Centers for agriculture. The formation of agriculture among primitive people. Hearths of ancient agriculture

Geographic differentiation

centers of ancient agriculture

Of the centers of ancient agriculture, six lie in the tropics (two American, two in southeast Asia, two African). But the main cultivated plants not only of the tropics were born in them. Many of the annual crops of these centers and perennial crops that can be cultivated as annual crops have gone further beyond the tropical zone and began to be successfully grown in temperate countries. In the mountains of the tropics at significant altitudes the climate approaches temperate. And the stock of cultivated plants from here migrated all the more easily to the north and south of the tropics. There are especially many such plants, common in the temperate zone, in Ethiopia (wheat, flax, castor bean, barley). They are also typical for Peru (potatoes, tomatoes, American cotton - Sealand, India (rice, cucumber, eggplant, citrus fruits), Mexico (maize, Upland cotton, red pepper). Indonesia and the west of Sudan are poorer in them. The other four centers of ancient agriculture : Western Asia, Central Asia, the Mediterranean and northern China - lie entirely in the temperate zone. From here came the main funds of cultivated plants of the temperate zone, and especially wintering deciduous cultivated plants of the woody type and herbaceous plants of a perennial crop. Tropical plants hardly withstand wintering in more or less high latitudes and in long-term culture do not extend beyond the subtropics.

An interesting fact is that only the agricultural peoples of Asia, Europe, North America and Ethiopia learned in ancient times to use a plow to cultivate the soil. From here they developed field farming and field crops. The agriculture of the Americanoids and Sudanese Negroids in ancient times did not know the plow and was hoe farming with individual care for each plant, which corresponds to the methods of vegetable gardening in Eurasia. These peoples did not know the typical extensive field farming, which was reflected in the ecological character of their cultivated plants. Growing them requires intensive culture. In the field they can only be cultivated as row crops. These are maize, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, tobacco. It is interesting to note in this regard that during the migration of maize, after the Columbus expedition, to Europe, its development here was hampered by the fact that the Europeans sowed it in continuous sowing on a plowed field, like wheat, barley, oats, with a corresponding high seeding density, and this was extremely unfavorable for this garden plant in terms of ecology.

Chapter II

CULTURAL-HISTORICAL
AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FACTORS
IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF CROPS

Cultivated plants are created by agricultural culture. The development of their habitats and settlement around the globe are associated primarily with the development of productive forces and economic ties within human society.

The cultivation of individual cultivated plants arose and began to spread when the necessary economic prerequisites for this were created, and in nature there was material suitable for cultivation. By comparing the ranges of the original wild species and the geographical location of areas where the economy was favorable for the cultivation of the corresponding plants, three main types of their relationships can be observed.

In the first case, when a wild plant taken into cultivation in one of the countries lying within its natural range, having turned into a cultivated one, is cultivated throughout the entire area of ​​distribution of the original wild species and goes beyond its borders. Thus, figs, which grow wild in the Mediterranean countries and southwestern Asia, are now cultivated in all these countries and, as a cultivated plant, have gone beyond their borders to the south and moved far to the east, reaching here the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The reason for the expansion of the range of individual species in cultivation is, on the one hand, the economic need for them in areas outside the range of the original wild species, and on the other hand, the possibility of their growth outside the range of the original wild forms, due to human influence. Culture eliminates competition with cultivated wild flora, which limits their natural habitat, often far from the line where the direct limiting effect of climatic factors occurs.

In other cases, a wild species, becoming cultivated in one of the countries lying within its natural range, is cultivated only in part of the countries of its natural distribution in nature, i.e. the area of ​​its cultivation turns out to be narrower than its distribution in the wild. A good example of this is red clover, which is common in nature in the south of Central Asia and North America. Its cultivation is limited only to the northwestern part, which lies predominantly in the forest zone of the wild red clover habitat. It is not cultivated further south, probably due to the greater economic value of the world's best forage grass, alfalfa. Chicory, which covers almost all of Europe, Western Siberia, Western and Central Asia and northern Africa with its natural habitat, became a cultivated plant only in the countries of Western Europe and then spread east to European Russia inclusive.

