essay
The rise of sedentary life
Archaeology, Jeremy A. Sabloff, volume editor, with the assistance of Patricia A. Andrews • 1 • Published In 1981 • Pages: 345-372, 403-448
By: Stark, Barbara L..
Abstract
Stark constructs models and examines the archaeological data available in 1981 to explain the appearance of "cultivation-domestication" and then sedentary farming in Mesoamerica. She begins by summarizing prehistory from 14,000 B.C. to 2,500 B.C. as '…there is a possibility that disappearance of the more varied array of Pleistocene prey required some readaptation in the Archaic period…[T]he areas where we have an archaeological record of plant cultivation and domestication are the ones in which the use of wild plant resources had assumed an extensive role in subsistence. Therefore, a shift away from the degree of hunting that had been characteristic in earlier periods may have engendered some of the preconditions for subsequent changes leading to village agriculture,' (p. 345-346). The goal of the chapter was to use '…several general premises to construct a multicausual, systemic model of change which incorporates ecological preconditions, selective pressures, and changing settlement-subsistence strategies,' (p. 369). Stark uses Archaic period archaeological data from the highlands to construct her models as that was what was available in 1981. She acknowleges the problems of then trying to apply these models to the lowlands.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2001
- Region
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub Region
- Maya Area
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Sarah Berry; 1999
- Field Date
- not specified
- Coverage Date
- 7000 BP-4000 BP
- Coverage Place
- Mesoamerica; Belize and Mexico
- Notes
- Barbara L. Stark
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 403-448)
- LCCN
- 81004353
- LCSH
- Indians of Central America--Antiquities/Indians of