Food Production
Overview
This module logically follows the Nature and Culture section and covers
large-scale food production systems, how they succeeded or failed, and
the lessons from the past that can be applied to modern food production.
We continue to emphasize the relationship between environment, technology,
culture, and history. Two case studies are covered. In Class 1 of the
module, we discuss the growth and abandonment of irrigation systems
in Mesopotamia. In Class 2, we discuss raised field systems in the Titicaca
Basin, the attempts to revitalize the technology as a development project,
and why some of these attempts appear to have failed. Finally, we consider
the different motivations of participants in modern food production
and consumption systems (in developing nations, in the U.S.) and how
decisions are made (short-term versus long-term, sustainable versus
non-sustainable, the broader global context) as a way of further understanding
what (if any) contribution can be made by archaeology.
Lesson Objectives/Reading Journal Topics
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
- Identify the ways that food production technologies and organization
are reconstructed from the archaeological record.
- Compare and contrast the environment, technologies, and organization
of agricultural production in the cases presented by Christensen and
Erickson. Identify the factors in both cases that contribute to sustainable
or non-sustainable food production. (What lessons can be learned from
the archaeological record about sustainable food production?)
- Discuss the possible steps involved in moving from archaeological
observations to modern policies and practices. (What are the relationships
between environment, technology, culture, and history, and how are “lessons
from the past” applied to the present?)
Matrix Principles
Social Relevance (lessons from the past on sustainable and non-sustainable
food production) and Diverse Interests (applying lessons from the past
requires understanding the perspectives and needs of modern communities).
Instructional Procedures
Class 1
Readings
Christensen, Peter
1998 Middle
Eastern Irrigation: Legacies and Lessons. Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies Bulletin 103:15-30.
Format: Discussion
Two questions, first addressed in small groups then with the entire
class, frame the discussion:
- Was the rise and decline of irrigation agriculture in Mesopotamia
due to natural or cultural causes?
Based on historical accounts, Christensen argues that it was both. There
were environmental limitations, but the large (and eventually non-sustainable)
scale of the irrigation systems resulted from decisions made by leaders
who wanted to increase their political and economic power. We review
this in discussion and consider how the issue would be studied archaeologically.
- Why does Christensen think that the prospects for sustainable production
in the region (based on large-scale irrigation) are not good?
The article traces out how western colonial administrators and later
development agencies often assumed that the failure of past irrigation
systems was a problem of inadequate technology. This perspective neglects
the real environmental limitations that do exist. Also, new technologies
may create new problems or may cause further degradation in the long
run.
No additional materials or equipment are needed.
While we ran out of time this year, it would also be worth discussing
water conflicts in the world today. Examples could be drawn from fights
over the Rio Grande or the Euphrates. A series of archived articles
from 2002 by Douglas Jehl in the New York Times is a useful resource.
Class 2
Readings
Erickson, Clark
1998 Applied
Archaeology and Rural Development: Archaeology's Potential Contribution
to the Future. In Crossing Currents: Continuity and Change in
Latin America, edited by Michael B. Whiteford and Scott Whiteford,
pp. 34-45. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
K. Kris Hirst’s interview with Clark Erickson on Titicaca raised fields. Includes color photos.
Swartley, Lynn
2002 Inventing Indigenous Knowledge: Archaeology, Rural Development,
and the Raised Field Rehabilitation Project in Bolivia. Routledge,
New York.
Read Chapter 1.
Format: Discussion
In today’s discussion, we cover the following topics:
- Defining an “applied archaeology” and its relevance to
sustainable food production.
- The case study of revitalized raised field agriculture in the Titicaca
Basin and its apparent failure over the long term.
- The importance of understanding technology (any technology) in its
cultural and historical (as well as environmental) context. (Swartley
argues that the revitalization project failed primarily because archaeologists
and development specialists had an idealized, essentialized image of
indigenous communities and did not consider their current values and
organization as well as the historical circumstances underlying each
community. She also questions whether fields can be productive for more
than a few years, but this critique seems less valid. Clearly, large
populations were supported by raised fields over a long period of time
in the past.)
- Despite past failures, it is important to understand past food
production systems (both sustainable and non-sustainable): circumstances
change,
people may learn from past mistakes, development projects with greater
community participation in planning and management may have more
successful outcomes, and the need for sustainable systems is increasingly
urgent
as we continue to deplete or degrade current resources.
- Finally, drawing on observations from the last module (particularly
the film on Ladakh) today’s readings, and our own experiences,
we discuss the varied circumstances under which individuals and groups
make decisions for short-term gains or benefits at the apparent cost
of long-term sustainability and self-sufficiency.