CHARTER 1

Early human societies and

fheir planfs

Historians will bave to face thè fact that naturai Moreover, it was also originally believed, and is
selection determined thè evolution of cultures in thè stili repeated in a surprisingly large number
same manner as it did that of species of textbooks, that agriculture was somehow
Konrad Lorenz, 1903-1989, On Aggression 'invented' in thè Near East and subsequently
exported to Europe, Africa, and thè Far East. The
entire process of agricultural and societal develop-
Introduction
ment has also been decorated with Enlightenment
The development of agriculture is universally and Victorian overtones of inevitability and pro-
regarded as one of thè defining moments in thè gression, as if humanity was somehow 'destined' to
evolution of humankind. Indeed, many accounts of tame plants and animals and to develop complex,
human development stili describe thè so-called technologically based societies. This 'revolutionary'
'invention' of agriculture as if it were a sudden and thesis of thè origins of agriculture is now being
singular transformative event.1 The acquisition of successfully challenged by manifold lines of evi-
thè know-how and technology that enabled people dence from a spectrum of scientific disciplines that
to practice agriculture is conventionally portrayed includes archaeology, geology, climatology, genet-
as a dramatic and revolutionary change, which ics, and ecology.3 It is now clear that several human
occurred about 11,000 years ago at thè start of thè cultures (possibly numbered in thè dozens) inde-
Neolithic period (or 'New Stone Age').2 We are told pendently developed distinctive systems of agricul-
that this revolutionary event completely altered thè ture on at least four different continents.4
diet, lifestyle, and structure of thè human societies Over thè past decade or so, detailed archaeologi-
involved, most notably in thè Near East. The cal and genette evidence has emerged supporting
epochal 'invention' of agriculture is then supposed thè view that widespread cultivation of crops
to have led directly to urbanization and quantum evolved separately in various parts of Asia, Africa,
leaps in technological and artistic development as Mesoamerica, and South America.5 In contrast, in
part of a unidirectional and profoundly progressive Europe, North America, and Australasia, crop culti-
process. This notion of a sudden agricultural revo- vation occurred much later. In these latter three
lution originated because of what appeared to be regions, crops and agronomie techniques were only
thè almost overnight appearance and cultivation of secondarily acquired from thè primary agricultural
new forms of several key plants, especially cereals societies. These crops were then grown in places
and pulses, that had supposedly been deliberately that were far from their initial centres of origin. In
'domesticated' by people. Almost simultaneously, thè comparatively few primary centres of crop
so it seemed, thè new farming-based cultures began cultivation, a relatively narrow range of locally
to build increasingly complex, permanent habita- available edible plants was domesticated as thè
tions that soon developed into elaborate urbanized major food Staples. Wherever suitable species were
cultures and, eventually, civilizations with imperiai available, it was thè large-grained cereals that were
aspirations. thè most favoured candidates for cultivation as
 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE HUNDRED MILLENNIA OF COEVOLUTION

staple crops. The most obvious examples are rice, primary domestication processes were in progress
wheat, and maize; these three plants were among around thè world over a period of at least eight
thè earliest domesticates and are stili by far thè millennia from about 13,000 BP until 5000 BP (see
most important crops grown across thè world, Box 1.1 for an explanation of thè dating systems
supplying well over two-thirds of human calorific used here). In several cases, such as wheat and rice,
needs. The second most popular class of staple a single plant species was domesticated completely
domesticants were thè starchy tubers such as yams independently on numerous occasions, by various
and potatoes, but these crops were not as versatile unrelated human cultures living in different
as cereals, especially as regards long-term Storage, periods and in different regions of a continent.
and this limited their more generai use. The major Moreover, it now appears that thè systematic culti-
class of supplementary crop is thè pulses, or edible- vation of crops was preceded in most places by an
seeded legumes, which provide useful proteins extremely lengthy preagricultural phase of plant
and nutrients lacking in cereals and tubers, as husbandry. During this period, many geograph-
well as replenishing soil fertility with nitrogen ically unconnected groups of humans started to col-
compounds. lect, process, and even manage certain favoured
Domestication of these different crop species did plants for food use, while stili relying on a nomadic
not occur at thè same time or in thè same piace.6 hunter-gathering lifestyle to sustain thè bulk of
Several overlapping, and sometimes lengthy, their livelihoods. In thè Near East, this prefarming

Box 1.1 Dating systems

Dates in thè text are presented in either epor BCE/CE This practice can lead to confusion when comparing
formats, in line with conventions in thè primary iiterature. dates in thè iiterature, especially in many secondary
Dates relating to more ancient events and processes over sources (induding many popular books and thè plethora
archaeoiogical and geological timescaies are normally of internet sites that cite human chronoiogies). Such '.:
given as BP, or Before Present, where thè present is sources frequently fai! to state thè type of dating method
arbitrarily defined as thè year 1950. This dating System is that is being used in a particular text so that a date iike
followed in Parts I to III, which deal mostly with prehistoric 10,000 BP or 8000 BC can be ambiguous by a margin of
periods ranging from several million years to about as much as 1600 years. Hence, thè admonition 'caveat
4000 years ago. Here, dates expressed as BP are italicized lector' when consulting such sources. in thè present
in order to distinguisi! them further from dates within book, ali radiocarbon dates have been adjusted, as far
more recent historical periods. as possible, to true calendar years using a combination -
Many of thè BP dates quoted here are based on of correction formulae and by using other independent
radiocarbon dating methods. These dates are always dating methods as a check. For a technical discussion of
given in 'real' calendar years, rather than thè potentially thè vagaries of radiocarbon dating and conversion charts,
misleading (to thè layperson) 'radiocarbon years' see Stuiver and Becker (1993) and Stuiver et al. (1998).
sometimes quoted in thè primary Iiterature. Because A simple.online calibration chart from thè present to
radioisotopes do not decay at a uniform rate, 'radiocarbon as far back as 4500 BP can be found at:
years' carvvary significantly from 'real' calendar years. This http://www.sciencecourseware.org/VirtualDating/files/
is especially true for BP dates earlier than a few thousand RC_5.5.html .
years ago. For example, some radiocarbon-based In Part IV, which deals with events during thè historic
chronoiogies piace thè end of thè Younger Dryas Era at period, dates are generally given according to thè modern
10,000 BP in so-called radiocarbon, or 14C, years whereas convention as BCE (Before Common Era) or CE (Common
thè 'true' date is about 11,600 calendar years BP. Equally, Era). This corresponds to thè former usage of BC (Before
thè onset of thè Younger Dryas Era and, possibly, of cereal Christ) and AD (anno domini). In thè later chapters that
cultivation, is often expressed as 11,000 14C years BP, cover thè post-Classical period, dates are usually given
although thè 'true' date is more like 12,800 calendar without a suffix when it is clear from thè context that they
years BP. relate to CE.
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND THE1R PLANTS 5

