Chapter 7, Getting Food

Key Terms

agricultureA form of food production that requires intensive working of the land with plows and draft animals and the use of techniques of soil and water control.

carrying capacity The maximum number of people a given society can support given the available resources.

food collectingA form of subsistence that relies on the procurement of animal and plant resources found in the natural environment.

horticultureA form of small-scale crop cultivation characterized by the use of simple technology and the absence of irrigation.

hunting and gatheringA food-getting strategy involving the collection of naturally occurring plants and animals.

industrialization A process resulting in the economic change from home production of goods to large-scale mechanized factory production.

neolithic revolution A stage in human cultural evolution (around 10,000 years ago) characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals.

nomadism A lifestyle involving the periodic movement of human populations in search of food or pasture for livestock.

optimal foraging theorySuggests that foragers will take the animals and plant species that tend to maximize their caloric return for the time they spend searching, killing, collecting, and preparing

pastoralism A food-getting strategy based on animal husbandry found in regions of the world that are generally unsuited for agriculture.

peasantry Rural peoples, usually on the lowest rung of society’s ladder, who provide urban inhabitants with farm products but have little access to wealth or political power.

shifting cultivation A form of plant cultivation in which seeds are planted in fertile soil prepared by cutting and burning the natural growth; relatively short periods of cultivation are followed by longer periods of fallow.

social functions of cattle The use of livestock by pastoralists not only for food and its byproducts but also for purposes such as marriage, religion, and social relationships.

transhumance Movement pattern of pastoralists in which some of the men move livestock seasonally while the other members of their group, including women and children, stay in permanent settlements.