After you've read Part II: Rise & Spread of Food Production, identify one point or issue with which you agree, disagree, or about which you would like to learn more. Use the SVHS databases or the Internet to find out more.
Your comment to this post should include the author, title, source, link or database title, and a summary of the source. In your summary, please explain why you choice this particular topic for further exploration.
N/A, Hunter-Gathers to Farmers, http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab63
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 6, Diamond discusses the reason why people either chose to become a hunter-gatherer or a farmer. The main reason given is environment, Diamond believes that the environmental conditions determined a person's choice. The article also agrees with Diamond's reasoning because it says that it all began with the Ice Age. It was mentioned that the Ice Age created a temperate climate that humans gravitated towards. Then animals such as bison began to move to colder regions and plants began to grow in the temperate climates. This allowed for people to become gatherers. Also, some people may have chosen to go with the bison and hunt. Overall, this topic is interesting because it explains how humans first started to collect food and at the same time it teaches about survivor's instinct.
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ReplyDelete13.2: Agriculture and Human Populaton Growth.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Earth-Science-Concepts-For-High-School/section/13.2/
In the beginning of Part II, in chapter 4, Diamond discusses how farming is an auto-catalytic process where the more people who farm, the more people can be provided for. This article agrees with Diamond, explaining how the carrying capacity of the Earth for humans was about 10 million people. However, that number was passed a while ago, due to farming. It is also explained how due to people settling down and farming, there was a improvement in industry and development. Leading to cities and a increased carrying capacity. Altogether, this article supports Diamond's point that farming is a process that can produce more food, and therefore support more people.
Jennie Cohen, Horse Domestication Happened Across Eurasia, Study Shows, History in the Headlines, http://www.history.com/news/horse-domestication-happened-across-eurasia-study-shows
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4, Diamond discusses about how one can tell whether the plant or animal was actually domesticated in the vicinity of that site itself, rather than domesticated elsewhere and spread then to the site. I chose to learn more about this because I enjoy knowing if plants or animals around me actually were domesticated here, or just spread here after domestication. After doing research I was able to find out where horses were domesticated from. I found out that from DNA researchers have discovered that different groups of people across Europe and Asia domesticated horses around 10,000 years ago. Although horses began appearing in cave art around 30,000 years ago, it is said that these horses were hunted for their meat, not tamed. When Achilli and a team of researchers collected maternally inherited mitochondrial genomes from living horses in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, they found out that multiple female horse lines were domesticated throughout the Neolithic period. The fact that these horses were domesticated in different places shows how significant horses have been to humans. Therefore, I found out that horses were not domesticated in North America, just spread after domestication.
Thank you for sharing! Very interesting!
DeleteMark Jenkins, "Last of the Cave People"
ReplyDeletehttp://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/karawari-cave-people/jenkins-text
On page 106, Diamond mentions the misconception that there is no overlap between hunting and gathering and producing food. In order to support his claim, he mentions the modern nomads of the Lakes Plains tribe in New Guinea and how they hunt during the months that their crops are growing. I decided to learn more about the culture of the nomads of New Guinea. This article describes some of the lifestyle of the Papua New Guinea tribe, the Meakambut. The Meakambut travel, staying the nights in caves to keep dry in the wet country. They used to use the caves as fortresses, but now they battle diseases, such as malaria. The Meakambut are one of the last cave-dwelling nomadic people of Papua New Guinea. This tribe has roots thousands of years back and still keep to the traditions of their ancestors, while most of the world, including their related Awim tribe. I find this interesting because their culture is so different from most modern cultures, and to them, their culture is the only culture they know. It's so hard for the rest of the world to imagine living in caves and being used to babies dying once or twice every week, and that is the Meakambut tribe's life.
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/overview_british_prehistory_01.shtml
ReplyDeleteOverview: From Neolithic to Bronze Age, 8000 - 800 BC
Dr Francis Pryor
One topic that Diamond mentions in part two of Guns, Germs, and Steel is the concept of farming. This article discusses the background, origin, advantages, and disadvantages of the method of food production. Farming developed around the time of 5000 B.C. and started in Britain. It took approximately two-thousand years for farming to spread. Before farming was introduced, people were mostly hunters and gatherers, which was a very inefficient method of food production. All in all, the introduction of farming is thought of as one of the biggest changes in human history.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/switching-farming-made-human-joint-bones-lighter-180953711/?no-ist
ReplyDeleteIn part two Diamond overlooked what I think is a major part of the change from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Diamond focuses on the societies as whole and how they changed from the hunter-gatherers to the farmers, as he discussed these topics I feel that he didn't tell much about how the activity change affected their bodies. In the article I found, a recent studies shows that bone density, in the human remains that were found, decreases after the development of farming. This is from the reduction of the amount of physical activity that occurred when the hunter-gatherers switched to farming. The more sedentary lifestyle of farmers started to deplete the density of the bones. CAT scans of hunter-gatherer bones show a more marrow between the holes in the bones, whereas the bones of the farmers showed thinner walls between these holes. The topic of diet isn't really a major factor of the difference of these bone densities due to the fact that farmers had a wide range of food types to eat from. Although the development of farming was a major increase in survivability it also made us more prone to fractures and bone related injuries.