phase of informai plant management may have a regular method for reducing thè burden on
extended for many millennia and perhaps tens of mothers who needed to be both mobile and stili
millennia, from as long ago as 40,000 or 50,000 BP. li maintain care of older dependent children.9 It is
is also important to realize that agriculture is by no difficult to know exactly how stressful regular
means thè only successful and enduring option for migration would have been for Neolithic and
thè management and exploitation of plants. Indeed, Palaeolithic family groups as this would depend on
numerous societies around thè world opted over such vagaries as thè size of thè group, thè extent
many millennia to remain wedded to a more flexible and difficulty of migratory journeys, and thè eli-
lifestyle of informai nurturing and collection of mate. However, thè stresses endured by women in
wild plants, rather than committing themselves to hunter-gatherer groups might be minimized by thè
full-time agriculture.7 establishment of long-term base camps where small
children could be left with carers, such as siblings
and grandmothers, while their mothers foraged in
Why agriculture?
thè locality.10 This highlights thè importance of thè
So, why did human societies, and especially those unusually high postmenopausal longevity in
that had already been engaged in preagricultural humans that is thè basis of thè so-called 'grand-
plant cultivation for as much as ten millennia or mother hypothesis', as favoured by many evolu-
more, not develop full-scale agriculture until so tionists.11 Although some authors have asserted
recently? These preagricultural people were cer- that thè 'grandmother effect' is a relatively recent,
tainly as intelligent as we are. They knew a great and therefore culturally explicable, phenomenon,12
deal about thè many different species of food plants most anthropologists regard it as being a consider-
that they utilized so effectively, including several ably more ancient, and hence evolutionarily
species that were eventually to become our major determined, effect that dates back at least as far
crops. And yet, for some reason, these late- as thè Mid-Palaeolithic Era.13 Notwithstanding
Palaeolithic people (see Box 1.2 for a discussion of thè stresses of dislocation and regular mobility,
thè various chronologies used nere) did not choose hunter-gathering can stili provide an ampie, bal-
to exploit their preferred plants more intensively as anced food supply for a lot less effort than farming.
their principal food source. It seems that people did Some idea of thè efficiency of a hunter-gathering
not seriously contemplate alternatives to hunter lifestyle comes from a well-known study of con-
gathering unless they had compelling reasons to do temporary !Kung Bushmen from thè Kalahari
so. The reason is that hunter gathering is a very Desert. It has been estimated that these people only
attractive lifestyle in terms of thè effort expended spend one-third of their time (or 2.3 days per week)
and thè nutritionally diversity of thè resultant food. in food gathering; for thè rest of thè week they are
The major downside is that it normally entails a free to indulge in other pursuits.14 Over thè millen-
degree of nomadism, with ali thè attendant disloca- nia, thè !Kung have acquired an enormous amount
tion of regularly uprooting encampments and mov- of detailed botanical knowledge about each of thè
ing over often long distances before a new many dozens of different food plants that form a
temporary base camp can be established. Such dis- regular part of their diet. Some of these plants
location is especially difficult for nursing mothers would be amenable to more systematic and inten-
and their relatively helpless infants, and can be a sive cultivation, should thè people wish it. The
significant factor in thè higher rates of both infant IKung are also well aware, from observation of
and maternal mortality in nomadic cultures.8 their farming neighbours, of thè methodology
The issue of female and infant mortality in of crop cultivation. As thè IKung also know, parts of
hunter-gatherer populations is stili highly con- their home range might sometimes be suitable for
tentious and in particular thè relevance of srudies cultivation of certain crops. However, and most
of recent societies to more ancient Neolithic and importantly, thè IKung are also cognisant of thè
Palaeolithic cultures. One example is thè assertion unfavourable logistics and thè greater risks of rely-
that systematic infanticide might have been used as ing solely on farming for their food supply.15 These
 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE HUNDRED MILLENNIA OF COEVOLUTION

Box 1.2 Geologica! and archaeological chronologies

Geologica! timescales Modern humans, capable of complex social and aesthetic

behaviours, probably arose in Africa before 100,000 BP.
Geologists use a chronology based on Periods, such as
Around 50,000-40,000 BP, at thè onset of thè Upper
thè Jurassic (208-144 million years ago) and Cretaceous
(or late) Palaeolithic, tools became smailer, more intricate,
(144-65 million years ago). The most recent Periods are
and much more diverse, and people created increasingly
thè Paleogene (65-23 million years ago) and Neogene
elaborate art forms. The final phase of thè Palaeolithic
(23-0 million years ago) The Neogene includes geological
(generaily known as thè Epipalaeolithic in thè Near East),
time up to thè present day, covering what used to be
lasted from thè end of thè last major glaciation
called thè later Tertiary and thè Quaternary Periods
e. 75,000 BP until thè end of thè Younger Dryas
(for a discussion of thè latest geological nomenclature,
e 1 i,600 BP. This period marked thè beginning of thè
see Gradstein' et al., 2004). The Neogene is divided ,
long transition from hunter-gathering to farming in
into tour Epochs: Miocene (23.03-5.332 million years
severa! regions of thè world.
ago), Pliocene (5,332-1,806 million years ago),
Finally, thè Neolithic, or 'New Stone Age', began about
Pleistocene (1.8 million-11,500 years ago), and Holocene
71,600 BP with thè introduction of superior grinding
(11,500 years ago to thè present).
methods for thè manufacture of stone tools, and thè
The vast majority of events described in this book
graduai adoption of more complex sedentary/agriculturai
occurred during thè Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs.
lifestyles. In thè Levant, thè Neolithic is divided into a
It was during thè early Pleistocene Epoch, over
prepottery phase (àctually two phases termed prepottery
one million years ago, that Homo sapiens emerged in
Neolithic A and B, or PPNA and PPNB) that lasted from
Africa and subsequently spread across most of thè
7 7,500 to 5,500 BP, and thè pottery Neolithic from 8,500
world, This Epoch was characterised by dramatic
to 7,000 BP. The Chalcolithic (Copper) Age lasted from
climatic fluctuations, especially during thè series of Ice
7000 to 4500 BP, thè Bronze Age from 4500 to 3200 BP,
Ages of thè Late Pleistocene from 126,000 until
and thè Iran Age from 3200 lo 2500 BP. In some regions,
11,500 years ago. The Holocene Epoch, in which we
such as Europe, thè postgladal but prefarming period is
are stili living today, can be regarded as thè latest
known as thè Mesolithic, which lasted in many areas
intergiacial interval (or interstadial) of thè Pleistocene.
until 5000 BP or later.
The beginning of thè Holocene coincides with thè
Of course, these dates are approximate and overlap
Neolithic era used by archaeologists to define thè
with each other to a great extent. Some cultures
beginnings of agricultural societies.
developed or acquired new technologies many centuries
or even millennia before their contemporaries in different
Archaeological timescales
parts of thè world. For example, as late as thè mid-
Archaeologists divide thè prehistoric development of twentieth century, some isolated cultures in South America
humans into a number of chronological stages. The Early and Asia were stili very successfully maintaining an
Palaeolithic era is generally considered to have started essentially Palaeolithic-like lifestyle. Unfortunately, as with
with thè emergence of thè first members of thè genus biological taxonomy (see Box 2.1), both primary and
Homo about 2.5 million years ago. The Middle Palaeolithic secondary geological and archaeological sources
era lasted from about 250,000 BP unti! about 50,000 BP, sometimes define their chronologies slightly differently to
and was characterized by extensive use of chipped stone those described here. I have tried to follow thè most
tools by human cultures around thè world, including consistent modern usages, but note that some literature
H. erectus, H. ergaster, H. neanderthalis, and H. sapiens. sources may vary slightly.