There are known cases when the transition of a wild plant to cultivation occurs outside its natural range. This is due to the fact that the level of economic development of countries where a certain wild species is found does not yet push them to cultivate it, while the peoples of countries outside the range of a given useful wild species, knowing about its use in the wild, strive to cultivate it to obtain the desired them imported plant product. It is difficult to say how often such cases occurred in ancient times, but we cannot exclude them completely, since there are known cases of expeditions of more cultured ancient peoples into areas that were more backward at that time, which allows for the introduction during such expeditions of individual wild useful plants from some countries to others and introducing them into culture outside their natural habitats. The world's main source of rubber is the Brazilian Hevea, which grows wild in the Amazon, and the cinchona tree in the high-mountain forests of the tropical Andes. The cultivation of both of these plants originated and developed in Indonesia, Malaysia and India - advanced countries of tropical agriculture, and not in their homeland. In the same way, wild Mexican guayule was first cultivated as a source of rubber in Arizona and New Mexico. American wild sunflower gave rise to cultivated oilseed sunflower, which emerged in the 19th century. as a national plant of Russians and Ukrainians. Hungarian wild clover (Trifolium expansum W.K.), having been brought to the United States by one of the emigrants, entered into culture here and, as a cultivated plant, became known as American clover.

The concept of agronomic
and economic area

Cultivated plants, which arose as a result of changes in wild species under the influence of their cultivation, were originally associated in their distribution with the tribes that began to cultivate them. Therefore, the most ancient type of distribution of individual cultivated plants was an area limited by the limits of settlement of individual relatively narrow groups of the agricultural population, related by tribal kinship and surrounded by more backward, non-agricultural tribes. Of course, such a distribution of cultivated plants could not in the vast majority of cases persist for long, since the more backward tribes surrounding the agricultural focus gradually became accustomed to agriculture and the areas of cultivated plants of the primary focus passed to new tribes and covered new areas of expanding agriculture. However, in some cases, these types of cultivated plant habitats have survived to this day. This is due to the fact that the living areas of the creators of certain cultural species coincided with the agronomic boundaries of the cultural species, i.e. with lines beyond which the production of a given plant no longer sufficiently pays for the labor expended on its cultivation, and this stopped the further spread of the crop taken. The age-old habit of certain cultures of the peoples who created them also played a role here. Therefore, their cultivation remains in the areas of their origin even when more productive crops of the same or similar type of use are invaded from other areas. The preservation of the primary habitat can now be observed in the Andean potato, the distribution of which in the tropical part of the Andes approximately coincides with the settlement of the ancient mountain farming tribes of the future Inca state. The spread of this potato to lower vertical zones is hampered by the higher temperatures of the foothills, which are unfavorable for its development, and by the competition of corn that came from Mexico. Within the ancient primary range in areas adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, the olive retains its main distribution. Its progress from here to the north is hampered by the increasing severity of winters, and to the south and east by deserts.

The oilseed sunflower culture created by the Russians and Ukrainians did not go beyond the settlement of these peoples in the steppe regions of the European part of the USSR until 1880. Rubber Hevea and Cinchona still have their main cultivation range where their wild ancestors began to be cultivated. The tung tree (Aleurites fordii Hemsl.) recently entered into cultivation at the beginning of the 20th century. was cultivated only in southwestern China, where this species was introduced into culture. Relatively recently emerging cultures of American blueberry (Vaccinlum corymbosum L.) and large-fruited cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpon Ait.) until the middle of the twentieth century. developed almost exclusively within those US states where cultivation of these species originated.

The cultural and ethnic isolation of large racial groups persisted even in cases where, as a result of relocations, the ethnic composition of past domains of the main races partially changed. The newcomers perceived the culture of the main inhabitants and their connections within certain national groups. Of course, cultural and economic ties between peoples of different cultural and ethnic complexes gradually strengthened, but this process proceeded very slowly throughout ancient and middle history, and only in the 16th century. sea ​​voyages of Europeans put an end to the cultural isolation of America and connected the countries of Europe, Asia and Africa with busy sea routes. But until the 16th century. the relative isolation of individual cultural and ethnic groups of humanity is still clearly preserved, and its traces can be observed in subsequent centuries until the twentieth century.

To this day, we can observe in the distribution of cultivated plants traces of the existence of five large, relatively isolated cultural and ethnic groups of humanity.

I. The first of them consisted of the Americanoids, almost completely isolated from other groups of humanity until the end of the 15th century. America has created cultivated maize, potatoes, cassava, sweet potato, groundnut, beans, pumpkin, tomato, papaya, pineapple, cocoa, American cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L., G. barbadense L.), red pepper, tobacco and shag, quinoa, coca bush.

II. The second such cultural-ethnic complex consisted of the Caucasians of Western and Central Asia, Europe and North Africa. Mountain ranges and deserts isolated this group from the Chinese culture in the east, the tropical regions of India and the Indochina Peninsula in the southeast, and the black peoples of Africa in the southwest. A complex of its own cultivated plants has been created here, including wheat, barley, oats, rye, olives, figs, grapes, peas, lentils, apple trees, pears, cabbage, and beets. This group of plants became the basis of agriculture in the extratropical regions of Western and Central Asia and Europe. In the south of Western Asia and northern Africa, the date palm became the main cultivated plant along with bread.

