Food and Sex: The Neolithic

1. Overview:
The Neolithic, also called New Stone Age, final stage of cultural evolution or
technological development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools
shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals,
settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and
weaving.
2. Detailed Information
A. Time:
The Neolithic stage of development was attained during the Holocene Epoch (the
last 11,700 years of Earth history). It occurred sometime about 10,000 BCE.
B. Advancements
During that time, humans learned to raise crops and keep domestic livestock
and were thus no longer dependent on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants.
Neolithic cultures made more-useful stone tools by grinding and polishing
relatively hard rocks rather than merely chipping softer ones down to the desired
shape. The cultivation of cereal grains enabled Neolithic peoples to build
permanent dwellings and congregate in villages, and the release from nomadism
and a hunting-gathering economy gave them the time to pursue specialized
crafts.
In the Old World, the Neolithic was succeeded by the Bronze Age when human
societies learned to combine copper and tin to make bronze, which replaced stone
for use as tools and weapons.
3. Food and Sex
A. Food:
A way of life based on farming and settled villages had been firmly
achieved by 7000 BCE in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys (now in Iraq and
Iran) and in what are now Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. Those earliest
farmers raised barley and wheat and kept sheep and goats, later
supplemented by cattle and pigs. Their innovations spread from the Middle East
northward into Europe by two routes: across Turkey and Greece into central
Europe, and across Egypt and North Africa and thence to Spain. Farming
communities appeared in Greece as early as 7000 BCE, and farming spread
northward throughout the continent over the next four millennia. This long and
gradual transition was not completed in Britain and Scandinavia until after 3000
BCE and is known as the Mesolithic.

Neolithic technologies also spread eastward to the Indus River valley of India by
5000 BCE. Farming communities based on millet and rice appeared in the
Huang He (Yellow River) valley of China and in Southeast Asia by about 3500
BCE. Neolithic modes of life were achieved independently in the New World.
Corn (maize), beans, and squash were gradually domesticated in Mexico and
Central America from 6500 BCE on, though sedentary village life did not
commence there until much later, at about 2000 BCE.
1. Bird-shaped Pestle
Bird-shaped pestle (made 4 - 8,000 years ago). It was found in Papua New
Guinea, in the Pacific Ocean, which has one of the oldest food cultivation
traditions in the world. Around 10,000 years ago, humans in this part of
the world began to move away from living as roaming bands of hunter-
gatherers. They learnt to grow crops, which meant new tools had to be
invented, both for farming and for food storage and preparation.
In Papua New Guinea, the staple crop was taro. Taro was one of the
earliest crops to be cultivated by humans, and is still grown in Papua New
Guinea today. It has an edible root, as well as leaves that are eaten as a
green vegetable.

Other stone pestles and mortars have also been discovered in New Guinea,
and what they reveal is that there were farmers here in prehistoric times,
some ten thousand years ago, cultivating crops in the tropical forests and
grasslands. The prevalent wisdom that farming originated in the Fertile
Crescent in the Middle East and then expanded around the world has been
challenged by this relatively recent discovery. We now understand that
this particular event in human history occurred concurrently in numerous
locations. Evidently, many of us started farming at the same time, and
wherever individuals started farming, they focused on a select few plants,
gathering them from the wild, planting them, and caring for them. In the
Middle East, they chose particular grasses - early forms of wheat; in
China, wild dry rice; in Africa, sorghum - a grain that looks a bit like
grass; and in Papua New Guinea, the starchy tuber, taro. These plants in
their natural form were extremely indigestible, however since we don’t
have a competitive edge over other animals going for the easy food so we
chose these plants to grow and to sustain the food source. That was our
competitive edge because other creatures without large brains couldn't
plan ahead to cook any kinds of this stuff.

While the gender of the cooks in New Guinea who used the pestle to
pound taro is unknown, cooking in the Middle East was predominantly a
woman's activity according to archaeological study. Scientists have
learned from studying burial sites from this time period that mature
women's hips, ankles, and knees are typically severely worn; at that time,
 grinding wheat would have been done while kneeling down and rocking
back and forth to crush the kernels between two heavy stones. The ladies
of the Middle East and the new cooks worldwide were producing a modest
range of healthy basic meals that could maintain considerably larger
groups of people than had previously been feasible, despite the fact that
this arthritis-inducing activity must have been exceedingly difficult.
Agriculture develops as a result of our specialization in those fewer foods
—not at the expense of the others—but by emphasizing a smaller number
of foods. This enables people to socialize, exchange food, and connect
with one another in many ways. Because they could generate surpluses
that could be stored, traded, or just consumed in a large feast, these new
crops contributed to the development of new types of communities.

