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.
Author(s): Bamber Gascoigne
ReplyDeleteTitle: Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers
Source: History World
Link: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab63
Summary:
When mankind began, humans only did what was natural to them, though they did communicate and share their products. 10,000 years ago, humans made a huge leap by cultivating crops and domesticating animals. Because of climates, the Middle East and America were the sites of this leap. Humans still relied on animals like bison for food and began herding them. Hunter-gatherer communities began collecting and planting seeds for part of their food income. Towns came from this farming. Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs are the first known domesticated animals, originating in the Middle East. Cattle proved to be very beneficial. Hunting-gathering remained in places that are unsuitable for farming. Advancements of burials, a form of currency, and trading came from this farming revolution.
I decided to conduct further research on the transition from hunting-gathering to farming. What greatly interested me about it is that after a lifetime of humans fending for themselves, there was a world-wide conversion to domesticating wild animals and plants and eating the resulting livestock and crops.
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ReplyDeleteAuthor: Todd Weinmann
ReplyDeleteTitle: Grafting & Budding Fruit Trees
Source: Cass County Extension
Link: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/hort/info/fruit/graft.htm
Summary:
In chapter seven, Diamond discusses the several stages of crop development. One of those stages includes the difficult technique of grafting fruit and nut trees. Unlike most other crops, these trees cannot be grown from cuttings or seeds. That is why these trees must be grown by the process of grafting. Diamond barely went into detail about grafting so I was still left with some questions. I decided to research this topic so that I could fully understand what grafting is and why it is so important. This article explained the process of grafting in much more detail. Basically, to graft a tree, a knife is inserted into the tip of a branch and slits it into a 'Y' shape. A branch from a separate plant is then sharpened at its base and is inserted into the 'Y'. Tape is then wrapped around the two branches until they naturally attach after a few months. Grafting is important because some varieties of plants do not come from true seeds. For example, the seed from a Haralson apple will produce a regular apple tree, but it will not produce another Haralson apple tree. This certain kind of apple can only be produced by grafting. After reading this article, I better understand this technique and its importance.
Author: Mike Dowling
ReplyDeleteTitle: Fertile Crescent
Source: MrDowling.com
Link: http://www.mrdowling.com/603mesopotamia.html
Summary:
The Fertile Crescent is a boomerang shaped area of land that is high in nutrients to the east of the Mediterranean Sea that spans farther East and South. This allows a lot of animals and plants to live there, in a relatively dry area. This area of land is supplied with nutrients from multiple rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. Many civilizations have lived here and flourished throughout its known existence.
The Fertile Crescent interested me because of the area it spanned into a very dry area. There was also the possibility for fights or even wars over the control of this land since it was so important to the growth of farming. From this article, I now understand the major importance this area was.
Author: Melissa Petruzzello
ReplyDeleteTitle: Playing with Wildfire: 5 Amazing Adaptations of Pyrophytic Plants
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
Link:https://www.britannica.com/list/5-amazing-adaptations-of-pyrophytic-plants
Summary:
Plants can adapt to various environments and changes just as animals can. This article is written about how plants can adapt to wildfire prone areas where they are more than occasionally attacked with fire. Some adaptations of these plants are growing higher branches; which makes it more difficult for the trees to catch on fire. Another example is that some trees have fire resistant bark and wood.
In GGS Diamond tells us of how plants have adapted to being frequently picked and replanted by hunter-gatherers and farmers. I found these adaptations very interesting because some are very complex and can help a plant spread its seeds without any humans even noticing that they are taking part in the process. One example of this is by humans harvesting peas from a mutated pea plant that does not allow for its pods to explode and replant independently. The humans would replant these mutated pea plants (Diamond 120-121).
Author: n/a
ReplyDeleteTitle: History of the Domestication of Animals
Source: History World
Link: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab57
Summary: In chapter nine, Diamond discussed the domestication of wild animals and the failure to domesticate certain animals, including the transition from wolves to the modern, household dogs that humans keep as pets. Diamond did not go into extensive detail on how wolves started to domesticate, so I decided to look into this topic for more information. In this article, the author described that the wolves could not have been domesticated if they did not want to be around humans. Therefore, the relationship between wolves and humans was beneficial to both sides, leading to a level of trust between the two species that I inferred would lead to the modern expression that states that the dog is, “man’s best friend”.