sophisticated people are aware that farming in thè prevailed in thè remote past when our ancestors
Kalahari Desert does not bear comparison, in terms may have faced a choice between thè more system-
of an over ali long-term cost/benefit analysis, with atic exploitation of a few relatively abundant
their current hunter-gatherer lifestyle.16 plants, or a more generalist hunter-gathering
It seems likely that similar logic, whether or not lifestyle. A key factor that probably tipped thè bai-
it was consciously expressed as such, would have ance in favour of thè latter choice would have been
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND T H E I R P L A N T S 7

an environment that was sufficiently productive The term 'productive' is applicable here in sev-
of resources to sustain thè sort of familiar eral senses. Farmers obtain far greater productivity
hunter-gatherer lifestyle that had been pursed by than hunter-gatherers in terms of food calories per
most modern humans since they left Africa over unit area of land. Farming can therefore sustain
70,000 years ago. There was neither need nor much greater populations, not ali of whom need to
motivation for these people to search for alternative be involved in food production. The greater num-
means of generating biological resources for bers of people that could be supported in a farm-
their sustenance. This does not mean that people ing-based society would give them an advantage
did not constantly experiment with potential in thè case of conflict with groups of hunter-
new food sources. Especially during lean periods gatherers. The non-farmers would also be free
during thè constantly changing climates of thè to specialize in other pursuits such as tool making
Palaeolithic, people would have sometimes been and building. Farming/sedentism is therefore
forced to rely more on larger fauna or perhaps immensely more productive in terms of techno-
to investigate any potentially edible plants, even logical innovation. Farming also engenders cultural
small-seeded grasses.17 In a few parts of thè pre-Ice changes that favour identification with larger
Age world, there was a periodic abundance of one groups than thè family/clan, for example religious
rather special food source that would eventually identities, allegiances with a city/state, specialized
become much more important to people, namely male fighting groups, etc. The existence of such
thè starch-rich seeds of several pooid and panicoid organizations and social structures in turn enables
grasses. urban/agrarian societies to operate effectively on a
Some of these grassy species that grew in profu- much larger scale than thè relatively small group-
sion throughout western Asia were those selfsame ings formed by clan-based hunter-gatherers.
cereals that would eventually become domesticated
as our most important staple crops. Useful pooid
Graduai transitions
species included thè wheats, barley, and rye; while
exploitable panicoid species included many of thè The shift from exclusive hunter-gathering to farm-
millet crops. In parts of thè Near East, it is stili ing probably occurred in a series of stages over sev-
possible for a modern forager to collect enough eral millennia. These stages would have established
grain from wild cereals in a few hours to provide thè necessary conditions for agriculture but would
nourishment for an entire week.18 This means that not have made it inevitable. The kinds of conditions
Palaeolithic people passing through such areas needed for farming to begin include thè availability
would have been highly rewarded if they stopped of thè 'right sort' of plants, that is plants that lent
to gather any nutritious wild-growing plants that themselves to domestication due to their genetic
they carne across, including cerea! grains and fruits. make-up. People would also have needed to be
However, at thè same time, it would not have been very familiar with such plants; for example what
particularly attractive to settle down in one piace they looked like, where they grew, when they set
and try to grow such plants to thè exclusion of seed, what else ate them or competed with them,
other readily available foods. Such a strategy and so on. They would have needed thè right
would be risky in its reliance on a few species, as technologies for harvesting and processing of thè
well as involving a great deal of unnecessary, hard edible parts of thè plants into easily digestible food.
work. In order to understand why crops were ever A degree of sedentism would also have been useful,
domesticated at ali, we must look more closely at but not necessarily essential. It has been suggested
thè complex interactions between a host of interre- that some hunter-gatherer groups may have main-
lated factors, which gradually altered thè cost/ tained a series of small gardens, which they visited
benefit equation away from thè flexibility of periodically for tending and harvesting. This
thè hunter-gatherer lifestyle and towards a less would have given such people thè opportunity to
flexible, riskier, but ultimately more productive, familiarize themselves with thè rudiments of plant
sedentary/farming lifestyle. cultivation and enabled them to experiment with
8 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE HUNDRED MiLLENNIA OF C O E V O L U T I O N

strategies, such as tilling, sowing, and weeding, selection of a number of genette attributes in these
that would encourage better growth of their favoured food plants, hence modifying thè genette
favoured plants. Such activities could readily occur profile of thè species in that region and initiating
within a peripatetic hunter-gatherer lifestyle with- thè process of domestication. This kind of uninten-
out any kind of irrevocable commitment to full- tional, preagricultural domestication would have
time agriculture.19 altered some plant species more quickly and to a
However, even if ali of thè above conditions of much greater extent than others. Those plants that
incipient agriculture were in piace, there would stili became genetically altered in favourable ways for
be no need to make thè change to more or less full- thè human gatherers would have gradually (or, in a
time farming, as long as there were plentiful and few cases, rapidly) evolved into our main crop
readily accessible sources of alternative food species.23 Far from a sudden 'agricultural revolu-
resources. Any prolonged threat to these alternative tìon', therefore, it appears that there was a develop-
resources might have supplied thè stimulus that mental continuum over tens of millennia during
pushed some communities towards a more serious which some human groups and certain plants
investment of time and energy into thè cultivation coevolved into a series of mutually beneficiai
of just a few chosen plants. Por example there may associations. In different parts of thè world, differ-
have been localized situations where many of thè ent plants became thè favoured partners of human
normal animai and plant resources became scarcer, societies although, where they were available,
possibly due to climatic changes.20 Such events cereals were invariably selected as thè major
might have eliminated thè more agreeable and staple crop.24
more easily collected sources of food for a One remarkable aspect of early preagricultural
hunter-gatherer community that also happened to human societies is that, right across thè world, out
be well versed in preagricultural cultivation of of over 7000 plant species that were regularly used
domestication-friendly plants such as wild cereals. for food, only a tiny number of mainly grassy
Hence, these people may have been forced into spe- species were eventually selected and domesticated
cializing in thè cultivation of a few, relatively high- to serve as thè primary dietary staples.25 The
yielding food plants, simply because thè alternative importance of cereals to our ancestors is reflected in
food collection strategies became too expensive and thè word itself, which is derived from thè name
unproductive. Almost by default, they would have Ceres, who was thè Roman goddess of plenty. Even
become thè earliest farmers. But we must recali that today, cereals stili supply 80% of our global food
thè same people would have previously been grow- needs. In terms of dry matter per year, we produce
ing very similar plants on an informai basis for a 1530 million tonnes of cereals compared with about
considerable time, and perhaps for many millennia. 400 million tonnes of ali thè other crops combined;
There is increasing evidence from archaeological including tubers, pulses, sugar cane, and thè vari-
analysis, some of it very recent, that people were ous fruits. It is especially noteworthy that, despite
informally cultivating wild plants, including sow- ali thè impressive developments in agriculture and
ing their seeds into tilled soil, long before these breeding over thè last twelve millennia, thè dozen-
plants evolved into thè sorts of domesticated crops or-so plant species that were originally chosen by
that we recognize today.21 During this new type of early Neolithic farmers remain our most important
manipulation by humans, thè plants would have dietary items to this day. This applies most particu-
experienced a subtly different environment com- larly to thè ancient crops from thè grass family,
pared to their previous 'wild' condition. Some of including thè cereals, wheat, rice, maize, barley,
thè plants would adapt well and flourish in thè new sorghum, millet, oats, and rye.26 These plants stili
human-imposed conditions, while others would provide about 60 to 80% of thè total protein and
not.22 Naturally, thè human gatherers would have calorie intake of people across thè world.27 As with
favoured those food plants that grew well and domesticated animals, therefore, only a tiny frac-
produced high yields under such conditions. This tion of thè potential riches of thè plant kingdom has
would have led to thè graduai, unconsCious ever been domesticated by humankind.
 E A R L Y H U M A N S O C I E T I E S AND T H E I R P L A N T S 9