We should perhaps consider our pestle's long, thin, elegant body as far too
delicate to have been able to withstand the vigorous daily pummeling of
taro. Instead, it was being used to prepare special meals; meals where
people gathered, as we might do today, to trade, to dance, or to celebrate
important moments in life. One of the simplest ways to bring people
together at any time is through sharing food.

2. Egyptian Clay Cows

The Egyptian Clay Cows were made in Egypt over 5000 years ago. It
was placed in a grave, perhaps to provide its owner with food in the
afterlife.

The clay from which it is made was fired to only a low temperature and
remains dull gray in color. Modeling the animals was simplified by
reducing the legs to single supports at front and back, with no attempt to
distinguish right and left legs.

Cows were revered in Egypt as a source of life in the harsh desert

environment and whole cows were sometimes also buried with people.
Later they were worshiped as the cow goddess Bat - the protector and
mother of the pharaoh.

Researches pointed out that, over 9,000 years ago, the Sahara in Egypt,
instead of today's landscape of arid desert, was a savanna with gazelles,
giraffes, zebras, elephants and wild cattle roaming around. But around
8,000 years ago the rains that nourished this landscape dried up.
Without rain, the land began to turn to the desert, leaving people and
animals to
seek every dwindling source of water.

This dramatic change of environment meant that people had to find

an alternative to hunting, and somehow they found a way to tame wild
cattle. This meant that they no longer had to chase them one by one, and
learned how to gather and manage herds, from which they could raise
cows and other cattles.

Cows became almost literally the lifeblood of these new communities.

The needs of fresh water and pasture for the cattle now determined the
very rhythm of life, as both human and animal activity became ever more
intertwined.

Study of the bones of these ancient cattle shows the ages at which the
animals were killed. Surprisingly, many of them were old, at least too old
to be kept only for food. So, unless the Egyptians enjoyed very tough
steak, these are not, in our sense, beef cattle, and they must have been kept
alive for other reasons.It is more likely that they were tapped for blood
which if you drink it or read it to stews, gives you a central extra protein.
It's something we find in many parts of the world and it's still done today.

On the other hand, for several reasons, milk was unfortunately off the
menu in these ages. Not only did these early domesticated cows produce
very little milk, but more importantly for humans, drinking cow's milk is
very much an acquired skill. Many studies argue that there are a range of
other foods that our distant ancestors wouldn't have eaten as readily as we
do, and something as commonplace as milk is something that we've had to
evolve to. So, drinking cow's milk would probably have made these early
Egyptians very ill, but they and many other populations eventually
adapted.

Moreover, in early Egypt, cows were probably also kept as a kind of

insurance policy. If crops or the immediate surroundings were damaged
by fire, communities could always fall back on the cow for nourishment as
a last resort.

These four little clay cows are a long way from the glamor of the
Pharaohs, but the cows and what they represent have been far more
important to human history. Babies have been reared on their milk,
 temples have been built for them, whole societies have been fed by them,
economies have been built on them,.... Cows were no doubt a very
important part of the Egyptian economy.
Ảnh thì anh em tự thêm nhé t không có ý kiến gì đâu, cho ảnh cái
tượng với vài ảnh con bò vào là được =)))

3. Maya Maize God statue:

The statue was displayed on a pyramid style temple commissioned by the

13th ruler of Copán, an important Maya city and religious center.

The Maya believed in an array of gods who represented aspects of nature,

society and professions. The maize god, Hun Hunahpu, was one of the
most important owing to his connection with this vital staple crop. He is
shown here as a youthful, handsome man with a stylised ear of corn as
headdress and the silk of the corn as his hair.

Maize was very important to Maya culture as the main staple crop in
Mesoamerica. It is a versatile grain which can be grown in the wet
lowlands as well as the drier mountain areas

The god was not only associated with maize itself, but also with the cycle
of rebirth, the cycle of seasons and the associated growth of crops.

Worship of the gods had both personal and formal aspects. On an

individual level nobles were expected to give their own blood as a personal
sacrifice during bloodletting rituals and households had access to shrines
to perform individual or family rituals. But cities had elaborate temple
complexes where priests performed rites on behalf of the city and the king.
These ceremonies were accompanied by music and dancing, they could
 include processions, feasting, ritual ball games as well as sacrifices and
prayers.

