Plant Domestication: Diffuse Origins and Diffusions
1986; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/b978-0-444-42703-8.50007-5
ISSN0166-2287
Autores Tópico(s)Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
ResumoABSTRACT Theories concerning origins of agriculture have traditionally been strongly influenced by the view that agriculture is too complex and difficult of conception to have occurred more than a few times or, possibly, even more than once. It was considered a gift of the gods, a unique discovery or an invention. The inspiration was rare and spread from its center(s) by diffusion. An opposing view holds that there was no need for divine intervention, discovery or invention. Preagricultural peoples had long commanded the biological information required to practice agriculture, but chose not to do so. Studies of surviving hunter-gatherers have revealed that they possess an enormous botanical Tore and are well aware of the life cycles of plants. Their knowledge of local animals is also intimate. The process began on a base of knowledge, not ignorance, if no discovery or invention was necessary and adequate information about plants and animals was general knowledge, then people could take up agriculture at any time or place that suited them, within reasonable ecological limits. If this view is correct, agricultural origins would, themselves, be diffuse. Archaelogical, anthropological, botanical and geographic evidence, accumulated in the last 20 years, tends to support the concept of diffuse origins, without denying that diffusion of cultigens and agricultural systems has taken place. We can detect evidence of plant, and sometimes animal husbandry widely diffused around the world in roughly the same time range. When we do find clear cases of diffusion of agricultural systems, we often find that the local recipient populations had already made some tentatives toward indigenous agriculture before the alien system arrived. Under these situations, the concept of center of origin tends to loose meaning.
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