Authors: David D. Laitina, Joachim Moortgatb, and Amanda Lea Robinsona
ReplyDeleteSource: PNAS (The National Academy of Science)
Link: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/26/10263.full
Summary:I found Diamond's east-west axis theory interesting. "Spacious Skies and Tilted Axis" describes the successful movement of plants and animals in Eurasia, as opposed to more difficult transitions in the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa, who are largely shaped north-south wise. I wanted to further explore his theory, applying not the natural variables, but cultural and political. These are less defined, and less constricted (as opposed to the uncontrollable being mountains, climate, etc. for plants and animals). I wanted to look at the spread of technology, wealth, and power. Empires, like the Ottomans, who had difficulty managing their Easterly borders, yet allowed autonomous rule North-South. Also, the expansion of empires in India and China, political boundaries, and the bio-geographical differences. I wanted to further explore the theory and it's impacts today, like the outcomes of geopolitical struggles. The Cold War saw the U.S. dominate the West, and the Soviet Union's Eastern blocs. Even today, America's "pivot" to Asia. How does the latitude/longitude effect such strategic shifts, globalization, even religion and terrorism? Such is all very relevant, making it very interesting for me.
Title: Agriculture And The Origins Of Civilization: The Neolithic Revolution
ReplyDeleteEdited By: Robert Guisepi
Link: http://history-world.org/agriculture.html
Summary: This article discusses the origins of agriculture around the world, and the domestication of animals from 8000 B.C to 5000 B.C, this article discusses how the Agrarian Transformation took place, the spread of the Neolithic revolution. I chose it as my article because throughout part 2 of GGS Diamond discusses the domestication of plants and animals and how agriculture came about. The article agrees with Diamond that agriculture did not start in the most fertile places in the world but that it did start in the Fertile Crescent. The spread of agriculture interested me greatly because I always wonder about where certain foods originated from and how they developed over time. That's why i chose this as my topic.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: As Global Population Grows, Is The Earth Reaching The 'End Of Plenty'?
Link: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/08/412236817/as-global-population-grows-is-the-earth-reaching-the-end-of-plenty
Summary:
Joul Bourne, an agronomy expert and current journalist analyzes the problems that humans are coming to face in upcoming decades, involving food shortages and resource overconsumption. Estimates from recent studies show that the human population is likely to rise to approximately 11 billion by year 2100, which is realistically an unsustainable amount of humans on the planet. Agronomists state that within the next 40 years by around 2055, we will need to harvest more food than humans have over the past 10,000 years, if we were to have plenty for everyone. With this very controversial topic arising, humans need to react quickly and be innovative to find solutions to this global problem.
Explanation of article:
This article relates to the issues addressed my Diamond in “Rise and Spread of Food Production” because it talks about the future of the human race, which goes hand in hand with our past. While Diamond speaks about the development of different cultures, and the rise of the human race over thousands of years, the problems we face today of poverty and food shortages are becoming more of a reality as there are no signs (to my awareness) of the population decaying. In GGS Diamond speaks about the topic of agriculture and domestication of livestock, which is relevant to our situation currently because we now need new methods to provide food for each other and sustain life on this planet.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: The Fertile Crescent: Cradle of Civilization
Link: http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-fertile-crescent-cradle-of-civilization.html
Summary: The Fertille Crescent is a crescent shaped area of land in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These rivers give it the name Mesopotamia which means between rivers. Although in the modern world this area is mostly dry tough land, 12,000 years ago it was the best area for farming and the promotion of life. Thes changes in landscape were due to a huge climate shift in that area.
Explanation: I chose this article because I was extremely interested in how the lands of the Middle East were once so fertile. It is amazing that those lands that were the birth of agriculture are now so dry, deserted, and arid. At first I disaggreed with Diamond and thought there was no way that so much life could come from a land where there is now so little life; however now I am beginning to understand the tole time has taken on our planet.
Author: No author
ReplyDeleteTitle: Papua New Guinea Culture
Source: Trans Niugini Tours
Link: http://www.pngtours.com/pngculture.html#
Summary:
Diamond discussed more about the rise of food production in New Guinea than their different cultures. However, I wanted to do further investigation about their culture to get a full understanding on the history and culture of New Guineans. Papua New Guineans have a very diverse population with 700 different languages spoken within the whole country. Many people living in New Guinea lived in small villages mostly dependent on farming for a living. The women were mainly in charge of gardening and taking care of their fellow children. There are many diverse tribes in New Guinea one being the colorful Huli tribe which are usually found in the southern highlands. One of their traditions is using colorful clay to decorate their body features. Young men of the Sepik, however, cut their backs to symbolize strength and power of the water spirit crocodiles in which they admire. Dancing as well as singing is done to represent their customs and beliefs. After learning more about their culture I feel like I have a better knowledge of New Guineans.
