An Anthropology and Archaeology of

Subsistence Practices

Uqa Farming, Terraced Fields, Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Subsistence Strategies: An Overview

• Subsistence: how people make a living– Major issue: food– For majority of human history, people got their

food by collecting it from the landscape– People called foragers, or hunter-gatherers– Later, strategies emerge based on food

production, involving domesticated plants and/or animals

– Food production: various forms of agriculture and reliance on animals, including horticulture, pastoralism, intensive agriculture

Food Collectors

• Foragers– Associated with band-level society– Small-scale groups, partially or fully nomadic– Despite the name “hunters-gatherers”, majority

of calories typically come from plant sources– Requires in-depth knowledge of the

environment

Food Collectors

• Foragers– Important concept: Carrying capacity of the

land: ability of an environment to support a population, given a particular subsistence strategy• Carrying capacity of land for foragers is typically low,

must move frequently to find enough food, live in balance with available resources

• As people begin to produce food, carrying capacity rises—the land can support more people

• Intensive agriculture supports the most people

Food Production

• Subsistence based on domesticated plants and animals:– Began with the Neolithic Revolution

• Occurred around10,000 years ago– Domestication happened independently in

many regions at different times• Middle East, Near East, China, North/South

America, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa– Domestication enabled control of production,

a potentially more secure food base

Earliest Domesticates: Plants

Teosinte, leftMaize, right

• Neolithic Founder Crops– Fertile Crescent, Near East, 11,000-9,000 BC– Include Emmer wheat, Einkorn wheat, Barley, Lentil,

Chickpea, etc.—many crops still consumed today

• A few other key crops…– Rice, Asia, 8,000 BC– Potato, Beans, South America, 8,000 BC– Squash, Maize, Central America, 8,000-7,000 BC– Banana, South East Asia, 5,000 BC– Millet, Africa, 2,500 BC

• Original forms of plants or animals were NOT what we see today—selective breeding brings out desired traits

Earliest Domesticates: AnimalsSpecies Where WhenDog East-Central Asia 33,000 BP

Sheep South-West Asia 10,000 BC

Pig China, Near East, Germany 9,000 BC

Goat Iran 8,000 BC

Cow India, Middle East, North Africa 8,000 BC

Cat Middle East 8,000 BC

Chicken India, South-East Asia 6,000 BC

Guinea Pig Peru 5,000 BC

Horse Eurasia 4,000 BC

Llama Peru 3,500 BC

Yak Tibet 2,500 BC

Reindeer Siberia 1,000 BC

Turkey Mexico 500 BCMummified Cat, Egypt

Food Production: Consequences

• General Trends:– Increased sedentism (living in one place) and

population size– Increased labor demands, higher overall risk if

crops fail or animals die– Decreased variation in diet, decreased nutrition– Decreased health, increased disease (humans

actually become shorter due to domestication)– Rise of private property, surplus, specialization– Decline of social egalitarianism, increased

environmental degradation

Horticulture

• Horticulture: subsistence-level agriculture– Agriculture production for consumption– Small-scale, low-yield, simple technology using

human labor, no irrigation or plows pulled by animals

– Still practiced in mainly tropical areas with low population densities

– Horticulturalists may also have some domesticated animals

Pastoralism

• Pastoralism: Animal husbandry– Arose where domesticated plants not easily

grown but animals can still feed– Based on animal products (often milk products

and wool as much as or more than meat)– Often traded with agriculturalists– Wide variation in subsistence practices based

on different needs of animals• Transhumance: seasonal movements between

winter and summer pastures/sources of water • Nomadic: moving animals frequently as needed

Intensive Agriculture

• Intensive Agriculture: – First intensive form of production

• Use of same plot of land over and over– Began c. 5,000 years ago, along with rise of

earliest cities (concentrated populations), supported larger populations

– Increased use of technology:• Plows, draft animals, fertilizers, irrigation

– Surpluses produced • Above subsistence needs, rest sold at market• Created new economic opportunities

Intensive Agriculture

Terraced Farming , Indonesia

Intensive Agriculture

• Intensive Agriculture: consequences– More labor needed– More capital (funds/resources) invested

• Permitted complex societies, “civilization”:– Labor specialization– Surplus production promotes market exchange– Cities can be supported– Social stratification emerges (inequality)– Peasant class (rural food producers)

Adaptation/Maladaptation

• Reminder: Food Production is a form of Adaptation– But maladaptive practices have contributed to

the decline of several civilizations• Rapa Nui (Easter Island): rapid deforestation and

introduction of non-native species may have contributed to society’s decline

• Classic Period Maya: collapse of political system coincided with series of droughts, it is said that political power lost in part due to poor water management

Subsistence and Environment

• Food Collectors– Foragers

• Food Producers– Horticulturalists (subsistence agriculture)– Pastoralists (animal herders)– Intensive Agriculture (first intensive technique)

• Extensive techniques (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism) would require a lot of land, but techniques more sustainable over time

• Intensive techniques (intensive agriculture) use land over and over again, often depleting resources over time, often not sustainable

Archaeological Correlates

• What is the evidence for subsistence?• Data relating to:

– Diet– Procurement (acquiring food)– Food processing– Food consumption– Any other material culture related to subsistence

production and consumption – Some data are direct, some indirect

Archaeological Correlates• Faunal Remains (Zooarchaeology)

– Remains of animals, helps reconstruct what people ate, also past environments

– Include bone, shell, hair, hides, scales, chitin (from crustacean/insect shells), proteins, DNA, etc.

• Questions to ask:– What animals were eaten/used for other

purposes/just present in the environment?– What was the technology/behavior used to get the

food?– Were animals wild or domesticated?

Archaeological Correlates

• Botanical remains:– Also called archaeobotanicals, paleobotanicals,

floral analysis, phytoarchaeological studies…• Questions:

– What plant foods were consumed?– Wild or domesticated?– What were patterns of procurement (acquiring

food)? What technologies were involved?– How do plant analyses help reconstruct the past

environment overall?

Archaeological Correlates

• Human remains:– Can determine diet, pathologies (illness, disease,

trauma—some linked to diet), work patterns, etc.• Look at:

– Bone development– Bone chemistry– Teeth– DNA

Archaeological Correlates

• Paleofeces!• Where?

– Coprolites, gut contents, cess (waste areas)• Can find remains of:

– Foods – Medicines– Bacteria/viruses/fungi– DNA

Archaeological Analysis

• Studying Faunal and Floral Remains• Need to identify relative abundance of taxa,

whether they were used culturally or not• Use several measurements overall

– NISP: Number of Identified Specimens (different taxa)

– MNI: Minimum Number of Individuals (how many different individuals present—used for fauna, human remains)

– Ubiquity: presence/absence

Archaeological Analysis

• Studying Faunal and Floral Remains, more detailed information

• Floral remains: seasonality• Faunal remains: age, sex, seasonality• Can help identify time of site occupation,

hunting patterns