21-03-2014, 06:24
In the territory occupied today by Russia, agriculture arose later than in the countries of the Ancient East and the south of the Asian continent. One of the main reasons for this is the enormous glaciation that covered the entire northern part of the territory during the Quaternary period. modern Russia, it came to southern regions Ukraine, Tien Shan and Pamir mountains.
Only as the glaciers melted and retreated to the north did vegetation appear here, and behind it animal world. Gradually, from the south, the Russian plains began to be populated by people, and the beginnings of agriculture appeared. The most favorable conditions for the development of agriculture were found in the southern part of the central regions of the country, where forest-free areas alternated with forest areas, and the soils were quite fertile.
In the Krasnodar Territory and Transcaucasia, the most ancient centers of agriculture date back to the fourth millennium BC. The territory from the Dnieper in the east to the Carpathians in the west and to the Baltic Sea in the north from the end of the third and second millennium to new era was inhabited by our distant ancestors by the Slavic agricultural tribes of the Antes and Wends.
IN middle lane In Russia (the basin of the upper Volga and Oka), the transition from hunting and fishing to agriculture and cattle breeding is reflected by the so-called Dyakovo culture, named after the excavations of the ancient settlement of Dyakovo near Moscow. The ancient Russians began farming here in the second half of the 1st millennium BC - on the verge of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages.
In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. The south of our country was inhabited by numerous tribes of Scythians and Sarmatians. Basically, they led a nomadic lifestyle, but there were also sedentary tribes engaged in agriculture. According to the testimony of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. e., agricultural tribes inhabiting the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Bug and Dniester grew grain not only for themselves, but also for sale.
The Byzantine writer Mauritius the Strategist wrote about the East Slavic tribes living in forest-steppe and forest areas: “They a large number of livestock and the fruits of the earth lying in heaps (stacks), especially millet and wheat.”
Until the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. (before the development of iron production), land cultivation was carried out with wooden shovels, horn or stone hoes. Having such primitive tools, the ancient farmers could not clear the land from forests. Therefore, only small treeless areas were cultivated. Farming was of a garden nature with the construction of ridges or flower beds.
With the advent of iron tools - an ax, a hoe, the tips of arable tools - it became possible to clear large areas of forest and plow virgin lands (Fig. 45). By this time, farmers began to use animals as draft power.
Man's use of animals that were physically much stronger than himself allowed him not only to significantly increase the strength of his muscles, but also made it possible to convert roughage (not suitable for humans) feed into a useful form of energy. Development large territories stimulated the transition from garden farming to field farming.
At this time, agriculture began to play a significant role in the life of the Slavs; it separated from household. And since men were predominantly engaged in farming, dominance in economic and social life passed to them. Thus, the development of agriculture determined the replacement of matriarchy by a patriarchal family - with the leadership of a grandfather, father or older brother.
Agriculture remained the main occupation of all Slavic tribes throughout the Middle Ages of the new era. Its technology was based on the use of primitive arable tools, harrows, iron sickles and wooden flails for threshing grain. Grain crops dominated in agriculture; horses were the draft force in the northern regions, and oxen in the south.
Subsistence farming predominated. Part of the production was used to supply the princely courts with their squads and supply the nascent cities. The products were sold or exchanged for handicrafts of the city's artisans.
The development of agriculture and cattle breeding slowly limited the power of chance over the life of primitive man.
The first steps of agriculture are closely related to the simple collection of plant food in the form as nature provided it.
A wandering horde that occupied a certain area returned from time to time to the place where it found large quantities of plant food: roots and fruits, stems and seeds. At first random, these returns became regular and periodic if, during his returns at a certain time of the year, a person each time found the same food as before. Collecting plant food became more or less regular.
Tribes that have switched to proper hunting do not leave the area they occupy as long as there is a sufficient amount of game left in it. For example, even in temperate and cold zones, modern hunting tribes sometimes stay for 20-30 years in a small area covering 400-500 square meters. verst. Consequently, the transition to periodic collection of plant food in certain places is quite feasible for them.
Upon returning, the person found plants useful to him not only where he had previously collected them, but also in the places of previous sites, where all members of this group converged with the prey. The soil at the site of a long stop was unintentionally prepared for unintentional sowing: it was cleared of trees, bushes and grass, loosened in some places when preparing fuel, when strengthening a tent, etc. Scattered seeds, roots and tubers found favorable conditions for germination. Thus, future cultivated plants marked the movement of primitive man as housing modern man accompanied by nettles.
