Settling Down: Making of Mankind Series

Things to Notice & Ponder

 

1. The ways-of-life of hunter-gatherers and domesticators of plants and animals contrast in several ways. List a few of these that are brought out in the comparison between Upper Paleolithic SW France and Neolithic Levant.

2. Why might population begin growing rapidly among Neolithic societies, where hunter-gatherers in the same area experienced slower growth? (This is extremely important.)

3. What was a favored location for early Neolithic sites in the Levant, and why?

4. What is a "rachis" and why might there be an automatic selection from a brittle towards a tough rachis in a society that is beginning the domestication process?

5. Note excavator of Hayonim: that is Ofer Bar-Yosef, whom you saw in the videos on the fate of the Neanderthals.

6. Terms/places to know/understand: Fertile Crescent, Natufian, sickle sheen, Levant, & Jericho.

7. Last few minutes of movie, on Mosely's work in Peru, are for comparison only; enjoy.

 

Syllabus