Against the Grain by James C Scott review – the beginning of elites, tax, slavery | Books | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/25/against-the-grain-by-james-c-scott-review
One of the key sites is Abu Hureyra in the upper Euphrates valley in northern Syria. Here it is possible to trace a hunter-gatherer community occupying the same site from 11000BC to 9600BC. Settlement began after the end of the last ice age at a time when vegetation was becoming lush and the land well provided. Gathering food and hunting animals was easy, encouraging a more sedentary existence and a rise in population. Through the next climatic downturn, the community survived by cultivating wild grasses, particularly rye, and by taking increased control over animals such as wild sheep and cattle. The harsher conditions intensified these specialisations in favoured locations throughout the near east and, as the climate began to improve after 9600BC, agricultural practices started to spread. The Neolithic period had begun.
Against the Grain
James C Scott (l’auteur de Zomia)
#agriculture #chasse-cueillette #croissant_fertile #livre