From here, from the unintentional spread of plants, there was only a short transition to agriculture proper, to intentional plant culture, to its most primitive form. Using a pointed stick, holes are made in the ground into which the seeds are dropped. A simple stick develops into a pickaxe (hoe): first, two knots fastened at an angle; subsequently a stick with a long, narrow and slightly pointed stone attached to it. The pickaxe remained the main agricultural tool for several thousand years. Agriculture of the ancient East did not go beyond pickling (Hackbau). South African native agriculture still stands at this stage. And even the Japanese, who have long been familiar with the plow, even recently used it to cultivate the land only for rice, while for other plants they cultivated the land with a pick The plow (plow) developed and became widespread much later. modern forms and especially in its consistent development retains the memory of its origin from the hoe.
Primitive agriculture did not require settling down.
In subtropical countries, where it probably arose earliest, for the maturation of many cultivated plants it takes only 5-6 weeks: the period is so short that during its continuation even the clan that lives mainly by hunting does not have to move its camp to a new place.
Subsequently, when agriculture becomes more important in the life of the clan, the latter begins to conform to it in its movements. It remains in one place until the crop is harvested. Such nomadic agriculture survived until very late times. Thus, the ancient Phoenicians, who developed from land nomads into sea nomads, during their travels around Africa landed on the shore several times, did sowing, waited for the harvest, and only then moved on. In the era of Herodotus, one Scythian tribe combined agriculture with nomadic life. And even today, some wandering tribes combine farming with hunting.
As tools developed and the transition from gathering animal food to hunting took place, the gathering of plant food fell more and more exclusively to women and children. In some cases, a strong differentiation has developed: male hunters (or herders) feed almost exclusively on animal food; Women farmers eat only plant foods. In cases where changing conditions of existence strengthened the role of agriculture as the source of subsistence for the entire group, women quite naturally acquired a highly influential position.
A confluence of particularly favorable conditions was required for agriculture to gain predominant importance in the life of entire tribes. People encountered such conditions primarily in the plains with powerful floods, leaving thick layers of fertile silt. Here, the tribes most adapted to the new conditions of existence were those for whom agriculture developed into the main branch of labor. Treeless soil, free from weeds and quite loose, requires an insignificant amount of labor and, after the most basic preparatory operations, produces rich harvests. Agricultural tribes seize fertile plains, and then, forced out of them, they spread agriculture to other areas in which preliminary soil preparation is required: clearing, uprooting and burning of trees, bushes and grass, artificial loosening. In this way, the farming technique moves even further away from simply collecting plants.
It is currently impossible to decide with which plants agriculture began. A long selection process was required in order to identify modern cultivated plants. Many plants, now considered completely unfit for food, have long served as the main part of plant food. On the other hand, agriculture arose in various parts of the globe completely independently and used the material that the surrounding nature provided. Thus, primitive American agriculture could cultivate only one cereal: maize (corn). In the temperate zone of the old world biggest role At first millet and barley played, then oats joined them, and even later wheat and rye; in the yak belt, rice very early "acquires predominant importance. Of other plants, already at the first stages of agriculture in different areas there are pumpkin, onion, fig tree, different kinds legumes, etc.
In general, already in the Neolithic era (New Stone Age, the era of tools made of polished and generally relatively carefully finished stone), people in various parts the globe began to cultivate the vast majority of the most important modern cultivated plants. The so-called “historical era” added relatively few species to it. It has not made any progress in the field of selecting animal species for domestication.
The domestication of wild animals was also a slow process, the successive stages of which did not make noticeable changes in the life of primitive man. Only the accumulation of an endless series of such infinitesimal changes led to a radical revolution in the method of production, to the identification of some tribes as predominantly pastoral.
Perhaps one of the first steps on this path was the domestication of young animals that followed their murdered mother to the temporary site of primitive man. Their domestication was unintentional and did not pursue economic goals. They were more an object of amusement than a supply of food; but in case of need they were eaten.
The process of domestication of various species of animals in different parts of the globe took different forms. So, for example, a dog, in all likelihood, has long followed a person in herds, just as a modern person in hot countries is accompanied by herds of hyenas and jackals pouncing on the remains of his MACK. With their barking, dogs warned people in advance about the approach of dangerous enemies, and sometimes participated in repelling them. Over a series of generations, joint wanderings little by little led to a certain rapprochement between man and dog, to the gradual domestication wild dog, finally, to the fact that it is found only as a domesticated animal - one of the most ancient companions of man.
Primitive man, who lived partly by collecting plant food and lower animals, partly by hunting higher animals, over time began to conform in his movements to the movement of herds: deer and antelope, cows and sheep. Methods of hunting and capturing individuals were developed that would disturb the herd as little as possible. In this case, no small help was provided by animals that had been tamed because man took them in when they were still young; Using them, a person could more easily approach the herd or bring the herd closer to himself, lulling its mistrust. Thus, gradually, a kind of symbiosis of primitive man and wild animals developed. Its various stages are characterized by the degree of domestication of wild animals. In the north, even in very recent times, and partly even now, one could observe successive stages of the transition from primitive hunting to primitive predatory cattle breeding: stages of successive domestication of wild deer. Deer are still divided into wild ones, which serve as the object of hunting, semi-tamed and completely tamed. The method of using semi-domesticated herds very closely resembles hunting. Tamed animals remain to live in their usual natural conditions. Here, rather, a person adapts to them, than adapts them to itself, as in the case of domestic animals themselves, which appear later, with the development of settled agriculture.