III. In tropical Africa, a third cultural-ethnic complex of cultivated plants was created. Here, later than their northern neighbors, they switched to agriculture and could borrow ready-made cultivated plants from them already during the very period of the formation of their agriculture. But nevertheless, this complex has specificity both in its autochthonous cultivated species (oil palm, kola nut, Liberian coffee) and in the peculiar selection of foreign cultivated plants. The Negroid domain is an ancient area of ​​hoe farming, while the farming of the Caucasian domain was based on the plough. Therefore, Negroids very willingly adopted crops such as taro, yam, banana, and after the discovery of America - corn and groundnuts, which were most convenient for hoeing, and avoided the grain plants typical of Caucasians (wheat, barley, oats), which were more adapted to plowing. soil treatment.

IV. The tropical regions of eastern Asia were from ancient times the domain of the Australoid peoples, although they were subsequently invaded by the Mongoloids (in the east) and Caucasians (in the west). However, the peculiarities of the tropical climate of these regions, with their relative isolation by mountain ranges from those lying to the north, have long preserved and continue to preserve the specific features of this domain of the ancient agricultural culture of the Australoids. Among the Australoids of India, the Indochina Peninsula and Indonesia, agriculture arose earlier, and subsequently the plow began to be used for cultivating the soil, while in Oceania until the 16th century. the soil was cultivated only with a spade. The main indigenous crops here are rice, sorghum, taro, yam, banana, coconut palm, sugar cane, breadfruit, citrus fruits, and Indian cotton (Gossypium arboreum L.). Grain, relatively intensive field crops here gravitate towards the South Asian region of plow farming, and extensive crop plants, such as breadfruit, coconut palm, and taro, are most characteristic of Oceania with its cultivation of the land with a spade.

V. The last cultural-ethnic area of ​​agriculture is the domain of the northern Mongoloids, where Chinese agriculture created such cultivated plants as millet, buckwheat, soybeans, and rope grass. This is an area of ​​plow farming, but extremely intensive farming, which was reflected in the ecological and genetic characteristics of the cultural flora of China and the peoples of Chinese culture.

Centers of primary ancient agriculture

The primary ancient centers of agriculture arose in the zone lying mainly between the Tropic of Capricorn and 45 0 N latitude. By the 16th century agriculture reached the Arctic Circle (in Scandinavia), and in the southern hemisphere it went above 45 0 south latitude. (in New Zealand). The distribution of cultivated plants was subject to the influence of climatic factors, which were not the same throughout the entire area of ​​settlement of individual ethnic groups. Latitudinal and altitudinal boundaries for the cultivation of individual cultivated plants and boundaries of the competitive nature of plants of similar or similar use common in the domain were created.

When the isolation of cultural and ethnic domains ceased to directly restrict the spread of cultivated plants, the most valuable of them entered the world stage, receiving zonal areas covering the entire globe and limited by climatic and economic conditions. However, the habit of farmers to their ancient cultivated plants continues to play a significant role in the spread of many cultivated plants, especially those of secondary economic importance, which have not received wide distribution throughout the world.

Cultural and ethnic factors in the distribution of cultivated plants are echoes of past history. They reflect the past isolation of peoples and are weakened with the development of international relations and the creation of an international human culture. However, the imprint it left on the geography of cultivated plants is so deep that it is reflected even in the distribution of such cultivated plants that have long since become global. The main areas of rice crops are still concentrated in southeast Asia, and maize remains a cereal plant primarily in America.

More centuries and millennia will pass before this imprint is completely smoothed out. Some glimpses of something new in this regard are already emerging. The coffee tree, introduced into culture by the Ethiopians and spreading since ancient times in southern Arabia, is now the main area of ​​​​its cultivation in Brazil. The Mexican chocolate tree is cultivated most widely in western Africa (Ghana and its neighboring territories). This is a signal that in the future, individual cultivated plants will be cultivated mainly where there are more favorable economic conditions for this, regardless of their historical past, and physical-geographical and economic factors will play a much greater role in the distribution of individual cultural species in the future. role than it was in the past and is observed now.

