NSF Award
2330607
This project focuses on economic and technical specialization with the adoption of agriculture in a Neolithic society between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago. The origins and spread of agriculture is arguably the most important economic transition in human history. It is widely believed that one consequence of the development of agricultural economies is the elaboration of economic specialization and division of labor, two central aspects of modern economies. This specialization is thought to be reflected in technology, leading to a proliferation of special purpose tools used for the processing of agricultural products such as grains. However, in some cases when agriculture is adopted there is a great deal of continuity in artifact forms between hunting and gathering cultures and succeeding farming groups: the tools used by early farmers are very similar to the ones used by their hunter-gatherer forebears, suggesting that assumptions about specialization may need to be modified. Archaeology is well placed to provide insight of this topic because it can trace technological and functional changes through time to reveal changes in social and economic organization associated with major economic transitions. This research provides new information relevant to local community interests in understanding the history of traditional food systems, and for teaching courses on local history and world prehistory.<br/><br/>This project investigates whether economic and technological specialization is inevitably associated with adoption of food production, or whether it was simply what happened in the few areas. The investigators are examining how a range of stone tools were actually used before and after the transition of agriculture. The data comes from a site which documents this transition. This locality is particularly suitable for the project because it was the center of early millet agriculture, and because the site contains cultural components dating to before and after the transition, in the same locality. Artifact functions are investigated using two independent sources of evidence. One is use-wear, microscopic traces of damage to ancient artifacts. Such physical alteration provides insight into the motions involved in artifact use, as well as about the physical properties of the materials contacted. The other source of clues is minute residues of starch grains adhering to working parts of artifacts. Starches can provide direct evidence of the kinds of plants that people were cutting, grinding and scraping with the stone artifacts. By examining evidence for artifact function directly, the project can determine whether in fact artifacts were used in more specialized ways over time, even while the forms stayed the same, or whether one needs to rethink assumptions about specialization and the origins of agricultural economies.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