The process of domestication accelerated if a person wandering behind the herds managed to drive part of the herd into a natural one, and then into an artificial trap: into a pasture with few exits, guarded by people and dogs. Living in; in a familiar environment, the animals did not lose their ability to reproduce, as they often lose it during a sharp transition from the wild to the domestic state.
Arose in direct connection with hunting, cattle breeding at the first stages represented only a further development of hunting and served exclusively as a source of meat food. The dog, from being primarily a slaughter animal, quite early became a man's assistant in hunting. The use of animals as a means of transportation developed much later and is far from universal. In America, when it was discovered by Europeans, only the Peruvians used one type of llama as a beast of burden; Australian tribes had no animals at all for transportation. Finally, the first steps in the development of dairy farming and the use of animals for various types of work, especially agricultural work, date back to a very late era. Modern cultivated animals were gradually isolated through a long process of selection. Some of them were initially domesticated for completely different purposes than in subsequent times. So, for example, the dog was almost everywhere, and among some tribes it still remains, a slaughter animal, bred exclusively for meat. Many animals that were domesticated at the beginning of cattle breeding were subsequently replaced by other species and are now found only in the wild. So, in ancient Egypt Some species of antelope were domesticated, but then they were replaced by sheep and goats.
The emerging cattle breeding initially served simply as an aid to hunting and was almost no different in nature from hunting. With increasing population density, it acquired decisive importance in the steppes and on the slopes of mountains with rich grass cover, in the tundras, which provide abundant food for deer. In these areas, it is cattle breeding that, with a relatively small amount of labor, provides the greatest amount of means of subsistence, and the opportunity for relatively rapid reproduction opens up for the pastoral tribes living here. Thus, pastoral tribes develop here, just as agricultural tribes develop in the fertile river valleys.
Already the transition from collecting food to hunting itself presupposes a significant improvement in tools. As cattle breeding develops, clashes between clans and tribes become more frequent, which in turn causes the accelerated development of new weapons of defense and attack. Primitive stick and stone give way to complex tools; Hammer and spear, knife and axe, spear thrower, sling, boomerang and bow and arrows appear and improve. In coastal areas, a raft appears, slowly developing into a boat, a tree trunk burned out in the middle, pushed first by poles, then by oars; Fishing accessories arise and become more complex: a harpoon and tackle woven from flexible branches, roots and plant fibers, hooks made from bones. Primitive agriculture also requires special tools; a hoe, a shovel, a millstone, and a knife adapted for cutting fruits and herbaceous plants develop.
In place of a limited number of simple primitive tools, each of which was used for a wide variety of purposes, there appears a comparatively larger number of differentiated tools, each of which from the very beginning was intended for a specific, more or less delimited function, but nevertheless differs from the previous period significant complexity. The number and variety of weapons is increasing.
Tool production technology is progressing. The stone is given one shape or another through careful beating, depending on the goal; it is subjected to grinding, polishing and, if necessary, drilling. Tools for performing these operations are gradually being developed—tools for
production of tools: hammer, rudimentary form of anvil,
In connection with these changes, the selection and selection of material most suitable for a particular purpose takes place. Initial indifference in this regard is replaced by a conscious, planned choice. Flint, obsidian, and jade become the main materials for the production of weapons. In the era under review, they were joined by bronze and iron. Metal weapons spread extremely slowly. Thus, even in such a late period as the era of Saul, his army had only two metal swords in one battle; all other weapons were made of stone and wood. According to the method of production, metal tools were initially no different from stone ones. Only with the greatest slowness did blacksmithing develop from beating, grinding, drilling, etc.
The production of new tools, characterized by an increase in number, variety and complexity, requires considerable skill, skill and endurance. It stands out as a special branch of labor. The process of separation occurs most quickly in areas rich in materials necessary for the production of tools. Under certain conditions, it leads to the fact that some clans develop the production of tools (including weapons) just as one-sidedly as others develop agriculture and cattle breeding. In such clans, the production of tools becomes the predominant occupation of men, while the procurement and preparation of food falls almost exclusively on women alone.
The labor energy of primitive man, his entire working day, was entirely spent on obtaining food. With the development of agriculture and cattle breeding, with the expansion of the use of new, increasingly sophisticated tools, with the progress of food preparation, obtaining and preparing it no longer requires the entire working day, but only a certain part of it, which is increasingly reduced as technology develops. If the race, which in primitive times howled its work time spent on obtaining food, now spends only half of the previous time on this, this means that labor productivity in this branch has doubled. To obtain the same quantity of products, one has to expend half as much labor energy. The transition from a simple search for food to agriculture and cattle breeding, migration from hot countries with rich nature to a temperate zone with meager nature may not be accompanied by “diminishing fertility”, but, on the contrary, by an increase in labor productivity.