Chapter III

THE TEACHING OF N. I. VAVILOV ABOUT THE CENTERS OF ORIGIN OF CULTURED PLANTS

The need for source material for the selection and improvement of varieties of cultivated plants led to the creation of the doctrine of their centers of origin. The teaching was based on Charles Darwin's idea of ​​the existence of geographical centers of origin of biological species. The geographical areas of origin of the most important cultivated plants were first described in 1880 by the Swiss botanist A. Decandolle. According to his ideas, they covered quite vast territories, including entire continents. The most important research in this direction, half a century later, was carried out by the remarkable Russian geneticist and botanical geographer N.I. Vavilov (1887-1943), who studied the centers of origin of cultivated plants on a scientific basis.

N.I. Vavilov proposed a new method, which he called differentiated, for establishing the initial center of origin of cultivated plants, which consists in the following. A collection of the plant of interest collected from all places of cultivation is studied using morphological, physiological and genetic methods. Thus, the area of ​​concentration of the maximum diversity of forms, characteristics and varieties of a given species is determined. Ultimately, it is possible to establish centers of introduction into culture of a particular species, which may not coincide with the territory of its widespread cultivation, but be located at significant distances (several thousand kilometers) from it. Moreover, the centers of origin of cultivated plants currently cultivated on the plains of temperate latitudes are in mountainous regions.

In an effort to put genetics and selection at the service of the country's national economy, N.I. Vavilov and his associates during numerous expeditions in 1926-1939. collected a collection of about 250 thousand specimens of cultivated plants. As the scientist emphasized, he was mainly interested in plants of temperate zones, since the enormous plant wealth of South Asia, Tropical Africa, Central America and Brazil, unfortunately, can only be used on a limited scale in our country.

An important theoretical generalization of N.I.’s research. Vavilov is developed by him doctrine of homological series(from the Greek homologos - corresponding). According to the law of homological ranges of hereditary variability formulated by him, not only genetically close species, but also genera of plants form homological series of forms, i.e. There is a certain parallelism in the genetic variability of species and genera. Closely related species, due to the great similarity of their genotypes (almost the same set of genes), have similar hereditary variability. If all known variations of characters in a well-studied species are placed in a certain order, then almost all the same variations in character variability can be found in other related species. For example, the variability of ear spinality is approximately the same in soft, durum wheat and barley.

The law of homological series of hereditary variability makes it possible to find the necessary characteristics and variants in the almost infinite variety of forms of various species of both cultivated plants and domestic animals, and their wild relatives. It makes it possible to successfully search for new varieties of cultivated plants and breeds of domestic animals with certain required characteristics. This is the enormous practical significance of the law for crop production, livestock breeding and breeding. Its role in the geography of cultivated plants is comparable to the role of the Periodic Table of Elements by D.I. Mendeleev in chemistry. By applying the law of homological series, it is possible to establish the center of origin of plants according to related species with similar characteristics and forms, which probably develop in the same geographical and ecological environment.

For the emergence of a large source of origin of cultivated plants, N.I. Vavilov considered a necessary condition, in addition to the wealth of wild flora with species suitable for cultivation, the presence of an ancient agricultural civilization.

Centers of origin of cultivated plants

according to N.I. Vavilov

Scientist N.I. Vavilov came to the conclusion that the vast majority of cultivated plants are associated with seven main geographical centers of their origin: South Asian tropical, East Asian, South-West Asian, Mediterranean, Ethiopian, Central American and Andean (Fig. 2). Outside these centers there was a significant territory that required further study in order to identify new centers of domestication of the most valuable representatives of wild

flora. Followers of N.I. Vavilova - A.I. Kuptsov and A.M. Zhukovsky continued research into the study of the centers of cultivated plants (Fig. 2). Ultimately, the number of centers and the territory they covered increased significantly. Let us give brief characteristics of each of the centers.

Sino-Japanese. World crop production owes the origin of many cultivated species to East Asia. Among them are rice, multi-row and hulless barley, millet, chumiza, hulless oats, beans, soybeans, radishes, many types of apple trees, pears and onions, apricots, very valuable types of plums, oriental persimmon, possibly orange, mulberry tree, sugar cane Chinese, tea tree, short-staple cotton.

Indonesian-Indochine. This is the center of many cultivated plants - some varieties of rice, bananas, breadfruit, coconut and sugar palms, sugar cane, yams, Manila hemp, the largest and tallest types of bamboo, etc.

Australian. The flora of Australia gave the world the fastest growing woody plants - eucalyptus and acacia. 9 wild cotton species, 21 wild tobacco species and several types of rice have also been identified here. In general, the flora of this continent is poor in wild edible plants, especially those with succulent fruits. Currently, crop production in Australia almost entirely uses crops of foreign origin.