Thank you for thinking "beyond the text." Keep up the good work!
DeleteAlex Palazzo Ultimate vs. Proximate Causation
ReplyDeletehttp://scienceblogs.com/transcript/2007/03/30/proximal-vs-ultimate-causation/
In chapter 4 diamond starts to discuss Ultimate and proximate causation. I wanted to learn more about the distinction between these two. The article I found is clearer, and goes into more detail about the difference between ultimate and proximate. The article says that ultimate has more to do with why something happened. For example, a question that could be answered with the ultimate cause would be "Why was this structure selected?" While the article says that proximate cause had to do with how something happened. For instance, the proximate cause could answer a question such as "How does this protein work?"
Excellent! Ultimate vs. proximate cause is one of the parts of GGS that we will be referring back to throughout the course. Good job!
DeleteThe Importance of Agriculture
ReplyDeletehttp://www.onecountry.org/story/importance-agriculture
In this section, Diamonds whole focus was food and how it affected the civilization. I further researched this importance and found this article. This article shows just how important food really is. Civilizations began with the working class being centered around this one important thing which is food. Everyone who wanted food had to get it from either farming crops or animals. This set the people into different occupations, whether it be making the food, selling the food, or buying the food. Civilizations wouldn't function without food and that is why it is so important.
We'll be delving into this as we look at the emergence and characteristics of "civilization" in our first unit.
DeleteOne of the things I found most interesting in Part II was that the original farming cultures were developed in relatively dry land. I understand that farming next to rivers would give the farmers good farming plots, but how could farming be possible far from rivers in ancient times? The answer is obvious, they would create irrigation systems, but I was curious as to what they were. They certainly were not like the ones today where hoses and devices disperse water. I researched ancient irrigation techniques and found an article about ancient irrigation. It described different methods such as dams and canals. These two irrigation techniques did not occur to me before simply because I thought the ancient people would not have been able to build these things. The dams would cause flooding to an area that brought water to dry land. Canals were used to redirect water to a location where there would be farming in order to irrigate the crops. Canals would also bring nutrients to areas as well. Diamond makes it clear that farming did not only happen in fertile land, but I wanted to further understand why it worked in those “un-fertile” places. This article is from the University of California Davis. I believe it is a reputable source because it comes from a well-respected university. http://mygeologypage.ucdavis.edu/cowen/~gel115/115CH17oldirrigation.html
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInvest in Agriculture
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/15/is-the-world-producing-enough-food/invest-in-agriculture
Diamond addresses that 80% of the worlds crops are from a dozen plants. This statistic blew my mind. 12 plants can account for 4/5 of the worlds vegetation. That is incredible, but I'm pondering how exactly a small amount of crops has the capability to feed our massive global population today. Wheat prices have gone down almost 2/3 of their value. Farmers are not making the money they need to produce the food required to feed our growing population. If we do not receive the governmental support for buying crops we will not have crops to buy, and when we do have crops their prices rise exponentially. How can our government let coffee prices rise to the rate that lower class citizens cannot afford a cup?
"The Anna Karenina principle: A concept for the explanation of success in science"
ReplyDeleteLutz Bornmann
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1104.0807.pdf
While reading chapter nine, I came upon a subject I have never heard of: Anna Karenina principle. Diamond concisely described the principle as " Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (Diamond 157). Diamond explains Tolstoy's novel: Anna Karenina, by stating that in order to have an happy family and a successful marriage, they must appeal in all aspects. From sexual attraction, agreement about money,child discipline, religion, to in- laws, any failure in those could lead to an unhappy marriage. Diamond applies this to the domestication of Zebras. The Anna Karenina principle is compared because without the right qualities, Zebras and other organisms are unable to domesticate. The article, talks about how if necessary sources that are crucial to the domestication of organisms are scare or absent, the animal cannot domesticate. Like in marriage, if any factor is missing, the marriage would most likely fail.
"The History of Genetics - How Wild Plants Were Domesticated"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=22&detID=52
In chapter seven, Diamond discusses plant domestication and how the first farmers were able to create crops without a clue of what they were doing. I wanted to research this because turning wild plants into an edible crop for the first time may be one of the biggest steps in human history. This article explains how wheat was domesticated long ago. The farmers did not actually know what they were doing genetically wise, all they did was take the seeds that stuck to the wheat and continued to plant those. Over many years, more plants with clinging seeds began to grow than those with seeds that would blow away in the wind. This is how the Einkorn (first wild form of wheat) became domesticated and turned into the wheat we commonly see today. This article really helped me understand how the first farmers domesticated some plants without using modern molecular genetic techniques.
Excellent! This would also seem to correspond to the assertion that advancement is not always an intentional process.