Part of the forces that were previously expended directly on obtaining food is freed up and can be directed to new areas of labor, primarily to the production of tools. But it does not absorb all the liberated labor energy of the race. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to grow needs that are not directly related to the maintenance of life, as a purely zoological existence. Clashes and struggles between individual clans accelerate the development of new needs. From the relations of struggle between genera arose primary embellishments.” The winner removed his weapons from the vanquished: a shield, an ax, etc., cut off his ears and nose, and scalped him. Some of these trophies received their original purpose in his hands: they were used as weapons. Others - the scalp, ears and other members of the body of the defeated - served only as trophies, and, accumulating, were supposed to frighten later enemies from the very beginning. The belt with trophies suspended from it served as the embryonic form of the apron, from which the main forms of later clothing subsequently developed. In the same way, for example, the teeth of a killed enemy attached to the hair of the winner; gave rise to head decorations. Only philistine ideas, supported in the biblical story, remove clothing from a sense of shame. In fact, the development of the sense of shame followed the development of clothing: it became “ashamed” to leave open places usually covered by the clothing to which a given tribe had developed in the process of struggle.
Having originally arisen from such a need for “decoration,” clothing did not lose this meaning as people moved to areas with a more severe climate. But here it has also become an object of absolute necessity. The new purpose - protection from the waste of animal heat - led to changes in the shape of clothing and in the materials from which it was made.
Clothing and fire, together with housing, no matter how primitive, allowed man to exist in areas, for example, on the edge of the ice during ice ages, which would otherwise have been uninhabited.
The production of tools, especially weapons, has become a unique branch of the artistic industry. The dwelling developed from a casual shelter into a permanent structure among agricultural clans and into a mobile tent among nomadic families. It is filled with all kinds of utensils, which serve partly only for decoration, and partly, in addition, for various economic purposes. Dressing of hides, various types of weaving and knitting, turning into weaving, stone, bone, horn and wood carving, pottery production, combined with painting and carving, were the new branches of labor that were supposed to satisfy new needs. There are such amazing achievements in the field of painting that date back to the “Stone Age”, to the relatively early “th” period.
More on topic 1. The emergence of primitive agriculture and cattle breeding. - Development of tools. - Growing needs:
And fishing. It is not possible to date the origin of agriculture! On the one hand, we have no evidence of the earliest, most primitive forms of growing edible plants. On the other hand, in various places, depending on local conditions, on the availability of those plant species that could be cultivated, agriculture could arise earlier or later. Therefore, constructions according to which agriculture supposedly arose in one place on the globe and only from there spread throughout the world seem completely artificial.
As was mentioned, there is an opinion that dates the emergence of agriculture already to the Paleolithic, namely, to the Aurignacian-Solutrean era. It is absolutely reliable, however, to date agriculture only to the Neolithic, for some areas - early, for others - developed. Thus, the emergence of agriculture in Central Asia dates back to the 5th millennium BC. e., south of the East European Plain, in the area of the Tripoli culture, also in Transcaucasia, - 3rd millennium BC. e., in the Baltic states, in the central regions of Eastern Europe, in the Urals region and in Southern Siberia - 2 millennium.
It has long been suggested that the inventor of agriculture was a woman. This is quite likely.
By all appearances, agriculture developed directly from gathering, which, as we know, became a special branch of female labor. We have already seen that developed gathering is characterized by some care for naturally growing edible plants and concern for their multiplication. It is quite probable, therefore, that a woman invented agriculture by observing the conditions of growth and maturation of wild plants. This is a credit to a woman's powers of observation, and powers of observation are the mother of invention.
At first, agriculture was, of course, very limited in scope. This was the cultivation of one or different types of plants near a home on a relatively small plot of land. But already in such a primitive form, agriculture already provided a new, stable and not difficult to obtain type of nourishing food. It is natural that this method obtaining means for subsistence was destined to develop with greater intensity, relegating gathering, hunting and fishing to the background, and perhaps even more distantly.
Swamp farming
But for its development, agriculture requires appropriate land. In primitive times there was no ready-made field. In addition to dry, infertile deserts, all the soil was either covered with forest, shrubs or steppe thickets, or there were flooded swampy lowlands. The heavily overgrown land needed clearing and preparation, which forced the use of a lot of labor against the backdrop of a lack of necessary tools. While swampy areas covered with silt were quite suitable fertile areas for sowing. It is therefore likely that in some areas agriculture began to develop precisely in such swampy areas. It is not for nothing that a swamp or silt appears in the folklore of various peoples as a symbol of fertility. It is possible that Neolithic pile settlements were sometimes associated with precisely such “swamp” or “wet” agriculture.
