The Neolithic Demographic Transition and Its Consequences

ISBN-13: 9789048179060 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 542 str.

Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel; Ofer Bar-Yosef

Opis

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming the Neolithic Revolution was one of the most signi cant cultural processes in human history that forever changed the face of humanity. Natu an communities (15,100 12,000Cal BP) (all dates in this chapter are calibrated before present) planted the seeds of change, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) (ca. 12,000 ca. 8,350Cal BP) people, were the rst to establish farming communities. The revolution was not fully realized until quite late in the PPN and later in the Pottery Neolithic (PN) period. We would like to ask some questions and comment on a few aspects emphas- ing the linkage between biological and cultural developments during the Neolithic Revolution. The biological issues addressed in this chapter are as follows: x Is there a demographic change from the Natu an to the Neolithic? x Is there a change in the overall health of the Neolithic populations compared to the Natu an? x Is there a change in the diet and how is it expressed? x Is there a change in the physical burden/stress people had to bear with? x Is there a change in intra- and inter-community rates of violent encounters? From the cultural perspective the leading questions will be: x What was the change in the economy and when was it fully realized? x Is there a change in settlement patterns and site nature and organization from Natu an to Neolithic? x Is there a change in human activities and division of labor?"

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"Bocquet-Appel and Bar-Yosef have organized and produced a superb thematic volume that provides a wide variety of applications and perspectives on the NDT" James T. Watson, University of Arizona

"The main strength of this volume is its clear focus on the NDT and related processes. ... well suitable ... to a readership of advanced undergraduates, postgraduate students in the social sciences and to academics from a wide range of disciplines who are interested in the social, economic and demographic facets of the 'Neolithic Revolution'. ... a highly recommended volume which highlights how interdisciplinary approaches can provide new insight into the study of the Neolithic transition and the great potential of thematic scientific discourse." (Ron Pinhasi, Human Ecology, Vol. 37 (5), October, 2009)

"The collected papers address the demographic process associated with the transition from a hunter-gatherer economy to an agricultural economy in the Neolithic. ... the papers are stimulating, informative and address a myriad of topics associated with population growth, providing food for thought for historians, archaeologists and anthropologists as well as demographers. ... provide an extremely stimulating discussion of the implications of the NDT and its consequences, with all due caution and a number of flags raised about a precocious global application." (Helena Fracchia, Canadian Studies in Population, Vol. 37 (3-4), Fall/Winter, 2010)

Spis treści

Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel, Ofer Bar-Yosef: Introduction : Demographic prehistory at the time of globalization,- Part 1: Demographic and Economic Dimensions of the NDT: Peter Bellwood and Marc Oxenham: The expansions of farming societies and the role of the Neolithic demographic transition,- Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel: Questions concerning the pattern of the Neolithic demographic transition inferred from cemetery data,- Emma Guerrero et al: The signal of the Neolithic demographic transition in the Levant,- Timothy A. Kohler and Matt Glaude: The Nature and Timing of the Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest,- Richard G. Lesure: The Neolithic Demographic Transition in Mesoamerica? Larger Implications of the Strategy of Relative Chronology,- Mehmet Özdogan: Demographic crisis or a shift of population due to a crisis. An Overview on Changes in Demographic Composition During the Westward Expansion of the Neolithic Way of Life,- Jean-Denis Vigne: Zooarchaeological aspects of the Neolithic diet transition in the near east and europe, and their putative relationships with the Neolithic demographic transition,- Jérome Dubouloz: Impacts of the Neolithic demographic transition on linear pottery culture settlement Part 2: Settlement and Village Practices: Goring-Morris Adrian Nigel & Belfer-Cohen, A: Developments in Near Eastern residential architecture across the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic Transition,- Ian Kuijt: Demography and storage systems during the southern Levantine Neolithic demographic transition,- Stephen Shennan: Population processes and their consequences in Neolithic Central Europe Part 3: Community Size and Social Organization,- Matthew Bandy: Global patterns of early village development,- Robert D. Drennan and Christian E. Peterson: Centralized communities, population, and social complexity after sedentarization,- Gary O. Rollefson: Charming Lives: Human and Animal Figurines in the Late Epipaleolithic and EarlyNeolithic Periods in the Greater Levant and Eastern Anatolia Part 4: Population Growth and Health,- Richard H. Wilshusen and Elizabeth M. Perry: Evaluating the Emergence of Early Villages in the North American Southwest in Light of the Proposed Neolithic Demographic Transition),- Israel Hershkovitz, Avi Gopher: 'Start the Revolution Without Me': Biological and Cultural Aspects of the 'Neolithic Revolution' in the Southern Levant,- Mark Nathan Cohen: Implications of the NDT for World Wide Health and Mortality in Prehistory.,- Ursula Wittwer-Backhofen et N. Tomo: From Health to Civilization stress? In search for traces of a health transition during the early Neolithic in Europe

Blurb

Using cemetery data, it has been possible to identify the signature of a previously unknown demographic process associated with the transition from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural economy.  Characterized by a dramatic increase in the birth rate, and consequently of the population growth rate, over a period of less than a millennium following the transition to agriculture, this global demographic process has been termed the Neolithic Demographic Transition (NDT). The NDT signature has so far been detected in Europe, North America, Mesoamerica and South America.

The methodological innovation which has made possible the identification of the NDT is the use of a relative chronology, fixed to the local onset of the Neolithic. That is, events are considered not in terms of their absolute calendar dates, but rather in terms of their relation to the local date of the transition to agriculture.  This volume presents and discusses the consequences and implications of the NDT on a global scale. Topics include:

• The causes of the NDT at its onset;
• Indicators of economic intensification as related to the NDT;
• Settlement and village practices associated with the pace of the NDT;
• The emergence of social practices associated with larger population concentrations;
• The effects of increased population density on human health.