Wikibooks: Introduction to Paleoanthropology/Evolution/Food Production

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Paleoanthropology/Evolution/Food_Production

PaleoIntro displaytitle title=From Hunter Gatherers to Plant domesticators =Food Production= The ways in which humans procure resources are not unlimited. Essentially there are five major procurement patterns practiced in the world today Food collection hunting and gathering Food production extensive agriculture intensive agriculture pastoralism industrialism =Food Collection Hunting and Gathering= People who practice a hunting and gathering subsistence strategy simply rely on whatever food is available in their local habitat for the most part collecting various plant foods hunting wild game and fishing (where the environment permits). They collect but they do not produce any food. For example crops are not cultivated and animals are not kept for meat or milk. Hunters and gathers do and did modify the landscape to increase the amount of available food. One of the main ways hunters and gatherers modified their environment was through the use of burning. Today only about 30 000 people make their living in this fashion. Cultures of having larger have pushed most hunters and gatherers out of the areas where plant food and game is abundant into the more marginal of the earth the Arctic arid deserts and dense tropical rain forests. =Food Production Terminology= Food Production General term which covers types of domestication involving both plants and animals each of which requires radically different practices. Cultivation Term refers to all types of plant culture from slash and burn to growing crop trees. Terminological distinctions within the term cultivation are based on types on gardens maintained and means with which they are cultivated. Example distinction between horticulture and agriculture Horticulture Refers to smaller scale garden based cultivation usually of a mixed variety of plant species often with relatively simple tools. Agriculture This practice requires tools of greater complexity or higher energy in their manufacture and use such as animal traction etc. Slash and burn Strategy normally ...