Irrigation
For its further development, swamp farming still requires special agricultural technology. While representing natural conditions for fertile growth of crops, flooded marshy land may be too rich in moisture. In this case, it becomes necessary to regulate the accumulation and distribution of moisture using a system of channels. We find this agricultural form among some nationalities, more precisely in southeast Asia, where rice is the main plant cultivated in this way.
Slash and burn system
Agriculture developed in dry, vegetated areas in a much more complex and difficult way. But, having overcome all the difficulties, this “dry” agriculture turned out to be much more progressive than “wet”, ultimately providing the main source of food for the majority of humanity.
And the difficulties were very great. Open areas are unsuitable for agriculture: the crops here were subject to weathering. It was necessary to choose places that were naturally protected from the wind. But for this it was necessary to clear the desired area from vegetation. It was best to prepare a site in the forest where it would remain naturally protected by trees. The experience of setting fire to dry grass and forest, familiar to gatherers and hunters, gave rise to the idea of setting fire to the forest and sowing in burned areas. This is probably how it was done originally. But, on the one hand, setting a growing forest on fire is not always easy; on the other hand, fire is a dangerous element, which, once raging, knows no limits and becomes a threat to the person himself. The task arose to burn the area in the forest that was exactly required, and where it was most convenient. This problem was solved by the development of technology. A modest ax has brought about a revolution of sorts here. The stone ax, in at least its most primitive form, made it possible to cut down forests and bushes, and then, when the felled material dried out, to burn it all. At the same time, at some point, another important discovery was made: the ash remaining from the fire is fertilizer!
This is how the slash-and-burn system arises, which became the leading form of cultivation in primitive societies, and is still widespread among some nationalities and tribes.
There is a naive opinion that slash-and-burn farming is easy. In reality, it requires a series of sequential, well-coordinated, complex operations. First of all, cutting down forests with a stone ax, although, as observations of backward farmers have shown, remarkable dexterity is achieved in this, it is still far from easy.
Therefore, often only small forests are cut down, and big trees They remain standing until, after the fire, they dry out and fall down on their own. When all the felled forest is dry, it is burned. Then the area is cleared of unburnt parts of the tree and leveled, with the ash evenly scattered. An essential operation is further loosening the soil. Then comes the sowing, timed just in time for the onset of rainy season. The sown area requires care. In particular, it must be fenced to protect it from trampling wild animals. Desperate enemies of crops are especially large herd animals. A herd of elephants or wild boars destroys a sown area in a few minutes, like a hurricane. Further observation of the field, in particular the regiment, is also necessary. When the seed ripens, the need to protect the site from the animals that now appear to devour the young shoots increases. Birds are also long-standing enemies of the sown field. The protection of crops from small animals and birds is usually carried out by children, who drive away uninvited guests with screams and noise. But our garden scarecrow is a very ancient invention. At least, it is widespread in the field farming of modern backward farmers. Finally, the harvest comes. A number of types of cultivated plants will make it possible to harvest not immediately, but over a certain period of time, as needed. For other species they are created different ways harvest storage.
As mentioned, the slash-and-burn system is inevitably associated with soil depletion and the need to change cultivated areas. But as humanity multiplies, there is less free land. On the other hand, this system gradually leads to the destruction of forests. All this is especially noticeable in sparsely forested areas. Under such conditions, one has to return more and more often to the same plot, which, however, yields less and less harvest. Some way out of this situation is the so-called fruit rotation system, or crop rotation, i.e. sowing one area sequentially different cultures. It is difficult to say whether this system was invented already in the primitive era, but it exists among a number of very backward tribes. Thus, the natives of Melanesia sow successively yams, taro and sugar cane, and then leave the area fallow for a while.
Hoe farming
In addition to the ax with which the forest is cut down, one of the simplest tools of primitive agriculture is the same simple digging stick, which has a pointed and burnt end, which is already involved in gathering.
Sometimes this stick has a flat end. This is where the shovel or spade originates. Sometimes a drilled stone is placed on a digging stick for weight. A more advanced and more widely used tool is the hoe. That's why early form agriculture is usually called hoeing. In its most elementary form, a hoe is an ordinary branch or shoot of a tree with a short shoot. There are many different types of hoe available. As it develops, it becomes composite, having, instead of a natural appendage, a special “blade” attached to a stick, made of wood, stone, bone, or shell. In the north of Eastern Europe, a knot was used as a tool for loosening the earth - a part of a spruce trunk with chopped and pointed branches.