These facts beg a number of important questions. after 50,000 BP, but new studies of fossil assem-
Why did people focus on this extremely small blages in Africa and Eurasia show that it is much
group of plants when thousands of other, equally older, possibly dating from before 100,000 BP.31
nutritious, species were also available? Was plant The prevailing view that cognitive modernity
breeding ever a conscious and deliberate process on arose in Africa and that such people spread across
thè part of thè early agrarians, or did it ali really just thè world during thè post-70,000 BP migrations has '
happen by chance? Is our repertoire of domesti- recently been challenged.32 In 2006, it was reported
cated crops so small because these selected species that shell beads dating from between 100,000 and
are uniquely amenable to domestication? If so, 135,000 BP had been apparently manufactured as
what are thè prospects for domesticating some of items of symbolic display. Pierced shells of thè
thè thousands of other potentially useful plants that marine gastropod, Nassarius gibbosulus were found
stili represent one of thè greatest untapped at two widely separated sites in modern Israel and
resources on thè planet? In thè coming chapters of Algeria.33 Both locations were inland, with thè
this book we will examine these questions in detail Algerian site being almost 200 kilometres from thè
and hopefully provide some of thè often surprising sea, implying that thè shells were valued suffi-
answers now emerging from some very exciting ciently to merit long-distance transport and were
areas of research, ranging from genetics and climat- possibly traded for other commodities. The
ology to archaeology.28 findings demonstrate that aspects of cognitively
modern behaviour were already developing in
Africa and thè Levant well before thè advent of
Human beginnings
fully anatomically modern humans. This implies
We will start our quest by looking at how modern that thè earliest Homo sapiens, who migrated from
humans arose as a distinct species and how their Africa well before 100,000 BP, may have had some
interaction with plants gradually became modified of thè advanced cognitive attributes previously
in thè face of localized and global climatic changes only ascribed to later forms of our species, such as
which continually modified their physical and bio- thè European Cro-Magnon cave painters after
logical environments (see Figure 1.4 for a summary 40,000 BP.34
of thè main processes). Humans originated in Over thè past two hundred millennia, as we now
Africa, where several species of thè genus Homo know from DNA evidence, there was a series of
evolved over thè past two million years and lived migrations from Africa that eventually reached
as omnivorous hunter-gatherers. As discussed in each of thè other inhabited continents, giving rise
Box 1.3, recent archaeological evidence suggests to ali existing populations of our species, Homo
that, from at least 100,000 BP, and possibly earlier, sapiens.35 One particular wave of African migrants,
there were groups of Homo sapiens in Africa and which left after 75,000 to 70,000 BP, seems to have
beyond that had many, and perhaps almost ali, of gradually supplanted existing groups of humans,
thè attributes and cognitive potential of modern including Homo erectus,36 Homo floresiensis,57 thè
people.29 So-called 'modern' attributes are implied Neanderthals,38 and previous waves of Homo sapi-
by findings of images in Middle Stone Age layers at ens,39 which had already spread across much of
thè Blombos Cave in South Africa that have been Eurasia.40 Today, there remains just a single species
dated to about 77,000 BP.30 The images predate thè of thè genus Homo, most members of which are
great migration of humans from Africa that gave rather closely related in genetic terms. Genetic
rise to thè modern populations of non-African evidence, from analysis of Y-chromosome (repre-
people. The early evolution of complex behaviour senting thè paternal lineage) and mitochondrial
in humans is also suggested by data from mortality DNA (representing thè maternal lineage), suggests
profiles of thè animals they hunted. The ability to that thè vast majority of contemporary humans is
select prime-age prey is indicative of a high level of descended from thè relatively small groups of
technological and behavioural sophistication. It migrants that started to leave Africa some 70
used to be thought that such behaviour only arose millennia ago.41 Those superficial differences that
10 P E O P L E AND PLANTS: ONE H U N D R E D MILLENNIA OF C O E V O L U T I O N

Box 1.3 Cognitive modernity

Cognitive modernity is thè suite of complex behaviours apparent that some so-called 'advanced' human attributes
and potentials that is supposedly present in modern can be latent in an individuai and may only become overtly
Homo sapiens, but absent in 'archaic' members of this expressed within a particular physical and/or cultural
and other species of thè genus Homo. It is stili often context. People not subject to these conditions may appear
assumed that so-called 'cognitively modern' humans to lack some attributes of cognitively modern humans,
arose relatively recently, probably between 50,000 and but stili possess thè potential to display such characters. -
40,000 BP, in a process epitomized by thè growing A notorious example is thè Victorian prejudice (stili
complexity of Eurasian technological and cultural artefacts occasionally alive today) that many so-called 'primitive'
and thè displacement of thè Neanderthals between peoples somehow lack thè full range of cognitive attributes
40,000and 28,000 BP (e.g. Klein and Edgar, 2002). of more technological cultures. In reality, such people have
Probably thè best-known examples of these 'advanced' ali thè latent potential of any other type of modern
artefacts are thè Eurasian cave paintings dating from human, but it was not adaptive for such traits to be
about 35,000 BP. These abstract or depictional images expressed in their particular culture. Such considerations
are generally agreed to provide evidence for thè types of make it especially challenging when deciding thè limits of
cognitive abilities often considered integrai to modern cognitive modernity in thè sense discussed here. Perhaps it
human behaviour. As described in thè main text, this view is better to accept that thè attributes of so-called cognitive
has been challenged over thè past decade foliowing thè modernity are part of a complex suite of physical and
discovery in Africa of much earlier human cultural artefacts, menta! changes that gradually arose over thè past
such as decorative jewellery and abstract representations >150,000 years in anatomically modern versions of Homo
that date back as far as 700,000 BP (see Gabora, 2007, sapiens and that some, but perhaps not ali, of these
for a recent review). characters may have been shared by other nominiti species
One should also be cautious in attempting to define (McBrearty and Brooks, 2000).
exactly what constitutes a 'modern' human. Such It is probably as invidious to try to date thè onset of
definitions are frequently used in a rather teleological human 'cognitive modernity' as it is to say when people
manner to build and interpret behavioural modeis of thè first began to employ agriculture. Rather than being
distant past. Of course, thè definition of a 'modern' human discrete and temporally defined events, both are arbitrary
also impinges on that elusive Holy Grail of philosophy: evolutionary processes with manifold causes, no
'what it is to be human'. Nere, one should beware of predetermined trajectories, and no defined end-points. For
falling into tempting traps such as thè essentialist example, David Harris succinctly describes 'An evolutionary
perspective of humanity, or universalist definitions of what continuum of people-plant interactions' (Harris, 1989,
constitutes a modern human (Gamble, 2003). Such efforts 2003). Several species of early African hunter-gathering
often founder on thè shoals of circular argumentation and hominids evolved complex social and cultural networks.
progressivist, teleological, accounts of human evolution. In They buried their dead and some of them produced
reality, thè suite of attributes that we currently consider representational art, as exemplified by sheii jeweliery, cave
characteristic of modern humans is ever changing, paintings, and bone sculptures. Could such people have
especially as we continue to discover more about animai developed agriculture over 80,000 years ago? The answer
behaviour and human biology. is quite possibiy 'yes', at least in prindple. But, as we will
For example, as discussed in Box 1.4, it is now apparent see in Box 3.2, in practice there were many addìtional
that thè Neanderthals may have shared many more prerequisites for agricuiture, such as dimatic stability and
attributes of cognitive modernity than previously believed, availability of suitable plant species, which were not in
including complex speech and aesthetic senses. It is also piace unti] many tens of millennia later.

