Anth, 6 Feb 2002

[adric]

In addition to the long list of reasons my life sucks this week, I was late to class and my brain is still thawing from the cold. Only 9 more shopping days until Half-Price Chocolate Day!



More on Sedentary (Neolithic) life:

plants

• cereal grains = carbohydrates, but not protein
  
• fossil record: dental, skeletal: teeth weak, skeletons brittle, shorter
  
• pulses: (bean, peas) high protein plants
  
• Mesopotamia: wild cereal grains, some pulses
  
  

animals:

• img of 10


• Mesopotamia:
  
  
  
  • oxen,
    
  • cattle,
    
  • goats,
    
  • sheep,
    
  • eventually pigs and horses
    


• Goat uses:
  
  
  
  • milk,
    
  • meat,
    
  • wool,
    
  • labour (small carts)
    
  • breed in captivity
    


• Cow and horse:
  
  
  
  • horse milk
    
  • pack animals
    
  • dung ->
    
    
    
    • fertilizer,
      
    • fuel,
      
    • building material
      
    • grass-eaters' dung less dangerous
      
    
    
  • blood - food source
  
  

• New World animal availability:
  
  
  
  • llamas,
    
  • bees,
    
  • ducks
    
  
  
• New World grain crop availability:
  
  
  
  • corn
    
  • required much cultivation to make it a food source
    
  • original maize (grass) plant cobs were less than an inch long
    
  • selectively bred up to 4-5" and only about half kernels.
    
  • seems to have started in Valley of Mexico, outside Tenochitilan (sp)
    
  
  
  What is Domestication?
  
  
  
  • breed in captivity
    
  • husbandry : desirable trais encouraged
    
  • maize: gather seeds from plants with larger cobs, more kernels (higher yield)
    
  • cattle: biggest, strongest for labour, extra milk for milking
    
  • sheep: more wool coverage
    
  • Engineering food resources is process of domestication
    
  • out of 200,000 plants we have specialized on 12 for most of our food
    
  • out of all animals we have specialized in about 10 (back to img)
    
  • now we are genengineering animals and plants hybrids -> (mule) don't reproduce...
    
  • grain seeds resist drought but do not produce viable seeds
    
  
  
  How did they figure thiese things out?
  
  
  
  • trial and error, lots of death
    
  • potatoes: plant eyes or whole potatoes
    
  • sprout greens (non-nutritive, sometimes poisonous)
    
  • root is starchy food
    
  • demonstrates how much knowledge was required for domestication
    
  • first planting experiments ~16e3 YBP
    
  • first villages ~6e3 YBP
    
  • primates can build on knowledge base with large brains
    
  
  
  moving onto
  
  -- pop quiz on reading --
  
  Communication:
  
  
  
  • DoubleSpeak article:
    
    
    
    • euphemism:
      
      
      
      • word or phrase to make something less unpleasant than it is
        
      • "cultural disadvantaged": poor or poorly educated
        
      • "passed away": dead
        
      • "..." killed
        
      • "kicked the bucket": died
        
      • "laid off":fired
        
      • political correctness
        
    
    
    • bureaucratese:
      
      
      
      • making something simple uncomprehensible because of excess words
        
      • use large words to confuse people
        
      • respond at length without saying anything
        
      • aka gobbledlygook
        
      • Alan Greenspan
        
    
    
    • jargon:
      
      
      
      • technical language associated with a trade or technology
        
      • snowboard lingo: "shreddin" as opposed to skiers "shrout"?
        
      • broadcast journalism: generic "throwback"
        
      • yoga (hatha?): names of positions
        
      • computer techs: ID10T and "realign the linear power accelerator"
        
      • words are overloaded, take different meaning in context than in common usage
        
    
    
    • inflated language:
      
      
      
      • make ordinary things/people seem more important
        
      • Librarian: Media Specialist
        
      • Secretaries: Administrative Assistant or Office Manager
        
      
      
    
    
  • Indirect communication (article):
    
    
    
    • superiors -> subordinates ("It's cold in here.")
      
    • missed that question
      
    • co-pilot to pilot: indirect to avoid questioning authority
      
    • -> plane crashed