Hindustan. The Hindustan Peninsula was of great importance in the development of crop production in ancient Egypt, Sumer and Assyria. This is the birthplace of common wheat, an Indian subspecies of rice, some varieties of beans, eggplant, cucumber, jute, sugar cane, Indian hemp, etc. Wild species of apple, tea tree and banana are common in the mountain forests of the Himalayas. The Indo-Gangetic plain is a huge plantation of cultivated plants of world importance - rice, sugarcane, jute, peanuts, tobacco, tea, coffee, banana, pineapple, coconut palm, oil flax, etc. The Deccan plateau is famous for the cultivation of orange and lemon.

Central Asian. On the territory of the center - from the Persian Gulf, the Hindustan Peninsula and the Himalayas in the south to the Caspian and Aral seas, lake. Balkhash in the north, including the Turan Lowland, fruit trees are of particular importance. Since ancient times, apricots, walnuts, pistachios, oleaster, almonds, pomegranates, figs, peach, grapes, and wild apple trees have been cultivated here. Some varieties of wheat, onions, primary types of carrots and small-seeded forms of legumes (peas, lentils, fava beans) also arose here. The ancient inhabitants of Sogdiana (modern Tajikistan) developed high-sugar varieties of apricots and grapes. Wild apricot still grows in abundance in the mountains of Central Asia. The varieties of melons bred in Central Asia are the best in the world, especially the Chardzhou ones, which remain in limbo throughout the year.

Near Asian. The center includes Transcaucasia, Asia Minor (except for the coast), the historical region of Western Asia Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. From here come wheat, two-row barley, oats, the primary crop of peas, cultivated forms of flax and leeks, some types of alfalfa and melons. It is the primary center of the date palm, home to quince, cherry plum, plum, cherry and dogwood. Nowhere in the world is there such an abundance of wild wheat species. In Transcaucasia, the process of the origin of cultivated rye from field weeds, which still infests wheat crops, has been completed. As wheat moved north, winter rye, as a more winter-hardy and unpretentious plant, became a pure crop.

Mediterranean. This center includes the territory of Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece and the entire northern coast of Africa. The Western and Eastern Mediterranean is the birthplace of wild grapes and the primary center of its culture. Wheat, legumes, flax, and oats evolved here (the oats Avena strigosa, with stable immunity to fungal diseases, survived in the wild in Spain on sandy soils). In the Mediterranean, the cultivation of lupine, flax, and clover began. A typical element of the flora was the olive tree, which became a crop in ancient Palestine and Egypt.

African. It is characterized by a variety of natural conditions from moist evergreen forests to savannas and deserts. At first, only local species were used in crop production, and then those introduced from America and Asia. Africa is the birthplace of all types of watermelon, the center of cultivation of rice and millet, yams, some types of coffee, oil and date palms, cotton and other cultivated plants. The origin of the tableware pumpkin kulebasa, cultivated everywhere in Africa, but unknown in the wild, raises questions. A special role in the evolution of wheat, barley and other grain plants belongs to Ethiopia, on whose territory their wild ancestors did not exist. All of them were borrowed by farmers already cultivated from other centers.

European-Siberian. It covers the territory of all of Europe, except the Iberian Peninsula, the British Isles and the tundra zone; in Asia it reaches the lake. Baikal. The emergence of sugar beet crops, red and white clovers, and northern, yellow and blue alfalfa is associated with it. The main significance of the center lies in the fact that European and Siberian apple trees, pears, cherries, forest grapes, blackberries, strawberries, currants and gooseberries were cultivated here, the wild relatives of which are still common in local forests.

Central American. It occupies the territory of North America, bounded by the northern borders of Mexico, California and the Isthmus of Panama. In ancient Mexico, intensive crop production developed with the main food crops being corn and some types of beans. Pumpkin, sweet potato, cocoa, pepper, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, shag and agave were also cultivated here. Nowadays, wild potato species are found in the center.

South American. Its main territory is concentrated in the Andes mountain system with rich volcanic soils. The Andes are the birthplace of ancient Indian varieties of potatoes and various types of tomatoes, peanuts, melon trees, cinchona, pineapple, rubber plant Hevea, Chilean strawberries, etc. In ancient Araucania, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) was cultivated, probably originating from the island of Chiloe. Neither the Peruvian nor the Chilean potatoes are known to exist in the wild and their origins are unknown. Long-staple cotton originated in South America. There are many wild types of tobacco here.