do exist between people around thè world are due Because they are descended from relatively small
to thè action of a tiny number of genes. Some of groups of migrants, most non-Africans are genet-
these genes can alter visually prominent features, ically-speaking a rather uniform population.42
such as skin pigmentation or eye shape, but other- In contrast, sub-Saharan Africans, being a much
wise we are a very homogeneoùs species indeed. an older population, tend to be more genetically
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND THEIR PLANTS 11

diverse.43 This means that, notwithstanding their has been characterized by long spells of very cool
external appearance, thè average Japanese person conditions, punctuated by shorter periods of
is likely to be rnuch more closely related to an milder weather.50
Icelander or Peruvian than thè average Namibian is Soon after anatomically modern groups of Homo
related to a typical Nigerian. Modern research sapiens appeared in Africa, there was a relatively
makes it quite clear that there is no genetic basis for warm period, called thè Eemian interglacial,
so-called 'racial' differences between people. There between 130,000 and 110,000 BP, and some popula-
is no such thing as an Asiatic or an Aryan race; stili tions emigrated to thè Levant during this period.51
less is there an English, Welsh, or French race in any After 110,000 BP, thè global climate became cooler,
genetically meaningful respect.44 This means that although at first this may not have been so marked
concepts of 'purity' with regard to our ethnicity or in much of Africa (Figures 1.1B and 1.2). The start of
genetic endowment45 have absolutely no basis in what many believe to be thè last great human emi-
terms of biology.46 In contrast to thè culturally con- gration from Africa after 75,000 BP52 coincided with
venient nineteenth century ideas of biologically a glacial period, often called thè Ice Age, when thè
determined racial identities, a more recent synthe- world was much colder and drier than today.53
sis of knowledge across disciplines, including Plant communities respond rapidly to relatively
archaeology, climatology, geology, molecular genet- small climatic shifts, so thè large climatic changes of
ics, linguistics, physical and social anthropology, thè Upper Palaeolithic caused huge alterations in
and even parasitology, supports a much more global vegetation patterns.54 Thick ice sheets cov-
inclusive view of human interrelatedness.47 ered most of northern Europe and Canada, while
further south lush forests were replaced by prairie-
like grassland. From 75,000 to 12,000 BP, there was
Chinate, migration, and food an extended period of particularly unstable climatic
conditions covering thè period when modern
Climatic change and smali-scale migrations
humans became dispersed across much of thè
Despite our surprisingly high degree of genetic world (Figures 1.2 and 1.3A). After 75,000 BP,
interrelatedness, we humans are a particularly H. sapiens populations in thè Levant either died out
adaptable and culturally diverse species. This or migrated, possibly due to competition from
adaptability has been tested many times over thè migrating Neanderthals retreating from thè ice-
past hundred millennia, which has been, and bound continent of Europe. These Neanderthals
potentially stili is, a period of great variation and became thè sole human occupants of thè Levant
sudden change in thè global climate.48 The ever- until thè return of new groups of H. sapiens at
changing locai and global weather patterns have around 45,000 BP.
caused huge fluctuations in rainfall, temperature, During this key period of human development,
and sea level, with dramatic consequences for thè climate was much less stable than it has been
thè plant and animai life upon which emerging during thè relatively congenial Holocene Era that
humanity depended. Thanks to evidence from ice- spans thè past twelve millennia, and in which
core samples, pollen records, fossil distributions, we are stili living. Moreover, during thè last
isotope abundances, and other sources, we now 60,000 years, there have been at least 30 particularly
have a pretty fair understanding of thè extent severe climatic excursions that affected thè entire
and consequences of climatic changes over thè global System. These excursions are referred to
past few million years, and especially thè last either as 'Heinrich events' or 'Dansgaard-Oeschger '
150,000 years.49 As shown in Figure 1.1, climatic events, and correspond respectively to sudden
oscillations increased markedly in amplitude about cooling and warming periods. Heinrich events are
three million years ago, with thè last one million named after climatologist Hartmut Heinrich, who
years being an especially variable period. The noted drastic fluctuations in parameters such as
last 450,000 years, which covers thè emergence of temperature, atmospheric CO2 concentration, rain-
hominids such as Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, fall patterns, and sea level.55 Although classical
12 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE H U N D R E D MILLENNIA OF C O E V O L U T I O N

^1 "fjfjT *" T j T j "TT ~T* '

w ir

-6
u
M g

-8
_] 1_

0.5 1.5 2.5 3 3.5 4.5 5 5.5

Million years BP
(B)

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Thousand years BP
Figure 1.1 Climatic fluctuations over thè past five million years. (A) Climate change over thè last five million years showing thè transition to
much cooler and more variable conditions about three million years ago. Carbonate (per mil)—thè units 'per mil' are parts per thousand
difference from thè isotope ratio of thè reference standard. (B) Climate change over thè last 450,000 years showing a series of brief warm spells
interspersed with longer, cooler periods. Note that cooling tends to be graduai whereas rewarming is often very rapid. Both data sets are from
Vostok ice and sediment cores in Antarctica. Figure 1.1 A data from Lisiecki and Raymo (2005) as redrawn by RA Rhode, available online via
Wikimedia Commons at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/lmage:Five_Myr_Climate_Change.png. Figure 1.1B data from Petit et al, (1999)
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/vostok_data.html. Available online via Wikimedia Commons at:
http://en.wikipedia.Org/wiki/lmage:Vostok-ice-core-petit.png

