Pre-Agricultural Human Environmental Impact
In the two million years it is believed that humans have populated the Earth, they have displayed the remarkable ability to adapt to any environment. Archaeological evidence has proven that the earliest humans were able to occupy and control every terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. Human impact on the environment has increased progressively through time from the earliest hominid hunters to modern city-dwellers. A fundamental expression of early humanities ability to control the environment occurred during the birth of agriculture. While the ecological impact from this feat has allowed humanity increased control over its environment, the earliest hominids were able to survive nearly two
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They mainly "gathered nuts, seeds and plants, which they would have supplemented by scavenging dead animals killed by other predators and perhaps the hunting of a few small mammals."3 A wide variety of food was available and provided a sufficiently nutritional diet. This form of economy was often far from meager and likely represents the original affluent society since scientists speculate that a large amount of leisure time was available. Hunting and gathering provided a very stable and long lasting livelihood described as simple and communal.
An important trait to the development and spread of human societies as well as their ability to interact with their surroundings was "the adoption of technological means to overcome difficulties imposed by hostile environments."4 Stone tools, wooden spears, bolas stones, wood, skins, and fire allowed these groups to adopted a mobile existence and move into harsher ecosystems. Technology was particularly important in increasing humans' ability to hunt. Specifically, the bow and arrow along with snares, traps, and nets made hunting less time consuming and more effective. Inevitably, hunting and gathering "groups had, over hundreds of thousands of years, adapted to every possible environment in the world from the semi-tropical areas of Africa to ice-age Europe, from the Arctic to the deserts of south-west Africa."5
Throughout their travels, these groups continually effected the
The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications. There is much controversy over whether or not the introduction of
Modern humans today have the option to go to their local grocery stores for food and water. However, that is not case with early humans, to survive they had to hunt, or gather their food. Harsh climate changes could cause a scarce food supply. Without any food to hunt or find, the small groups were forced to move. Early humans would eventually overcome some of these obstacles, by learning how to make simple tools. One of the biggest discoveries was how to start a fire (Wilkinson, 16). Harsh climates soon became bearable with the aid of fire. Approximately 120,000 years
Describe the major developments of early human and social evolution. Throughout, discuss tool manufacturing, language development, agriculture, social behavior, and population growth.
From the early prehistoric society until now, we often heard the word “adaptation”, which means the process of changing something or changing our behavior to deal with new situations. The ways people adjust their natural environment varies according to time, place, and tribe. Foraging is common way of adaptation that people uses for most of human history; however because of the population pressure, some people adopt agriculture to fulfill their need. This essay, will discuss the positive and negative aspects of life in hunting and gathering societies compared to the agricultural societies based on Martin Harris’ article “Murders in Eden” and Jared Diamond’s article “The Worst Mistake in the History of Human Race.”
4. Humans used fire to ward off predators, adapt to colder climates, and to assist in hunting and gathering. Other technologies included stone tools which were used for both hunting and protection.
Due to the domestication of animals along with plants these nomadic people created steady food source no longer requiring them to follow their food but raise it themselves (Author 2010). The wheel was not created until the Bronze age, therefore animals were not used for farming, put they provide other resources to humans (Authors 2007). Much like today they used the wool from sheep for clothing, other animals such as goats where used for meat and even milk. During the Neolithic Revolution, the first wolves were domesticated as pups to help with herding once grown (Authors 20071). Other animals they domesticated are pigs and cattle. Because of their ever-growing knowledge of farming, they also would use the manure of the animals as fertilizer in the fields to richen the soil for the crops (Authors 2007).
Environmental scanning can be viewed as a way of acquiring information about outside events that can aid organizations in first identifying potential trends, then interpreting them
Thus, they did not consume processed and packaged foods. Rice, for instance, was not part of their diet since they did not know that they can actually cook something of that particular plant. Moreover, they also did not care for the animals that they ate, they just hunted them down. Thus, they did not feed the animals in one way or another. When it comes to fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, those that were not obviously edible did not become part of their diet, too.
First, I would like to discuss the strategy of hunting and gathering, the sole strategy until twelve thousand years ago. Hunting and gathering is a form of subsistence dependent upon wild plants and animals for the majority of the calories of the diet. While its name underscores the importance of hunting in this lifestyle, this is misleading as the majority of caloric needs in societies practicing this strategy are met by gathering wild edible plants and berries.
The knowledge that was received by archaeologists and scientists, they think that the way hunter-gatherers lived was. Hunter-gatherers would normally live with family and their extended family in groups of between ten to thirty people. While the men hunted in groups for small or large animals the woman and the children would search for fruits, berries, nuts and other foods, like honey and eggs. As it would be extremely hard for just one or a few people to bring down huge animals, they would normally form in a group of around 100 people attempting to take down large animals like mammoths and
Hunting for berries and animals were most of the ways to get food. Hunting for berries was hard for some. Some people would have to go far away from their home to find only little berries. Though they were hard to find they were pick as often as they could before the winter came. Hunting was a main food source for people before farming. Both women and men were engaged in hunting. It took skills, and good weapon usage. They would track they animal for as long as they could. They used spears to take down the
The revolutionizing transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was a central shift in the way homo sapiens lived that occurred twelve thousand years ago. Consequently, several factors contributed to this astonishing modification of life including increasing population size, favorable environments such as the Nile River in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture allowed for mass production of food in order for the sustainability of the increasing population size, but with agriculture also came specialization and the division of labor ultimately leading to moral inequality.
to be grown trees have to be cut down and I have explained the effects
Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.
There are four stages of human cultural evolution: Hunting and gathering, agricultural, industrial, and advanced industrial. The preindustrial era was best for the environment because it had little negative impact on the environment. Specifically, the hunting and gathering stage of human cultural evolution was best for a watershed because of its minimal effect on the environment. The population of hunters and gatherers was small due to natural forces causing them to have a low demand for resources (Chiras, 2016). Therefore, they were able to live off renewable resources and did not have a problem with limited resources. The main food source of hunters and gatherers were fruits, seeds, and berries they picked, as well as animal meat obtained from hunting. These allowed them to live in harmony with the organisms in the environment without causing extinction of animals and plants. Furthermore, the lifestyle of hunters and gatherers was comfortable and sustainable. They were well fed, experienced low disease rates, did not have to perform many laborious tasks. Humans in hunting and gathering societies lived as a part of nature and had little impact on their environment making it the best stage of cultural evolution for a watershed (Chiras,