North American. Its territory coincides with the territory of the United States. It is particularly interesting primarily as the center of a large number of wild grape species, many of which are resistant to phylloxera and fungal diseases. The center is home to over 50 wild herbaceous species of sunflower and the same number of species of lupine, about 15 species of plums, large-fruited cranberries and highbush blueberries have been cultivated, the first plantations of which have recently appeared in Belarus.

The problem of the origin of cultivated plants is quite complex, since sometimes it is impossible to establish their homeland and wild ancestors.

Chapter IV

PHYSICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORSDISTRIBUTIONSCULTURALPLANTS

Soil and climatic differences within the territorially limited main centers of ancient agriculture played a subordinate role in the differentiation of cultivated plants here. Spreading in latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal directions, cultivated plants, without even leaving the framework of individual cultural and ethnic domains, stopped at their agronomic limits. The boundaries beyond which the labor costs for their cultivation became economically inexpedient, regardless of the competition of other crops. But the economic boundaries in the ranges of individual cultivated species also reflect, to a certain extent, climatic conditions. Individual cultivated plants, being out of competition or, conversely, lacking sufficient competitiveness in some climatic conditions, become less or more productive when entering others.

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Page 22 of 27

Hearths of ancient agriculture

The combination of all the above considerations provides an explanation for a number of strange features identified by the Soviet scientist Nikolai Vavilov during his study of the centers of ancient agriculture. For example, according to his research, wheat did not originate from one center, as historians claim, but has three independent places of origin for this culture. Syria and Palestine turned out to be the birthplace of “wild” wheat and einkorn wheat; Abyssinia (Ethiopia) is the birthplace of durum wheat; and the foothills of the Western Himalayas are the center of origin of soft varieties.

Rice. 68. Homeland of wheat according to N.I. Vavilov

1 – “wild” wheat and einkorn wheat;

2 – durum wheat varieties; 3 – soft wheat varieties.

Moreover, it turned out that “wild” does not mean “ancestor” at all!..

“Contrary to usual assumptions, the main bases of the nearest wild species... are not directly adjacent to the centers of concentration... of cultivated wheat, but are located at a considerable distance from them. Wild types of wheat, as research shows, are separated from cultivated wheat by the difficulty of crossing. These are undoubtedly special... species” (N. Vavilov, “Geographical localization of wheat genes on the globe”).

But his research was not limited to this most important result!.. In their process, it was discovered that the difference between wheat species lies at the deepest level: einkorn wheat has 14 chromosomes; “wild” and durum wheat – 28 chromosomes; soft wheat has 42 chromosomes. However, even between “wild” wheat and durum varieties with the same number of chromosomes there was a whole abyss.

As is known and as professional N. Vavilov confirms, achieving such a change in the number of chromosomes by “simple” selection is not so easy (if not almost impossible). If one chromosome split into two or, conversely, two merged into one, there would be no problems. After all, this is quite common for natural mutations, from the point of view of evolutionary theory. But to double and, especially, triple the entire chromosome set at once, methods and methods are needed that modern science is not always able to provide, since intervention is needed at the gene level!..

Rice. 69. Nikolay Vavilov

N. Vavilov comes to the conclusion that theoretically (we emphasize - only theoretically!!!) it is impossible to deny the possible relationship of, say, durum and soft wheat, but for this it is necessary to push back the dates of cultivated agriculture and targeted selection tens of thousands of years ago!!! And there are absolutely no archaeological prerequisites for this, since even the earliest finds do not exceed 15 thousand years in age, but already reveal a “ready-made” variety of wheat species...

However, the entire distribution of wheat varieties around the globe indicates that differences between them existed already at the earliest stages of agriculture! In other words, the most complex work on modifying wheat varieties (and in the shortest possible time!!!) had to be carried out by people with wooden hoes and primitive sickles with stone cutting teeth. Can you imagine the absurdity of such a picture?..

But for a highly developed civilization of gods, which clearly possessed genetic modification technologies (remember at least the legends and traditions about the creation of man using these technologies), obtaining the mentioned characteristics of different varieties of wheat is quite an ordinary matter...

Moreover. Vavilov found that a similar picture of “isolation” of cultivated species from the regions of distribution of their “wild” forms is observed in a number of plants - barley, peas, chickpeas, flax, carrots, etc.

And even more than that. According to the research of N. Vavilov, the overwhelming majority of known cultivated plants originate from only seven very limited areas of the main foci.