Heinrich events have only been described between two geologists who first described thern.56 There
about 60,000 and 17,000 BP, it is likely that similar were at least 23 Dansgaard-Oeschger warming
events have occurred before and since this period. events between 110,000 and 23,000 BP, each involv-
Indeed, thè Younger Dryas Interval of 12,800 to ing an initial rapid increase in average temperature,
11,600 BP, which we will examine at length in normally over a few decades or less, followed by a
Chapter 3, was probably a Heinrich-like event. much more graduai and extended period of cool-
Dansgaard-Oeschger events are named after thè ing.57 Therefore, although thè Palaeolithic Era was
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND THEIR PLANTS 13

may well involve periodic fluctuations in solar

activity and perturbations in thè earth's orbit that
lead to alterations in global climatic systems, such
as Oceanie circulation, glaciation, and rainfall pat-
terns.61 It is possible that thè series of human migra-
tions out of Africa during thè Late Pleistocene was
at least partially related to ecological disruption in
their home areas and/or thè opening up of new
areas for colonization due to various forms of
climatic change.62
-2Lx
100,000 300,000 500,000 700,000
It was during this particularly changeable period
Years BP that new human migrants from Africa colonized
much of thè world (Figure 1.4).63 By 67,000 BP these
Figure 1.2 Correlation of atmospheric C02 levels (dotted line) with people had reached thè Pacific shores of Eastern
proxy temperature data (solid line) over thè past 700,000 years. Three
Asia; Australia was probably settled by several
important condusions can be derived from this figure: (1) average
global temperatures are highly correlated with atmospheric C02
waves of migrants from 60,000 to 40,000 BP; and
concentrations; (2) C02 levels have fluctuated greatly throughout thè they had reached Europe by 40,000 BP. This latter
million-year history of Homo sapiens; and (3) C02 levels reached a migration coincided with thè demise of thè
low point during thè depths of thè most recent Ice Age, about indigenous Neanderthal species of humans, who
17,000 years ago (marked 'X' on graph), after which they rose rapidly
may have been unable to compete technologically
as thè world rewarmed up and vegetation recovered (marked T on
graph. Image produced by Leland Mclnnes and available online via
and/or reproductively with thè new African immi-
Wikimedia Commons at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lmage:Co2- grants (Box 1.4).64 A final series of migrations took
temperature-plot.png from originai data of Jouzel et al. 2004, these dynamic people, via northern Asia, across
Siegenthaler ef al. 2005, and Barnola Beringia into North America at about 25,000 BP,
et al. 2005 from originai data publidy available at NOAA
ultimately settling throughout South America by
(http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov).
13,000 BP.65 Beringia was thè 1600-kilometre-long
land bridge linking America with Eurasia before its
appreciably cooler and drier than now, there were most recent inundation e. 11,000 to 10,500 BP.
several sudden, dramatic oscillations leading to Beringia existed for many millennia prior to
warmer periods of several centuries or more, plus 35,000 BP, covering a vast area from thè Kolyma
spells of much wetter weather (Figure 1.3A).58 River in thè Russian Far East to thè Mackenzie
Research over thè past decade, as summarized in River in thè Northwest Territories of Canada. It was
Figures 1.1,1.2, and 1.3, has led to a new paradigm reformed during thè period 24,000 to 12,000 BP 66
of abrupt climatic changes, often over a timescale of and people were probably free to move between
a few decades or centuries, rather than over many Eurasia and America until about 10,500 BP.67
millennia, as was thè traditional view.59 These sud- It is worth pointing out here that these transcon-
den climatic events led in turn to often drastic tinental journeys were not necessarily epic treks of
changes in global geophysical and ecological condi- mass migration involving tens of thousands of
tions that affected life throughout thè planet. people of thè sort that occurred during thè well-
Evidence from Greenland and Antarctic ice core known Volkerwanderung at thè end of thè Western
data, and other sources, suggests that many of these Roman Empire.68 For example recent mitochondrial
drastic warming and cooling events happened very DNA data suggest that thè number of founder
quickly indeed, sometimes within a single year.60 members in thè originai group of African migrants,
Therefore, what was previously characterized as from whom most of today's five billion non-
simply thè 'Ice Age' is now known to have been a Africans are descended, may have been as low
much more complex period with frequent and as 600 women.69 While there may have been addi-
rapid climatic reversals. The ultimate causes of tional women in this group, thè genetic evidence
these climatic shifts are stili controversial, but they shows that none of them left any descendents that
14 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE HUNDRED M I L L E N N I A OF C O E V O L U T I O N

(A)

-35
U

1
OJ

1-45

-55

20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000

Years BP

(B) 0.3

I
O)

0.1 -

11,590 11,690 12,860 12,960 14,620 14,720

Years BP
Figure 1.3 Climatic changes over thè past 100,000 years. (A) Temperature record for centrai Greenland over thè last 100,000 years. The large
excursion at thè Younger Dryas Interval (X), and thè smaller temperature oscillations at about 8200 years (Y) and 4200 years ago (Z) are merely
thè most recent in a long sequence of such abrupt temperature fluctuations. Changes in materials from beyond Greenland trapped in thè ice
cores, including dust and methane, demonstrate that just as for thè Younger Dryas and 8200 BP events, thè earlier events shown in Figures 1.1
and 1.2 also affected much of thè globai climate. Graphs are based on Cuffey and Clow (1997) from originai data of Grootes and Stuiver (1997).
(B) Ice accumulation record for centrai Greenland over thè last 15,000 years as a proxy measurement of temperature. Note thè very sudden
warming transitions between thè relatively cold/arid conditions of thè Oldest and Younger Dryas Intervals and thè warm/moist conditions of thè
B0lling-Aller0d and Holocene peripds. These centrasi with thè more graduai cooling trend during thè B0lling-Aller0d period. As shown on thè
expanded lower scales, most of thè warming at thè end of thè Younger Dryas occurred over as little as 20 years, between e. 11,640 and
7 7,620 BP, with an equally rapid rewarming at thè end of thè Oldest Dryas after 14,680 BP, Modified from Alley et al. (1993),
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND THEIR PLANTS 15

are alive today. A similar genette analysis of thè descendents of these other groups appear to
thè descendents of thè Amerind speakers who have survived to thè present day.
travelled across thè Bering land bridge shows that The practical consequence of these very recent
thè originai ancestral founder group may nave genette findings is that we no longer need to think
numbered fewer than 80 individuate.70 It was this in terms of humans moving out to populate thè,
tiny group of people that gave rise to thè most world in a small series of epic mass migrations. The
of thè millions of North- and South-American emerging paradigm is rather of many slow jour-
Indians. Given thè extremely small size of this neys by small bands of a few score people. Such
founder population, it is possible that there were journeys need not have been true migrations pre-
many other bands that had also attempted such cipitated by some sort of dramatic crisis. A single
journeys, and some of them may have even settled band might have simply extended its foraging
in parts of thè Americas. However, few, if any, of range because of locai resource limitations or

HOLOCENE
STABLE PERIOD
•4 >•

( OLIMAIE >
\^^^^-\^^s~*~^^
VERY EEMIAN
COLO INTERGLACIAL LGM ^ _^
HYPERVARIABLE PERIOD "^ e Cities
NIIIN MIIII-4-
ARID WARM PERIOD GENERALLY COLD/ARID BUT FREQUENT DRASTIC SfflFTS ' -4-Potteiy -
PERIOD •^— Farming -
•^— Sedentism -
• Cereal processing -
Grinding Tools -
Small Stone Tools •
Chipped Stone Tools

Evolution of cognative modernity

Jewellery Artwork Cave painting
'Out of Africa' migrations Global colonisation

140 80 60 40 20 15 10
Thousand years BP

Figure 1.4 Technosocial and dimatic contexts of human evolution. This period, which spans thè Late Pleistocene and Holocene Eras, witnessed
thè most recent global migration of fully modern Homo sapiens from Africa and thè demise of other species of Homo, including H. erectus and
thè Neanderthals. Homo sapiens developed complex technologies for thè acquisition and manipulation of foods, ranging from cereal grains to
caribou, as well as aesthetic sensibilities and skills that led to manufacture of Jewellery and artwork. But humans of thè Late Pleistocene were
faced with a particularly variable dimate that largely precluded thè use of farming as an effective food-winning strategy. After e. 12,000 BP, thè
exceptionally stable, warm, and moist conditions of thè Holocene stable period (albeit punctuated by several cooler, arid interludes, as arrowed)
favoured thè spread of several domestication-friendly plant species and their subsequent exploitation via agriculture in many parts of thè world.
C, Chalcolithic Age; B, Bronze Age; I, Iron Age; LGM, Last Glacial Maximum; YD, Younger Dryas Interval; 8.2, 8200 BP cool/arid event; 5.2, 5200 BP
cool/arid event; 4.2, 4200 BP cool/arid event; LIA, Little Ice Age.
16 P E O P L E AND P L A N T S : ONE H U N D R E D M I L L E N N I A OF C O E V O L U T I O N

Box 1.4 Cou!d thè Neanderthals have become farmers?