These are the simple tools of primitive agriculture. Therefore, the main role in it is played by human labor, its organization and its division. According to popular belief, hoe farming is the work of women exclusively. It is not right. Firstly, this complex and lengthy matter requires collective organized labor a large, well-knit human group and, therefore, is possible only with a more or less developed clan system. To prepare a plot, modern hoe farmers usually unite several related groups. In a number of production procedures, everyone, both men and women, and old people and children, is dealt with according to their strengths and abilities. Deforestation is done by men, but women often cut down bushes. Men and women work together to clear the cleared area, and the men fence it off. Leveling and loosening with a stick or hoe is usually the work of a woman, in which children also take an active part.
Often the earth is ground simply by hand and as thoroughly as no machine could do. Men and women sow together: the man goes ahead and makes holes with a stick, the woman follows him and, taking grains from a wicker bag, sticks them into the ground and levels it with her hands. Finally, further operations - caring for the crops and harvesting - are usually the work of women exclusively. Thus, both sexes participate in developed hoe farming, with the predominant share of permanent labor still falling on the shoulders of women. It can be assumed, however, that in its most primitive form, hoe farming was indeed the work of women exclusively, while men reserved the area of hunting. But with the development of this form of agriculture and its complication, men began to enter this area of productive activity.
Under favorable climate conditions, especially, of course, in the tropics, the newly cleared area produces a rich harvest for several seasons in a row. Then, however, the land is depleted and, with such primitive cultivation, cannot produce any more. In addition - this is of particular importance in warmer climates - if what is sown grows successfully, then the weeds grow even more violently. Weed control is a difficult matter, and modern backward agricultural tribes prefer to clear a new plot rather than clear an old one of weeds. Thus, the slash-and-burn system is necessarily associated with frequent changes of the cultivated field and periodic preparation of a new area. An abandoned area is overgrown more or less quickly, and, depending on local conditions, it is returned to again after a smaller or larger number of years. In northern Europe, this required 40-60 years, in tropical countries, of course, much less.
Agriculture arose not only in forest areas, as described above, but also in steppe areas, for example, in the steppe belt of Eastern Europe. And in these geographical conditions, the primitive farmer faced no less difficulties in developing the cultivated land, in particular the difficult task of destroying the thick layer of centuries-old turf that covered the ground. Unfortunately, the question of the emergence of agriculture in the steppe regions remains, one might say, completely unexplored. Farming in the steppe regions did not require the movements that were associated with the slash-and-burn system, however, in order to restore soil fertility after several years of its use, here too the cultivated field was left unsown, at least for a short period, until grass began to grow again. And here, apparently, the technique of cultivating the land in one form or another included the use of fire. This farming system is called fallow or fallow. It should also be noted that steppe agriculture, especially in conditions of a harsh climate and infertile soil, could have been only a secondary branch of productive activity in the economy of the local primitive population, along with hunting and fishing, which retained their primary importance.
Hoe farming became the main branch of productive activity of a developed primitive society. It was widespread and is now held by some backward tribes and nationalities. Hoe farming was widespread throughout pre-Columbian America, throughout Africa between 18° north and 22° south latitude, throughout Oceania, Indonesia and throughout Indochina, in a large part of India, in part of China and in a number of other places in Asia. This form of cultivation was widespread throughout Europe in the historical past. In certain areas and among certain peoples, for example, among the Iroquois in North America, hoe farming with maize reached a very large scale and a high technical level. The beautifully cultivated, carefully maintained Iroquois maize fields amazed the European colonists of America.
The apogee of development of the appropriating economy of the early tribal community was the achievement of a relative supply of natural products. This created the conditions for the emergence of the two greatest achievements of the primitive economy - agriculture and cattle breeding, the emergence of which many researchers, following G. Child, call the “Neolithic revolution”. The term was proposed by Child by analogy with the term “industrial revolution” introduced by Engels. Although agriculture and cattle breeding did not become the main branches of the economy for the majority of humanity in the Neolithic, and many tribes remained hunting and fishing, not even knowing agriculture as an auxiliary branch of production, yet these new phenomena in industrial life played a huge role in the further development of society.
Making ceramics:
1 - spiral-bundle technology, New Guinea; 2 - stuck, Africa
Eskimo sleigh and leather boat - kayak
For the emergence of a productive economy, two prerequisites were required - biological and cultural. It was possible to move to domestication only where there were plants or animals suitable for this, and only when this was prepared by the previous cultural development of mankind.
Agriculture arose from highly organized gathering, during the development of which man learned to take care of wild plants and obtain their new harvest. Already the aborigines of Australia sometimes weeded thickets of cereals, and when digging up yams, they buried their heads in the ground. Among the Semang of Malacca, in the 19th century. standing at approximately the same stage of development as the Bushmen, the collection of wild fruits was accompanied by the beginnings of their cultivation - pruning the tops of trees, cutting down bushes that interfered with the growth of trees, etc. Some Indian tribes took even more careful care of the new harvest of nature's gifts North America who collected wild rice. Societies at this stage of economic development were even designated by the German ethnographer J. Lips with a special term: “harvesting peoples.”