Rice. 70. Centers of ancient agriculture according to N.I. Vavilov

(1 – Southern Mexican; 2 – Peruvian; 3 – Abyssinian; 4 – Western Asian; 5 – Central Asian; 6 – Indian; 7 – Chinese)

“The geographic localization of the primary centers of agriculture is very unique. All seven foci are confined primarily to mountainous tropical and subtropical regions. New world foci are confined to the tropical Andes, old world foci - to the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, mountainous Africa, mountainous regions of Mediterranean countries and mountainous China, occupying mainly foothill areas. In essence, only a narrow strip of land on the globe played a major role in the history of world agriculture" (N. Vavilov, The problem of the origin of agriculture in the light of modern research").

For example, in all of North America, the southern Mexican center of ancient agriculture occupies only about 1/40 of the entire territory of the vast continent. The Peruvian outbreak occupies approximately the same area in relation to all of South America. The same can be said about most centers of the Old World. The process of the emergence of agriculture turns out to be downright “unnatural”, since with the exception of this narrow strip, nowhere (!!!) in the world there were even attempts to transition to agriculture!..

And one more important conclusion of Vavilov. His research showed that different centers of ancient agriculture, directly related to the emergence of the first human cultures, appeared virtually independently of each other!..

However, there is still a very strange detail. All these centers, which are, in fact, centers of ancient agriculture, have very similar climatic conditions of the tropics and subtropics. But…

“...tropics and subtropics represent optimal conditions for the development of the speciation process. The maximum species diversity of wild vegetation and fauna clearly gravitates towards the tropics. This can be seen especially clearly in North America, where southern Mexico and Central America, occupying a relatively insignificant area, contain more plant species than the entire vast expanse of Canada, Alaska and the United States taken together (including California)” (ibid.).

This directly contradicts the theory of “scarcity of food supply” as a reason for the development of agriculture, since under these conditions there is not only a multiplicity of species potentially suitable for agriculture and cultivation, but also an abundance of generally edible species that can fully provide for gatherers and hunters. There is a very strange and even paradoxical pattern: agriculture arose precisely in the most abundant regions of the Earth, where there were the least preconditions for famine. And vice versa: in regions where the reduction in the “food supply” could be most noticeable and should (by all logic) be a significant factor influencing human life, no agriculture appeared!..

In this regard, it was funny in Mexico - where one of the centers of ancient agriculture is located - to listen to the guides talk about what different parts of local edible cacti are used for. In addition to the possibility of preparing a lot of all kinds of dishes from these cacti (very tasty, by the way), from them you can extract (not even make, but just extract) something like paper, get needles for household needs, squeeze out nutritious juice from which local mash is prepared , And so on and so forth. You can simply live among these cacti, which require virtually no care, and not waste any time on the very troublesome cultivation of maize (i.e. corn) - a local grain crop, which, by the way, is also the result of very non-trivial selection and manipulation with the genes of their wild ancestors...

Rice. 71. Plantation of edible cacti

In the light of the considered features of the biochemistry of the gods, one can find a very rational, but also very prosaic explanation for both the fact that the centers of ancient agriculture were concentrated in a very narrow band, and the similarity of conditions in these centers. Of all the regions of the Earth, only in these centers there is a set of conditions that are optimal for the gods - representatives of an alien civilization.

Firstly. All centers of ancient agriculture are concentrated in the foothills, where the atmospheric pressure is obviously lower than on the low plains (note that, according to N. Vavilov’s conclusions, there are only secondary centers in the Nile Delta and Mesopotamia).

Secondly. The centers of ancient agriculture have the most favorable climatic conditions for harvest, which completely contradicts the official version of the transition of man to agriculture due to the need to provide food, since these regions are already the most abundant. But it ensures a high harvest of crops necessary for the gods.

And thirdly. It is in these areas that the chemical composition of the soil is most favorable for plant organisms rich in copper and poor in iron. For example, all zones of podzolic and soddy-podzolic soils of the Northern Hemisphere, stretching across all of Eurasia, are characterized by increased acidity, which contributes to the strong leaching of copper ions, as a result of which these soils are greatly depleted in this element. And in these zones there is not a single (!) center of ancient agriculture. On the other hand, even the chernozem zone, rich in all the elements necessary for plants, was not included in the list of these centers - it is located in a low-lying area, that is, in an area of ​​​​higher atmospheric pressure...

About 10 thousand years ago in the history of mankind, the greatest event took place, which received the worthy name of revolution. This “gray-haired” revolution had two important features. Firstly, a person has turned from a simple consumer into a producer (see article ““). Secondly, the duration of the revolution itself is unusual. It lasted for several thousand years!

The transition to a producing economy became possible thanks to the formation of important prerequisites:

1. By this time, quite advanced tools had appeared. Man has already accumulated quite a lot of knowledge about the environment.
2. Plants and animals suitable for domestication were at hand for humans to cultivate.

