Now, we move to the area surrounding caspian sea and black sea. This region contains many 'stan's born out of broken USSR, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and some east european countries. Though, I think I shouldn't club these two regions together as there features are in sharp contrast to each other. Areas surrounding black sea are highly fertile whereas east of caspian constitutes barren pamir plateau regions. But clubing them together gives a better picture of possible paths, ancient human groups could have followed. Arabian desert, pamir plateau, himalayas make it difficult for a small group of humans mainly travelling on their foots, to move straight eastwards after coming out of africa. It also divides the world in three separate fertile bowls; middle east, India, China.
Black sea region is another fertile bowl which is placed in between middle east, europe and east asia. Caspian sea region effectively diverts the passage from middle east asian areas towards north, black sea region. Black sea region, with huge fertile plains offered another hotspot for dense society. Critical group size here was 100-500. Whereas, caspian sea region had critical group size lying around 20-100. Caspian region didn't present favorable conditions for a permanent settlement as it doesn't even now. Here, human groups had keep on the move in search of green patches, akin to desert nomads. Domestication of animals for transport was necesary for these nomads. Desert human nomads responded it with domesticating camels and nomads around caspian responded it with horses. Black sea region with dense groups population and vantage point, became hotspot for trade.
Human groups entered europe from africa following arab desert, then north, passing in between black and caspian sea, and then turning west. Europe with its fertile soil, dense forests and cold climate presented a kind of paradise for hunter gatherer societies which were coming out from deserts. This might had been a negative boost for permanent settlements and agrarian societies. Farming, initially might not had been favored as preys were abundant. It might had been the same case for human groups living in african forests. Deserts are not favorable for farming anyway. So, fertile plain near black sea were the first areas where agriculture started as it was the only area which present fertile land and scarcity of wild prey animals. Both these factors turned the table in favor of agrarian societies compared to hunting-gatherers. Farming starting from south of black sea spread to north then to other areas in east. Farming might have originated in China separately, as it is too far distanced from black sea region with huge barren landscape in between. Farmers were considered of lower status than hunters, initially. This struggle may be compared to class struggles between european nobles and workers in 14-16th century. Farming might be initiated only by women as hunting in some socities is still considered as manly work. As the growing population increased the importance of agriculture for generating food, farming might have shifted hands from women to slaves. Even in the roman era, slaves were doing work on farms whereas their owners went for wars and hunting.
Black sea region is another fertile bowl which is placed in between middle east, europe and east asia. Caspian sea region effectively diverts the passage from middle east asian areas towards north, black sea region. Black sea region, with huge fertile plains offered another hotspot for dense society. Critical group size here was 100-500. Whereas, caspian sea region had critical group size lying around 20-100. Caspian region didn't present favorable conditions for a permanent settlement as it doesn't even now. Here, human groups had keep on the move in search of green patches, akin to desert nomads. Domestication of animals for transport was necesary for these nomads. Desert human nomads responded it with domesticating camels and nomads around caspian responded it with horses. Black sea region with dense groups population and vantage point, became hotspot for trade.
Human groups entered europe from africa following arab desert, then north, passing in between black and caspian sea, and then turning west. Europe with its fertile soil, dense forests and cold climate presented a kind of paradise for hunter gatherer societies which were coming out from deserts. This might had been a negative boost for permanent settlements and agrarian societies. Farming, initially might not had been favored as preys were abundant. It might had been the same case for human groups living in african forests. Deserts are not favorable for farming anyway. So, fertile plain near black sea were the first areas where agriculture started as it was the only area which present fertile land and scarcity of wild prey animals. Both these factors turned the table in favor of agrarian societies compared to hunting-gatherers. Farming starting from south of black sea spread to north then to other areas in east. Farming might have originated in China separately, as it is too far distanced from black sea region with huge barren landscape in between. Farmers were considered of lower status than hunters, initially. This struggle may be compared to class struggles between european nobles and workers in 14-16th century. Farming might be initiated only by women as hunting in some socities is still considered as manly work. As the growing population increased the importance of agriculture for generating food, farming might have shifted hands from women to slaves. Even in the roman era, slaves were doing work on farms whereas their owners went for wars and hunting.
No comments:
Post a Comment