise, surplus, and trade are prevalent.
Horticulture because im too lazy to work hard on my land everyday. 100000 years ago there was a lot of land to burn and farm.
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