Dissertation
Convergence in the Neolithic: Human population growth at the dawn of agriculture
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
05/2009
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006075
Abstract
Prehistorians generally agree that the origin of agriculture was associated with a transition in demography, namely that there was a substantial increase in human population defined as the Neolithic demographic transition (NDT). Researchers have focused little attention on how the origin of agriculture prompts such a shift and why 1) fertility increased and 2) why human behavior accommodated the demands to invest in more children, ultimately allowing population to grow. This dissertation is focused on understanding why this occurred. In order to gain a better understanding why the NDT is a shift in fertility and human behavior, I develop a model of past population growth rates utilizing extensive archaeological data. Several variables are utilized as proxies of population: frequency of 14C dates, frequency of sites occupied, total depth of deposits, and total area occupied. These variables are tracked in 50-year increments from 22,000-8,000 calibrated years ago from the Early Epipaleolithic to the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic periods in the southern Levantine area of the Near East. Results suggest that population mimicked zero-growth throughout much of prehistory until approximately 11,200 years ago, when an apparent increase in population occurs in line with the first evidence of intensive food storage. I argue that this population growth was due to the temporal convergence of foundational elements including: foods that are associated with increased fertility, a series of technological inventions that increase processing and harvesting of those resources, a stabilization of human diet through storage technology, and a behavioral shift that incorporated younger age brackets into the labor force. For anthropologists the origin of agriculture is one of the most discussed events in human history. However, this study is novel by contributing a new methodology to model past population growth rates. Consequently, this study is significant because it initiates a discourse on why the NDT happened when it did, and not before, ultimately providing a greater understanding of major changes in human adaptive strategies.
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Details
- Title
- Convergence in the Neolithic
- Creators
- Nathan B. Goodale
- Contributors
- William Andrefsky (Chair)Tim A. Kohler (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of AnthropologyAndrew I. Duff (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of AnthropologyIan Kuijt (Committee Member)Gary O Rollefson (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Anthropology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 315
- Identifiers
- 99901055125301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation