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Do we matter?

Guns, Germs and Steel


Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not
a harbor. Arnold J. Toynbee
In the beginning
Explaining inequality
between different
societies
- Cargo: material goods brought to N.G

Rejects Race idea
- New Guineans are ingenious and
intelligent to!

when were groups on
an equal setting?
The length of time a society has lived in an area does
not offer them a clear advantage (a head start)

Evolution of
People
Well look at this in the next lecture
- Lecture 2: Timeline: Overview

13,000 years ago?
- On every continent
- Who has an advantage?

What changed?
12,500 years ago
Climate change at the end of the
Paleolithic

End of Long Term thaw that had
brought about end of last Ice Age
- Ice age conditions returned
- Global Temperatures dropped
- Dryer and colder

The Middle East
Neolithic brought
Environmental collapse

Animals herds died off

So did many trees an plants

Drought lasted for more then 1000 years
- People had to travel further for food
The Neolithic revolution

Drought ended 11,500 years ago
- Better tools
- Better clothes (for
colder climates)

- More Pressure to move

- The beginnings of Food
Production

A New Way of Life
Ian Kite: excavation at Dra
- put down roots
- 11,500
- 40-50 people living in
same place
- Series of Oval huts,
partially cut into
ground
Grain Storage at Dra
People had begun growing their own food
Autocatalytic Process
Population growth Food production


Food Production Population Growth

Success
- As Food Producers came upon hunters and gathers they either
enveloped them or the hunters and gatherers took to food
Production (or moved into undesirable areas of the glob)


How did we change?
From Kin to Complexity:
Socio-Political Organizations
1962, Elman Service:
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Industrial Nation States
- Kin to Society
- Population growth
ANT 200 Timeline
Hunting and Gathering
Band
Horticulture
Tribe
Agrarian
Chiefdom
Industrial
State
Nation-State
Neolithic Revolution
Industrial Revolution
Ethnographic Examples
ANT 200 Timeline
10,000 years ago
Late 1700s
Diffusion
Barriers to diffusion

Within
- East-West Axis
- Climate continuity

Eurasia was able to spread its
advantages of Environmental
Advantages


Between
- Isolation
- Water Barriers and climactic
differences


Advantages
advantages picked up
by other regions
- Food package from Fertile Crescent

Other regions had other
advantages
- a better climate (Mediterranean)

Speed and Time
- Native Americas would likely have
become Vast food Producers given
enough time to overcome the problem
of Diffusion

New Guinea?
Farming for almost as long

Its not just farming, but
the type of Farming
- The type of Crop
(Wheat Vs. Corn)
- The kinds of animals
(Lama Vs. Horse)


Just Enough
Environment
Division is bad
- It inhibits diffusion

Division is good
- It encourages competition

Europe has just enough environmental division
China is too unified
The Argument
Environment Molds history,(GGS pp352)

- Different regions of the world have different resources
- Food Production leads to social complexity and
development
- Animal and plant resources determine the extend and
success of food production
- Some areas of the globe were well placed to receive
(through diffusion) other advantages

- The European region of Eurasia is most best (sic)

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