Annexus Quam
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Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 15:22
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Just one point that Earthstepper mentioned on the other thread (which is getting too huge for my temporary 1 GB PC):
"Terms like hunting, herding and farming need to be clear. All too often we read of the move from hunting/gathering to farming with "one mighty bound". What do we mean by "farming"? The term is often specifically used to mean agriculture "
It is good that you mention this, E.S. People tend to over-simplify and generalize things in order to comprehend the vast flimsy expanses of Prehistory.
You know how Japan's prehistory kicks the tight arses of European archaeologists. What stunned them once is that Japan had an incredibly long paleolithic (called Jomon), and yet they produced the first pottery in the world BEFORE becoming farmers. Some researchers even deny that they were not 'farmers' because they intentionally grew chest nut trees in their forests. What does one call that? Are they still...'hunter gatherers'?
I get tired of reading that the Paleolithics were hunters and spent their miserable lives in search of animals. The Paleolithics were not meat-eaters alone, in fact, research on the matter indicates the opposite - their diets are 65% plant and 35% meat. *Hunter gatherers* should be called *Gatherer Hunters* or even *Gatherer Fishermen*.
Undoubtedly conditions may have been bad, but not worse than if all of the tribe's survival depended on the crops - a bad harvest surely meant starvation and struggle. Especially if the community had lost the incredible specialization and knowledge of the natural world by becoming settlers.
In the summer gatherers can live on fruits, roots, herbs; in the autumn from mushrooms, nuts and berries. This can be complemented by small insects, birds and fish without the need to spend your days and energy "chasing rabbits".
Blame all of those popular TV programmes where dirty sweaty people in rags chase mammoths with clubs. In the same way that the early Japanese had no need to become farmers (like in China or Korea) until much later, indicates they probably saw it as stupid, unnecessary and 'foreign' (from beyond the sea). And it was later imposed on them by the Farmers (Yayoy) who dropped in from the Continent in very small numbers. Soon you had a small warlike population building huge mounds and dolmens everywhere around the south-west calling the northern Jomon natives - 'the savages'.
And farming was not always adopted totally. Some took pastoralism, some part time, some only a few elements depending the climate in your region or the fickle nature of your land.
You know in Sweden farming arrived around 4,000 BCE and was 'dropped' at some point by some regions when conditions became too bad. People returned to the 'paleolithic'! BUT they retained their domestized pigs!
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FourWinds
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Re: Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 15:42
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"You know in Sweden farming arrived around 4,000 BCE and was 'dropped' at some point by some regions when conditions became too bad. People returned to the 'paleolithic'! BUT they retained their domestized pigs!"
I'm not sure about the pigs bit, but I recently proposed a similar pattern for Ireland around 2000BCE.
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Kammer
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Soay Sheep
Apr 21, 2004, 15:55
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What about the sheep? I've always wondered why the Soay sub-species ended up stranded on the island of Hirta.
Most people agree that they were taken there by early farmers, but why were they left there to run wild? Was it a similar story to the one you've described in Sweden? Perhaps the local population suffered some sort of disaster and died out, leaving the sheep as the only remnant of their culture. I guess we'll probably never know.
K xx
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fitzcoraldo
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Re: Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 19:01
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Surely diet is directly related to environment.
The hunter gatherers of colder climates eat more meat than their cousins from warmer climes. It's all about what's available, how sustainable it is and in what amounts.
Hence the shell middens of the shore dwellers.
Another point to consider is the ritual aspect that hunting plays in many cultures. One clue to this is the antler frontlets found at Star Carr.
The hunt is often portrayed in rock art throughout the world.
Surely the aims of pastoralism was to have your meat/milk/skin/bone larder close to hand.
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FourWinds
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Re: Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 19:18
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The Australian aborigines make long pilgrimages to the coast to have massive shellfish feasts. There are beaches with thousands of tons of oyster shells in huge piles. They don't need to make this journey and as they mainly live inland oysters would not be part of their diet normally, but they choose to make it so.
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TomBo
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for the benefit of posterity
Apr 21, 2004, 20:36
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(and beyond that, too)
a link to the "other thread"
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/?thread=18032
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TomBo
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Re: Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 20:46
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I would have added this to the "other thread" but I agree that's it's getting way too big...
The monuments we all so love are the fruit of settling, it seems. Therefore they represent the very beginning of civil-ization. Yet as civilization's sworn enemy, I still love these monuments. Why?
When I look at, say, Avebury or Callanish, its impossible for me to see such beautiful and artistic creations as an evil. Its a much-worn cliche that has been brought into disrepute by a lot of new-age "literature", but they are clearly the work of a people who sought to be in harmony with nature. What else could the harmony of land and sky that is Sleeping Beauty's lunar theatre possibly imply?
The monuments are like gateways between the times when we felt the deep connection to the land and sky that Morfe has talked about in "the other thread" and the times of civilization. As such they point the way to the recovery of that perspective, as well as being symbols of our "expulsion" from Eden.
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fitzcoraldo
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Re: Nishinihon / Higashinihon
Apr 21, 2004, 21:35
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The early Mesolithic hunting site site at Newbury Berks 9-10 Milllenium BP has shown that our Mesolithic brothers and sisters had a fondness for wild boar although evidence for the butchery of red deer and beaver was also found.
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FourWinds
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Eating beaver
Apr 21, 2004, 22:15
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That'll bring up some interesting search engine hits!
I think I was trying to say that shell middens don't necessarily imply coastal dwellers :-)
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fitzcoraldo
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Re: Eating beaver
Apr 21, 2004, 22:44
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I tried to avoid the beaver reference, I knew someone would jump in and lower the tone.
We often have a run-out to Whitby for fish & chips.
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