From here it was not far from real agriculture, the transition to which was facilitated both by the appearance of food supplies and the associated gradual development of a sedentary life.
At some Mesolithic sites, signs of highly organized gathering or, perhaps even incipient agriculture, have been traced archaeologically. Such, for example, is the Natufian culture, widespread in Palestine and Jordan and named after finds in the Wadi en-Natuf area, 30 km northwest of Jerusalem. It dates back to the 9th millennium BC. e. The main occupation of the Natufians, like other Mesolithic tribes, was hunting, fishing and gathering. Among the Natufian tools, stone inserts were found that, together with a bone handle, made up sickles, peculiar bone hoes, as well as stone basalt mortars and pestles, which apparently served for crushing grain. These are the same dating back to 11-9 millennia BC. e. cultures of the Near East, represented top layer Shanidar caves, the settlement of Zavi Chemi (Iraq), etc. The inventor of agriculture was undoubtedly a woman: having arisen from gathering, this specific sphere of female labor, agriculture for a long time remained a predominantly female sector of the economy.
There are two points of view on the question of the origin of agriculture: monocentric and polycentric. Monocentrists believe that the primary focus of agriculture was Western Asia, from where this most important innovation gradually spread to North-East Africa, South-East Europe, Central, South-East and South Asia, Oceania, Central and South America. The main argument of the monocentrists is the consistent emergence of agriculture in these areas; they also indicate that it was not so much different agricultural cultures that spread, but rather the idea of agriculture itself. However, the paleobotanical and archaeological material accumulated to date allows us to consider the theory of polycentrism developed by N. I. Vavilov and his students, according to which the cultivation of cultivated plants independently arose in several independent centers, more justified subtropical zone. About the number of such foci there are different opinions, but the main ones, the so-called primary ones, apparently can be considered four: Western Asia, where no later than the 7th millennium BC. e. barley and einkorn wheat were cultivated; Yellow River Basin and surrounding areas Far East, where millet-chumiza was cultivated in the 4th millennium; South China and Southeast Asia, where by the 5th millennium BC. e. rice and some tubers were cultivated; Mesoamerica, where no later than 5-4 millennia, cultures of beans, peppers and agave, and then maize, arose; Peru, where beans have been grown since the 6th millennium, and pumpkin, peppers, maize, potatoes, etc., from the 5th to 4th millennia.
The initial cattle breeding dates back to approximately the same time. We saw the beginnings of it already in the late Paleolithic - Mesolithic, but in relation to this time we can only speak with confidence about the domestication of the dog. The domestication and domestication of other animal species was hampered by the constant movements of hunting tribes. With the transition to sedentism, this barrier fell away: osteological materials of the Early Neolithic reflect the domestication of pigs, sheep, goats, and possibly cattle. How this process went can be judged by the example of the Andamanese: those caught during roundup hunts They did not kill the piglets, but fattened them in special pens. Hunting was the sphere of male labor, so cattle breeding, genetically associated with it, became a predominantly male branch of the economy.
The question of the place of origin of cattle breeding also remains a subject of debate between monocentrists and polycentrists. According to the first, this innovation spread from Western Asia, where, according to modern paleozoological and archaeological data, they were first domesticated cattle, a pig, a donkey and probably a dromedary camel. According to the second, pastoralism arose convergently among various groups of primitive humanity, and at least some species of animals were domesticated completely independently of the influences of the Central Asian focus: the Bactrian camel in Central Asia, the deer in Siberia, the horse in the European steppes, the guanaco and guinea pig in the Andes .
As a rule, the formation of a producing economy occurred in a complex form, and the emergence of agriculture was somewhat ahead of the emergence of cattle breeding. This is understandable: for the domestication of animals, a strong food supply was necessary. Only in some cases were highly specialized hunters able to domesticate animals, and, as ethnographic data show, in these cases there was usually some kind of cultural influence of settled farmers-pastoralists. Even the domestication of reindeer was no exception: although there is still debate about the time and centers of its domestication, the most well-reasoned point of view is that the peoples of Southern Siberia, already familiar with horse breeding, took up reindeer husbandry and moved to the northern regions unfavorable for horses.
From hunting arose cattle breeding. Imagine that hunters caught little kids and lambs while hunting! It was a shame to kill them. People began to build special pens for them, where they were kept and grew up. In this way, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, and horses were domesticated.
Wild dogs always lived near the settlements of ancient people, feeding on garbage and leftover food from people. When approaching a settlement of wild animals, they howled and barked to warn people. A man tamed a dog. It became an indispensable assistant for ancient man when hunting. The dogs quickly found the animal and contributed to a successful hunt. People put a lot of work and patience into domesticating and raising domesticated animals.
1. What changes in the life of the ancient 2. Tell us about the life of the tribal community, people occurred in the Meso- 3. Describe the tools of the Lithic era? Mesolithic.
