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Preface
- University Press of Florida
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Preface With some exceptions for East Asian agricultural populations (Pietrusewsky and Douglas 2001; Oxenham, Thuy, and Cuong 2005; Oxenham and Tayles 2006; Domett and Tayles 2007), research has repeatedly demonstrated that reliance on agriculture in prehistory generally had negative impacts on human populations (Cohen 1977, 1984; Larsen 1995; Lambert 2000; Steckel and Rose 2002; Cohen and Crane-Kramer 2007). Agricultural populations in general suffer from an unhealthy reduction in dietary diversity as they begin to rely on one or two staple crops for the majority of their energy intake. This tendency to specialize also can lead to more frequent food shortages when crops fail due to climate, pestilence , or disease. In populations that emphasize agricultural activities for subsistence, we generally find high pressure demographic situations and high morbidity rates. Particularly in New World prehistory, largescale dependence on maize agriculture has become synonymous with increasing population density at higher reproductive cost for women (high fertility and high infant mortality), nutritional deficiencies, increases in developmental stress episodes, declines in health status, increased consumption of cariogenic and phytate-laden cereals that promote dental diseases, increased prevalence of socio-sanitation problems, increased parasite load, more communicable and degenerative diseases, and sometimes increased rates of interpersonal violence. Because agriculture often comes at a cost for human populations, the widespread adoption of agriculture as a principle means of subsistence is a conundrum and its complexities warrant serious study. Contrary to popular perceptions, the transition to agriculture was not a simple “Neolithic Revolution” in which human populations began an inexorable march toward agricultural production 10,000 years ago, leaving behind the “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short” lifestyles of their hunting xiv · Preface and gathering ancestors (Hobbes and Macpherson 1968). Humans have a complex relationship with their environment and there are multiple pathways that have led to domestication of plants and animals (Harris and Childe 1992; Smith and Winterhalder 1992; Kennett and Winterhalder 2006). It is a process that has occurred many times in human prehistory, but it is not inevitable, progressive, or better than other lifeways. There is variation in how much and how fast human communities commit to food production; many societies have retained a mixed economy for hundreds of years after adopting agriculture. Others have adopted agricultural production as a principle mode of subsistence and then reversed course and abandoned their fields in favor of a lifestyle better suited to uncertainty or changing circumstances. An example of the latter situation is found in peninsular India during the second millennium b.c. This book seeks to understand what changed between 1400 and 700 b.c. that led to the abandonment of agriculture and eventually to the abandonment of settled life in this region for hundreds of years. I will examine hypotheses about climate and culture change in prehistoric India with the goal of understanding how these changes affected health in the human population. For centuries, Deccan Chalcolithic people farmed drought-resistant barley and wheat. They raised cattle, sheep, and goats. They maintained hunting and foraging traditions and utilized the resources gathered from local lakes and forest habitats for subsistence, construction, and fuel. About 1000 b.c., the majority of these villages were deserted. Inamgaon persisted for 300 years. Clearly lifestyles changed at Inamgaon after agriculture was abandoned . This book seeks to characterize this transition and to evaluate competing hypotheses about climate, culture, and subsistence changes during the Deccan Chalcolithic period using recent paleoclimate reconstructions , the archaeological record, and the human skeletal material as my sources of evidence. Through a comparison of demographic parameters and evidence for growth disruption in infants and children at three sites (Inamgaon, Nevasa, and Daimabad), I will infer the effects of environmental change on Chalcolithic people and characterize the circumstances in which villages were abandoned during the time known as the Early Jorwe phase. I will also seek to understand how it was that the people of Inamgaon persisted longer, into the Late Jorwe phase. And finally , I hope to understand something about the conditions in which they too abandoned their village. [3.81.30.41] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:38 GMT) Preface · xv Questions about human health and interactions with the environment three or four thousand years ago in India are interesting from an academic standpoint, but the insights we gain into the past can also be relevant in a contemporary context as we face the consequences of continued population growth, unsustainable lifestyles, degradation of local environments, and large-scale climate changes. It is particularly interesting to study...