4. Jomon Pot:

The Jomon Period (c. 14,500 - c. 300 BCE) of ancient Japan produced a
distinctive pottery which distinguishes it from the earlier Paleolithic Age.
Jomon pottery vessels are the oldest in the world and their impressive
decoration, which resembles rope, is the origin of the word jomon,
meaning 'cord pattern'.

The Jōmon period, which encompasses a great expanse of time, constitutes

Japan’s Neolithic period. Its name is derived from the “cord markings”
that characterize the ceramics made during this time. Jōmon people were
semi-sedentary, living mostly in pit dwellings arranged around central
open spaces, and obtained their food by gathering, fishing, and hunting.
While the many excavations of Jōmon sites have added to our knowledge
of specific artifacts, they have not helped to resolve certain fundamental
questions concerning the people of the protoliterate era, such as their
ethnic classification and the origin of their language.

Jomon pottery, in the form of simple vessels, was first produced c. 13,000
BCE around Shinonouchi in Nagano, making them the oldest such
examples in the world. Another early production site was Odai-Yamamoto
in Aomori. Jomon pottery figurines are rather later, the oldest known
example being the 'Jomon Venus' which dates to c. 5000 BCE. Two
general types of pottery were produced: a dark gray kind with angular
edges, curved line decoration and handles which are often shaped to
 resemble animal heads or vessels with a reddish color and either no
decoration at all or a few wavy or zigzag lines.

All Jōmon pots were made by hand, without the aid of a wheel, the potter
building up the vessel from the bottom with coil upon coil of soft clay. As
in all other Neolithic cultures, women produced these early potteries. The
clay was mixed with a variety of adhesive materials, including mica, lead,
fibers, and crushed shells. After the vessel was formed, tools were
employed to smooth both the outer and interior surfaces. When completely
dry, it was fired in an outdoor bonfire at a temperature of no more than
about 900°C.

B. Sex:
Ain Sakhiri Lovers

The Ain Sakhri Lovers figurine is a sculpture that was created over 11,000 years
ago and is the oldest known representation of two people engaged in a loving
embrace.
It was found in one of the Ain Sakhri caves near Bethlehem. The sculpture was
made by carving a single rock of calcite cobble, which was picked away with a
stone point to create the heads, arms, and leg positions of the couple.
The sculpture shows the lovers face to face. The arms of one of the couples are
positioned around the shoulders of the other.
The legs are drawn up and embraced the waist of the other. The sculpture figurine
lacks fine details but is expertly sculptured to allow the imagination to visualize
different interpretations depending on the viewer’s perspective.
Depending on the viewing angle and the shadows from the lighting on the
sculpture, it can appear as a couple, or as different sexual anatomies or motifs
depending on the perspective.
Excavations of the caves revealed that family groups had used the cave for
thousands of years. Furthermore, the finds were classified as Natufian, a culture
that existed from around 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant.
 The people of this region lived by hunting gazelle. As the gazelle were not
constantly on the move, their hunters also stayed in one place and varied their diet
by collecting seeds, fruit and nuts. By gathering the seeds of wild forms of wheat
and barley they inadvertently began the slow process of natural genetic
modification which eventually allowed their deliberate cultivation.
-> The descendants of the Ain Sahkri lovers were farmers.
The security of a managed food program allowed the Natufians to create more
substantial communities and the capacity to produce art.

The sculpture may have had special significance, perhaps representing ideas about
fertility or, reflecting new understanding of the part men played in reproduction.
Less complex carvings of phalli are known from other sites of this period.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Neolithic
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/xQBDvzBRSrqVQYQ5ECaZwA
https://sites.google.com/site/100objectsbritishmuseum/home/bird-shaped-pestle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIDRlzg9E64 : A History Of The world in 100 Objects -
Episode 8 - Egyptian Clay Model Of Cattle - Audio Documentary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El-Amra_clay_model_of_cattle#:~:text=The%20El%2DAmra
%20clay%20model,the%20British%20Museum%20in%20London : El-Amra clay model of
cattle
http://teachinghistory100.org/objects/about_the_object/maize_god
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jomo/hd_jomo.htm
https://www.worldhistory.org/Jomon_Pottery/
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/ain-sakhri-lovers-figurine/dAGj4Fm78RIlpw
https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-kingdom-museums/london-museums/british-
museum/highlights-of-the-british-museum/ain-sakhri-lovers/