Although thè Neanderthals probably died out Did they have thè right tools?
soon after 30,000 BP, is it conceivable that they could
One of thè interesting aspects of thè eventual
have developed agricolture, with ali thè technocultural
development of agriculture in thè Near East is that it
consequences that this implies? This topic relates to other
did not depend on thè invention of a new suite of tools.
key issues such as cognitive modernity (Box 1.3),
People had been using sickles and grinding tools in non-
determinism (Box 3.1), and thè prerequisites for
agricultural contexts since at least 50,000 BP, while flint
agricolture (Box 3.2).
adzes and hoes were developed as woodworking tools by
Natufian hunter-gatherers many thousands of years before
Were they clever enough? they were adapted for use in farming (Cauvin, 2000).
Farming then proceeded successfully for about four
As discussed in Box 1.3, it seems likely that a wide
miilennia before thè invention of thè first agriculture-
range of Middle Palaeolithic human populations
specific technoiogies, such as ploughs and animai traction.
possessed many attributes of cognitive modernity,
Neanderthals were able to use such complex tools but may
including more complex forms of social structure, art,
have failed to invent technoiogies, such as food Storage
and tools. Can thè Neanderthals be included in this
and improved clothing, quickly enough to adapt to thè
group? Quite possibly. For example thè discovery of a
highly variable climate after 42,000 BP (Figure 1.3) (Bar-
H, sapiens-\\ke hyoid bone on a Neanderthal skeleton
Yosef, 2000; Henry, 2003).
suggests that Neanderthals were fully capable of
compiex speech (Arensburg et al., 1990; Bar-Yosef et al.,
1992). It is now believed that Neanderthals were also Why did they die out?
capable of sophisticated technocultural activities The Neanderthals of thè Near East were probably thè only
requiring advanced cognitive capacities, making them population of their species that knew enough about -
little different from modern human foragers (Henry, 2003; cereals to develop agriculture, but this outlying group died
Zilhào et al., 2006). out or left thè region by 38,000 BP. The larger group of
European Neanderthals persisted for another 10,000 years
Were thè right plants available? but eventually succumbed to higher mortality rates than
H. sapiens, and probably also failed to innovate technically.
The Neanderthals lived until about 38,000 BP in thè By this time, 40% of Neanderthals died before adulthood
Near East and 28,000 BP in southern Europe (Finlayson and fewer than 10% survived beyond thè age of 40
et al., 2006; Jiménez-Espejo ef al., 2007; Finlayson and (Trinkaus and Thompson, 1987). Competing (but not
Carrión, 2007). While normally portrayed as hunters necessarily warring) groups of better-equipped H. sapiens
with a primarily animai diet, some Neanderthal only needed a 1-2% iower mortality rate to have out-bred
populations living in thè Levant at about 50,000 BP Neanderthals, resulting in their extinction in as little as 30
enjoyed a surprisingly plant-rich diet (Henry, 2003). These generations, or less than a single millennium (Zubrow,
people ate wild cereals, legumes, nuts, and fruits as 1989).
supplements to their animai diet. Therefore, like other
humans of thè perìod, Neanderthals would have been
Neanderthal farmers?
familiar with such plants.
Some Neanderthals might have had sufficient intelligence
and botanica! knowledge to become farmers. Had they
Was thè physicai environment suitable?
survived thè various crises of 40,000-28,000 BP, it is quite
For much of thè Neanderthal period, thè Levantine possible that a few groups of Neanderthals could have
climate was moister than today and game was eventually become farmers eighteen miilennia later, when
sufficiently abundant to make plants a marginai dietary agriculture eventually became an adaptive strategy of food
supplement. In Europe, thè dimate was much cooler and production in many parts of thè world. Whether such
wild cereal stands were absent. In both cases, thè putative Neanderthai farmers would have been tolerated
environment militated against thè need to exploit plants by neighbouring groups of H. sapiens is quite another
more intensively. matter....
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND T H E I R P L A N T S 17

simply to follow a charismatic leader, to whom they available for events in thè former region, which was
would have been bound by strong social and/or eventually to be thè site of wheat and barley domes-
kinship ties. Over a period of centuries thè descend- tication. We will come back to review matters in thè
ents of this srnall band might become separated by other two regions, which were eventually to give
many hundreds of kilometres from neighbouring rise to rice, maize, and squash crops, in Chapters 6,
groups, as they continued to forage in search of an 8, and 11.
improved home range. The vast majority of such
groups probably carne to grief in various ways,
Moving down thè food chain
leaving thè few successful 'migrants' to become thè
genette founders of populations that would eventu- During thè Upper Palaeolithic Era (e. 50,000-
ally be numbered in thè tens of millions. So, thè 11,500 BP) human populations in thè Mediterranean
emerging picture is that, from 75,000 BP, relatively Basin and Near East gradually changed their
small groups of people across thè world were hunting patterns. In particular, archaeological
gradually on thè move. One of thè major factors evidence has revealed that people began to hunt
responsible for these minimigrations was probably much smaller animals, switching from thè likes of
thè changeability of thè climate, which in turn deer and gazelle to rabbits and birds.74 This shift in
altered thè availability of plants and animals upon prey preferences is unlikely to have been voluntary
which thè people depended. For example a transi- because thè larger species would have been pre-
tion between glacial conditions to present day ferred in terms of thè cost/benefit ratio of hunting
warmth could occur within a single decade or even them versus thè amount of nutrition and other
less, that is well within thè lifetime of many of thè resources (such as skin, fur, and bone for tools or
people who experienced these rapid shifts in jewellery) obtained from them. The implication
weather patterns.71 is that something was causing a decline in thè
The new human migrants from Africa proved to numbers of larger prey animals. This selective pop-
be extremely adaptable to thè series of world-wide ulation decline was probably due to a combination
climatic fluctuations that would have repeatedly of environmental and biotic factors. Such factors
and drastically affected thè locai fauna and flora. would have included, but were certainly not
This resilience in thè face of climate change and its limited to, climate change and over-hunting by
many consequences may have played a key part humans. It seems, therefore, that thè people in
in thè ability of thè African immigrants to out- this region of Eurasia were gradually confronted
compete thè many older, indigenous groups of with a shortage of larger prey species and so began
humans across thè world, including thè remnant to exploit smaller animals, such as birds, small
populations of H. erectus, which were stili distrib- mammals, and tortoises.75
uted throughout Southeast Asia, thè Neanderthals, Smaller prey animals would have been harder to
who were to be found throughout Europe, and thè catch and less rewarding than larger prey, and this
so-called archaic H. sapiens.72 These older human may have resulted in shortages in thè food supply.
communities were gradually marginalized, their Earlier in thè Upper Palaeolithic, human foragers
populations declined, and they eventually became had seldom bothered with such paltry and uneco-
extinct (see Box 1.4).73 Meanwhile, by about nomic prey. This was thè first of several steps down
50,000 BP, thè descendents of those rather more thè food chain that were made by these Palaeolithic
successful African migrants had spread as far as people. As population pressures grew, and even
western Asia and thè Mediterranean Basin where thè smaller prey animals became ever scarcer, thè
they were soon faced by a new set of challenges. In next step was to use plants of ali kinds as an increas-
thè remainder of this Chapter and thè next we will ingly prominent dietary component. These dietary
focus mainly on thè events in this region from about shifts would have occurred in localized areas where
50,000 until 15,000 BP. The reason for concentrating thè previously preferred prey had become scarcer
on western Eurasia, rather than east Asia or due to environmental and/or anthropogenic
Mesoamerica, is that there is far more evidence factors. Given that thè Upper-Middle Palaeolithic
18 PEOPLE AND PLANTS: ONE H U N D R E D MILLENNIA OF C O E V O L U T I O N

