Chapter 12: The Root of the Matter: Farming and Its Consequences
Chapter Summary
Focus of the chapter:
- Human agricultural revolution
- Decrease in skull and jaw size
- Increase in infectious illnesses
- Changes in skeletal structure resulting from changes in activity patterns
The shift from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals took place in several independent centers around the world approximately 10,000 yBP. Humans exploited what was native to each area, domesticating different plants and animals in different regions.
The resulting shift to concentrated food resources allowed human population growth, resulting in increased demands on the environment.
Domestication also increased human population size and density, causing technological shifts.
The costs associated with domestication are environmental degradation and overuse as increasing human numbers pressure the earth’s carrying capacity.
Human physical structure has changed with farming; face and jaw size have decreased as a response to a softer diet. Tooth size has not decreased as rapidly as the face and jaw, leading to dental problems in modern populations. Body size has decreased, becoming overall more gracile and shorter in stature.
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