Think about the difference between farming and gathering. 5. What do you think is the difference between farming and gathering? benefits from hunting?
Self-test questions
In what era did the bow and arrow appear?
during the Mesolithic era D. in the Chalcolithic era
Thin stone plates 1-2 cm long are called...
scraper S.nucleus
microlite D. tip
In what era did the process of domestication of animals and cultivation of plants begin?
in the Paleolithic era S. in the Neolithic era
during the Mesolithic era D. in the Chalcolithic era
When did agriculture begin?
100 thousand years ago D. 40 thousand years ago
13 thousand years ago E. about 10 thousand years ago
35 thousand years ago
§ 5. New Stone Age (Neolithic)
The New Stone Age (Neolithic) covers the period 5-3 millennia BC. e.
Neolithic sites. In the New Stone Age, ancient people were superior in all respects to people of previous eras. They began to weave and sew clothes. They began to cover ceramic dishes with ornaments. During this period the loom was invented.
But the Stone Age (Neolithic) covers the period 5-3 millennia BC.
Neolithic sites and settlements are found everywhere in Kazakhstan. During this historical period, hunters hunted mainly artiodactyl animals, which often changed their habitats. Neolithic hunters constantly moved after animals, and therefore their settlements were temporary.However, along with temporary ones, there are also permanent settlements of ancient people. These are Ust-Narym in the East Kazakhstan region, Karaganda, Zelenaya Balka in Central Kazakhstan, Penki in Northern Kazakhstan. All of them are located
were laid in the north of Saryarka, in the area between the Irtysh and Yesil (Ishim) rivers and date back to the 5th millennium BC.
Nerlithic monuments: arrowheads, pottery.
The most ancient Neolithic sites on the territory of Kazakhstan date back to the 5th millennium BC.Neolithic monuments. More than 500 Neolithic sites of ancient people have been found on the territory of Kazakhstan. According to the main features, the Neolithic monuments found in Kazakhstan are similar. Spearheads, flat knives, and arrowheads sharpened on both sides were found in the Aral Sea region.
In the parking lot Hemp In Northern Kazakhstan, stone axes, flat knives, and scrapers made of stone plates are found in large quantities. The main occupation of the ancient people who lived here was hunting forest animals and waterfowl, as well as fishing and gathering. IN Northern Balkhash region There are a lot of objects made of silicon: cutters, plates, cores and arrowheads. At the parking lots of Central Kazakhstan Karaganda, Green Balka A huge accumulation of animal bones was discovered. This serves as evidence that the ancient inhabitants were engaged in cattle breeding. However, hunting remained the main occupation of people here. People also fished and collected wild edible plants as before. Typically, such sites were located along the banks of rivers and lakes.
IN Zhezkazgan region More than 150 sites, ancient workshops, and burial grounds were found. The burials are covered with a large layer of sand. The walls of the graves are reinforced with stone slabs. The person was buried with his head facing northwest. This custom speaks of the unique worldview of the people of the Neolithic era, of their belief in the afterlife.
Settlements Eastern Kazakhstan extremely rich in finds. Small stone wedges that acted as tips are often found here. Made from these small stones
wedge tips and burins were used to make composite tools. These include spears and arrows, as well as sharp knives with wooden or bone handles. They are called composite because they were made from different materials: the tip or blade of the weapon was necessarily made of small pointed stone plates. In addition, flat knives, scrapers, chisels and heavy stone axes were found in large quantities in Eastern Kazakhstan. During the Neolithic era, the ancient inhabitants of these places were engaged in farming, fishing and gathering.
Transition To producing economy. The natural and climatic conditions of the Neolithic era were similar to modern ones. In the territory of Kazakhstan and neighboring regions, during the Neolithic era, ancient people began to engage in cattle breeding and agriculture. As you know, before people They obtained their food by hunting and gathering. Both of these activities were limited to the use of ready-made resources of nature.
You also know that the Stone Age is divided into three periods. In the most developed period of the Stone Age - the Neolithic - humanity made many useful discoveries. “Homo sapiens” has greatly improved his tools compared to his distant ancestors. After the invention of the bow, people realized that an arrow fired
Device
drill
A tool made by drilling
Stone ax handle with a hole for the handle
Clay dishes
from a bow, much more effective than a spear thrown by hand. The chisel, inserted into the wooden handle, turned into an ax, and its blow was much stronger than the blow of just a piece of stone. Neolithic people learned to weave fences from twigs and began to engage in weaving and sewing. Thus, the development of tools led man from hunting to cattle breeding, from gathering to agriculture. People have moved away from centuries-old dependence on nature. Now they themselves produced all the products they needed. During the Neolithic era, the process of progressive development of society and people's consciousness intensified. They began farming and tamed wild animals. Ancient people began to engage in ore mining.