Projects

Posted at Apr 09/2010 01:20AM:
jcomer: Knowledge of agriculture allows us to manipulate our sources of food so that we are less dependent on, and at the mercy of, changes in our environment, whether seasonal or catastrophic. The development and implementation of this knowledge, commonly referred to as the agricultural revolution, is defined by a shift in societal structures from hunter-gatherer or nomadic communities to larger and more complex farming settlements. Specifically, this shift occurred because agricultural techniques allowed people to stay in the one place where they were growing their crops, which necessitated their building permanent structures; to produce surpluses of food, some to eat immediately and some for the winter/dry season, or perhaps some to trade; and to allow for the division of labor, since if these farmers could grow more than they could eat, a few specialized farmers could feed the community, while others could spend their time and effort on other pursuits. These other specialists soon came to include the artists and artisans whose works, when found in the archaeological record, characterize the nature and complexity of their culture from our modern vantage point. There is therefore a clear connection between the development of agriculture and increasing cultural complexity, and the finds at Tell Al-Falafel reflect this connection. Professor Pelaf records finding a number of millstones at the site, which speaks to the importance of grains in the inhabitants’ diet; while these millstones alone do not necessarily prove that the community was agriculturally based, the jars found in Building A, Room 3, containing wheat, barley, peas, and lentils, suggest that the inhabitants were taking advantage of their ability to grow surplus and were storing a portion of their crop for later consumption or trade. Further evidence of surplus is Building E, whose design resembles a series of storerooms. Professor Pelaf records a number of concentrations of a type of good found in only one part of the site; for example, Building D, Room 1 contained “10 good blades of obsidian”. The only other obsidian artifacts on site were the two warheads in Building A. Such a concentration of a single kind of object suggests that one person or one group of people was responsible only for the manufacture of this object.

Posted at Apr 09/2010 11:57AM:
jcomer: Knowledge of agriculture allows us to manipulate our sources of food so that we are less dependent on, and at the mercy of, changes in our environment, whether seasonal or catastrophic. The development and implementation of this knowledge, commonly referred to as the agricultural revolution, is defined by a shift in societal structures from hunter-gatherer or nomadic communities to larger and more complex farming settlements. Specifically, this shift occurred because agricultural techniques allowed people to stay in the one place where they were growing their crops, which necessitated their building permanent structures; to produce surpluses of food, some to eat immediately and some for the winter/dry season, or perhaps some to trade; and to allow for the division of labor, since if these farmers could grow more than they could eat, a few specialized farmers could feed the community, while others could spend their time and effort on other pursuits. These other specialists soon came to include the artists and artisans whose works, when found in the archaeological record, characterize the nature and complexity of their culture from our modern vantage point. There is therefore a clear connection between the development of agriculture and increasing cultural complexity, and the finds at Tell Al-Falafel reflect this connection. Professor Pelaf records finding a number of millstones at the site, which speaks to the importance of grains in the inhabitants’ diet; while these millstones alone do not necessarily prove that the community was agriculturally based, the jars found in Building A, Room 3, containing wheat, barley, peas, and lentils, suggest that the inhabitants were taking advantage of their ability to grow surplus and were storing a portion of their crop for later consumption or trade. Further evidence of surplus is Building E, whose design resembles a series of storerooms. Professor Pelaf records a number of concentrations of a type of good found in only one part of the site; for example, Building D, Room 1 contained “10 good blades of obsidian”. The only other obsidian artifacts on site were the two warheads in Building A. Such a concentration of a single kind of object suggests that one person or one group of people was responsible only for the manufacture of this object.