Author: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: The Radioactive Clock: Radiocarbon Dating
Link: http://www.pbs.org/time-team/experience-archaeology/radioactive-dating/
Summary: Carbon is created in the atmosphere and over the span of life in which the plant or animal lives, it absorbs this carbon. There is a limit for radiocarbon dating however in which specimen over 50,000 years. This is a result of plants and animals having a short half-life, which are the amount of years carbon decays post life. Many thought that there was a constant amount of carbon in the atmosphere which in time, proved to be incorrect and affected the dating of some specimen. At first, radiocarbon required a large mass of carbon to be able to date specimen. Now, the requirements for radiocarbon dating is only a few milligrams to get an accurate reading. Radiocarbon dating also has its own way of dating with”B.P.” and is used all over the world by many archaeologists.
In chapter five, Diamond talks about how radiocarbon dating of plants and animals can determine the time in which the food was produced. I grew interest in this because knowing when the production of a certain food or animal began was truly bewildering to me so I decided to research about it. Hence, I chose radiocarbon dating because it was something I was interested spending my time learning about.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAuthor: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Domestication
Link: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/domestication/
Summary: Domestication is the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human uses. People first domesticated plants over 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and they have not only been domesticated for food, but also for fiber materials such as wool and others cultivated for decorations or ornaments. Also in Mesopotamia, animals were domesticated around the same time as plants were. They were tamed for the use of their hides, meat, and milk. They were also used for travel and companionship. The domestication of animals lead to an agricultural way of life for humans and more permanent civilizations. In chapter 9, Diamond discusses the importance that the domestication of plants and animals had on our society. It grabbed my attention because he did not discuss when the first where the first domestication of plants and animals happened. Researching this opened my eyes to the crucial role that plants and animals play in the human societies.
Author:N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Domestication
Source: National Geographic
Link: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/domestication/
Summary: Domestication is When wild organisms are changed for use by humans. Plants first domesticated long ago between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. In the beginning, not many plants were domesticated, at a total of about six. Not all plants were domesticated for food, some for clothing and other needs of humans. Around the same time, animals started becoming domesticated. Herbivores were the easiest to start and domesticate. Some animals that were domesticated for one purpose, are no longer needed but kept for other reasons. Domestication has aided humans through being able to settle into villages. Because of this, food could be mass produced allowing for other things to be created.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAuthor: N/A
ReplyDeleteTitle: Animal Domestication Table of Dates and Places
Source: About
Link: http://archaeology.about.com/od/dterms/a/domestication.htm
Summary:
In chapter 9 of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond talks about the reasons why some wild animals are impossible to domesticate, which lead me to an article on About.com about the ancient domestication of animals. The article talks about the domestication of animals in ancient societies. The article provides a chart about when and where animals were first thought to be domesticated. I chose thisarticle because I am interested in the societies of ancient humans, and how they have developed over the thousands of years, which includes their domestication of animals.
Author: Wurwarg, Jessica
ReplyDeleteTitle: URBANIZATION AND HUNGER: FOOD POLICIES AND PROGRAMS, RESPONDING TO URBANIZATION, AND BENEFITING THE URBAN POOR IN THREE CITIES.
Source: Journal of International Affairs
Link: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=07053b79-2b22-4be3-87bb-52ee82fa9ce4%40sessionmgr110&vid=12&hid=124
Summary:
Diamond explains in chapter 5 how throughout human history, civilizations grew and developed at different rates, resulting in unequal treatment. The article that I chose supports his findings, and shows a modern example of how this issue still exists. The problem arises within the fact that the few parts of the world that have not fully developed and urbanized face issues with food shortages. The article also explains how Diamond's theory of haves and have-nots live together in the same civilizations. In other words, the differences in social classes has resulted in difficulties in obtaining food within the urban setting. Lower income families are struggling to buy adequate supplies of food for themselves. Similarly, in Diamond's findings, civilizations with adequate food supplies for their people rank superior to the less developed civilizations who had not yet adopted food production. This problem shows itself in a different way in modern times: people who can afford adequate supplies of necessities rank superior to those who can not.