Delete"Domestication"
ReplyDeletehttp://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/domestication/?ar_a=1
During chapter seven, Diamond discusses how plants were cultivated and kept throughout the first farmers attempt to sustain land. I wanted to agree with his thought that our society as a whole would move from hunters and gatherers, to successful farmers. The article I found elaborates on how the first domesticated plants arrived 10,000 years ago, and were plants such as wheat and barley. Once the farmers learned how to sustain these two plants they allowed them to diffuse to different parts of land. Thus, the spread of farming became more and more popular due to the new knowledge about nurturing plants. The effect farming has had on society from that point on is outstanding. It allowed for more permanent civilizations since humans no longer had to go long periods starving, because they were hunting for their food. It helped lead to a predictable increase in human health, and allowed those in society to procreate more and actually sustain the lives of those just born, and already grown up. It made a positive impact on society, and paved a way for modern farmers to know to manipulate their plants for the betterment of society. Like Diamond, I agree that hunting and gathering was completely overshadowed by farming, and I believe that it was a very beneficial thing for our society as a whole.
Good! Although farming is more labor intensive, it can also be a more reliable way to acquire food. Further, those living a settled lifestyle have the ability to develop tools/technology that may lead to further advancements. (I.e. autocatalytic process)
Delete“New Clues Show Where People Made The Great Leap to Agriculture”
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/18/science/new-clues-show-where-people-made-the-great-leap-to-agriculture.html
In chapter six of “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Diamond discusses plant domestication. He says, “Plant domestication may be defined as growing a plant and thereby, consciously or unconsciously, causing it to change genetically from its wild ancestor in ways making it more useful to human consumers.” This article supports what Diamond is saying throughout part two. It says that “archaeologist and historians agree that the rise of agriculture, along with the domestication of animals for food and labor, produced the most important transformation in human culture since the last ice age.”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Domestication_of_the_horse.html
In part two chapter four of Guns Germs and Steel, chapter four Diamond explains how the most direct contribution of domesticating animals was shown by Eurasia horses. As I did more research I learned that there is evidence that horses were kept as meat animals prior to being trained as working animals. Also an important fact was that the use of horses spread rapidly across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work and warfare.
"Agriculture And The Origins Of Civilization: The Neolithic Revolution"
ReplyDeletehttp://history-world.org/agriculture.htm
In chapter nine, "Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna Karenina Principle," of "Guns Germs and Steel" Diamond discusses how animals were domesticated to help with farming and this ultimately lead to rapid growth in population and the agricultural revolution. This article also describes animal domestication and the agricultural revolution. The article also talks about plant domestication, another large factor in the agricultural revolution. People in the Stone Age became very good at cultivating a growing range of different crops including peas, beans, fruits, and olives. Over years the farmers took more care in selecting the best grains for seeds and they mixed different strains in a way that would enhance the crops.
In chapter 4 of GGS domesticated animals helped societies grow in big numbers in many ways. Animals helped humans whith the feeding of more people, plant production, and the increase of food production.In pg.88 it said, "In human societies pocessing domestic animals, livestock feed more people in four distinct ways: by furnishing meat, milk, and fertilizer and by pulling plows." Hunter gatherers were small in population because they yielded little food than farmers in human populations, these farmers were able to yield more food because of domesticated animals."All those are direct ways in which plant and animal domestication led to denser human populations by yielding more food than the hunter gatherer style."Pg.89. In the article " How Much is Enough? Relates to the topic of food production because it expands on the thought past the choice of hunter and gatherer or animal domestication but now since the world has chosen animal domestication the main source of food , it relates to how long will it be until animal domestication isn't enough to feed the ever growing expansion of human life.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/node/18200702
Interesting! I believe a similar idea/question was posted by Katia in the "Discussion Questions" comments.
DeleteI find it interesting Diamond argues how the axis orientations of different countries effect the rate of the spread of crops, animals, and other inventions. Domesticated animals and food travel quicker east to west, therefore people and technology can travel quickly east-west along with it. The example Diamond uses is Eurasia, which is the largest east-west axis continent. Since the climate changes from nroth-south, an east-west axis has a similar climate. Therefore plants don't need to adapt to the temperature, cueing it to easily spread. In contrast, continents like America and Africa, have a greater north-south spread. In these continents, climate changes greatly as you go north-south, causing plants and domesticated animals to have a harder time adapting to the new environment, taking much more time. Since domesticated plants and animals travel slowly north-south, so does technology. The east-west axis gives Eurasia the benefit of quicker movement of technology and growth.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hawaiiagtourism.com/livestock.php
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 6, section 2, Diamond argues that the hunter and gathers that originated in the area, were better suited to the environment than their successors, the farmers/settlers. The settlers were under nourished and in smaller concentrations. Live stock, then developed as one of the main industries in this developing country. Originally the used aquaculture and liv stock herding to survive before agriculture was developed, having them become and advance with the scarcities they had.
"Livestock and Aquaculture"
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