was a particularly volatile climatic period, it is likely food chain, from being eaters of small animals to
that human populations constantly had to adapt becòming mainly herbivores. A significant feature
and modify their dietary and resource-gathering of this relatively rapid movement across trophic
strategies.76 The overall trend in western Eurasia levels,81 which is a highly unusual ecological phe-
was towards thè hunting of smaller animai prey and nomenon, is that lower trophic levels can support
an increased gathering of plant resources of ali larger populations. Hence, there are more plants
kinds. (in terms of biomass) than herbivores, and more
Hominids had probably always been omnivo- herbivores than carnivores, while thè climax
rous to some extent, ever since their divergence carnivores at thè top of thè food chain have thè
from other anthropoid apes about four million smallest populations of ali. By moving down sev-
years ago. Por example, hominids developed thick- eral trophic levels, humans were able to increase
ened dentai enamel and jaws, and larger, flatter their populations, albeit at thè expense of higher
teeth that allowed them to cope with a more energy expenditure in terms of food collection and
varied diet than other apes.77 Their dietary range processing. Their dietary flexibility gave humans a
was further enhanced by cultural innovations powerful tool, enabling them to adapt repeatedly to
that favoured hunting, such as complex social climatic changes and associated demographic
networks, and thè use of fire, tools, weapons, changes in prey populations. It has also enabled
and other technologies.78 By thè early Upper them to migrate into a huge diversity of new eco-
Palaeolithic, many human populations exploited logical zones that He well beyond their African
large protein-rich prey as a major component of homeland. It was their ecological malleability that
their diet. In this respect, these people occupied thè gave people thè capacity to build up their own
ecological niche of climax carnivores, such as populations, even as other species increased or
wolves and thè larger cats. But there was a cruciai declined in numbers during thè ever-shifting
difference between people and true carnivores. The conditions of thè Palaeolithic period.82 For example
more successful climax carnivores, especially thè no other primates were able to move across from a
large cats, have specialized to such a degree that diet based on forest fruits to steppe species such as
they now find it very difficult to move away from cereals, or to leave Africa, in thè way that humans
this particular ecological niche, that is they are have.83
obligate carnivores. Their sharp canine teeth, Broadly similar shifts down thè food chain
superbly equipped as they are for ripping and towards such lower-ranking (both nutritionally and
tearing of relatively soft animai tissues, are poorly in terms of energy required to acquire them) food
equipped to deal with any form of plant diet. Just resources as wild grasses have recently been docu-
try to imagine a lion or tiger trying to subsist on a mented in late Palaeolithic northern China.84 In this
diet of cereals and pulses. In contrast, humans are case it was wild millets that were exploited by
facultative carnivores who have retained a more human foragers as other more desirable food
generalist form of physiology and dentition.79 So, sources became scare due to cooling and aridifica-
fortunately for thè future of H. sapiens, even during tion. These and similar developments elsewhere in
their time as specialist carnivores, they never lost thè world during thè late Palaeolithic set thè scene
their immense dietary flexibility. This meant that for thè much more extensive use of cereals, from
they were able to switch to alternative food sources 23,000 to 13,000 BP, and led to thè first experiments
whenever thè need arose, as it did constantly in plant cultivation. This special ecological flexibil-
during our ever-shifting climatic history. ity that modern humans possess is largely due to a
The Middle-Upper Palaeolithic Era was marked physiological and behavioural ability to adapt their
by waves of expansion and migration from thè diet and lifestyle according to what is available at
Near Eastern end of thè Mediterranean Basin thè time. Although we are unable to digest certain
towards thè west.80 By thè end of thè Palaeolithic, complex organic polymers such as cellulose, lignin,
about 12,000 to 10,000 BP, Mediterranean/Near or chitin,85 we are stili able to eat almost anything
Eastern humans had moved even further down thè else, from thè tìny seeds and large fruits of plants to
 EARLY HUMAN S O C I E T I E S AND T H E I R PLANTS 19

thè flesh of ali animals from fish to mammoths. Our with extensive snow cover for much of thè year in
flexible genetics has also allowed some modern temperate regions, coupled with a drier and more
human populations to develop an ability to use arid climate with appreciably lower sea levels than
milk if it is available in abundance, but not to today. Obviously, such a drastic climatic change
develop this ability if it is not required. Technology had an enormous impact on thè type and distribu-
and custom have also played important roles in tion of animals and plants throughout thè world. In
food exploitation. Por example many seeds and turn, this meant that human populations in many
tubers are poisonous but can be rendered safe by parts of thè world could either try to adapt to thè
thè appropriate treatment, such as prolonged soak- new conditions, migrate away from thè worst
ing in water and/or extensive cooking. Such affected areas, or face thè oblivion that was thè fate
manipulations can also alter thè taste, nutritional of many other animai and plant species. As in pre-
quality, and even Storage potential of a foodstuff.86 vious ice ages, many temperate and subtropical
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to assess if, and to forests died out and were replaced by grasses,
what extent, a given group of people used such including members of thè cerea! family. Across vast
methods to improve their food, so thè mere pres- regions of thè world, only a few relict woodlands
ence of seed remains at a site will not necessarily survived as isolated refugia, surrounded by huge
give thè full picture of how effectively thè seed was expanses of treeless, dry grassland. In some areas,
exploited. these prairie-like ecosystems supported large
The dietary resilience of many late-Palaeolithic populations of grassy plants that had somewhat
populations was called upon when thè world larger-than-average starchy seeds. These plants
entered what is called thè 'Last Glacial Maximum', were to change thè course of human development:
from 25,000 to 15,000 BP.87 As its name implies, thè they were, of course, what we now refer to as
Last Glacial Maximum was a full-blown ice age thè cereals.88