One of the strongest incentives for the development of the production economy was the change and impoverishment of the environment, which became less and less favorable for traditional hunting (see article ““). By this time, a real “hunting crisis” had arrived.

Thus, the productive economy gave man reliable and abundant sources of food that he himself could control. In return for hunting luck, man’s efforts and knowledge came to serve him. For the first time in history, man had the opportunity to provide himself with guaranteed food, which in turn contributed to an increase in the population and its further settlement around the globe.

Despite all the enormous positive significance of crop production, it also had negative features. Cultivated crop production provided fairly high yields, but plant products contained much less proteins and vitamins compared to animal products.

Where did the first centers of agriculture arise? It would seem that where the best natural conditions are! But in reality it turns out that this is not at all the case. Look at the map of the oldest centers of crop production in the world. It is clearly visible that these are all exclusively mountainous areas! Of course, conditions in the mountains are not better, but much worse, but this was precisely the most important incentive for the development of crop production. Where everything is safe, everything is in abundance, there is no need to invent something new. In the apt expression of K. Marx, “too wasteful nature “leads a person like a child in a leash.” It does not make his own development a natural necessity.”

Most cultivated plants come from species that grew in the mountains, where within a small area there are very large differences in natural conditions (including climatic ones). Not the most favorable conditions prevail, but this turns out to be the most important thing, because... The species growing here are distinguished by their extraordinary stability (“viability”) and great diversity. In addition, mountains, as a rule, provided reliable protection from aggressive neighbors, which “provided opportunities for long-term agricultural experiments.”

Many believe that it was in these foothill areas that the greatest blow to the environment was dealt; it was greatly depleted, that is, man was forced to engage in production, since natural possibilities had already been exhausted.

S. A. Semenov describes the reasons for the emergence of a productive economy in South-West Asia: “The combination of steppe valleys, oak forests and pistachio forests of South-Western Iran with wild wheat, barley, goats and sheep was the prerequisite that led ancient hunters and gatherers to gradual transition to a new type of economy... The era of such a semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral economy with a significant role of hunting and gathering lasted for 3-4 thousand years.”

It was from here that agriculture began to spread in Europe. Figure 10 shows its directions and periods of “coverage” of individual territories.

In the III-II millennium BC. e. in Eurasia and Africa, the emerging “agriculture” was divided into farming and livestock raising.

A sedentary lifestyle brought a person not only relief from everyday worries, but also new and unexpected difficulties. Massive diseases associated with vitamin deficiency and infections poured into people. Settlement has led to a sharp acceleration in deforestation and environmental pollution in general.

Despite the difficulties, the sedentary lifestyle quickly spread and settlements became more and more numerous. Of course, I want to know which settlement was the first. The first agricultural settlement is usually called the Jarmo site, which arose in the 7th millennium BC. e. in the foothills of the northwestern Zagros mountain range (in the northeast of modern Iraq). Of course, this is still the same South-West Asia!

Agriculture and animal husbandry continued to develop, and more and more new species of plants and animals were “domesticated” by humans. The process of establishing early “agricultural production” took several thousand years, and domestication took place throughout it. Figure 12 shows the periods of domestication of individual species of plants and animals, and their areas of origin are indicated. Please note that almost most of the plants come from mountainous areas.

The next few thousand years led to great changes in agricultural production. Truly revolutionary moments include the invention of the plow, which replaced the hand hoe, and the use of draft animals.

The entire history of primary human economic activity can be divided into four stages. The first of them was the birth of future agricultural production and the formation of prerequisites for its development. The second stage is the period of formation of the archaic economy, when there were no special tools, i.e., technology. There was extensive development of the economy through the use of more and more new territories. This is followed by a flourishing stage, when an agricultural and livestock economy took shape, taking a leading position in the world economy of that time. Agriculture is gradually becoming diversified, its different types are being formed: slash-and-burn, shifting and irrigated farming, transhumance (nomadic) and “homestead” (i.e. breeding of livestock) livestock farming. The heyday stage continued for a long time, until the advent of the industrial era (i.e., until the end of the 18th century). The fourth stage of development of primary human economic activity can be called the “stabilization” stage. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The role of commodity production has sharply increased. The “non-food sector” of the economy developed rapidly. Cities grew rapidly.

Gradually, by the Middle Ages, the production economy spread throughout the globe (except Australia). Slowly, step by step, as if along a chain, there was a transfer of “new technologies” from more economically civilized groups of people to less developed ones.

The chronology of the appearance of the first centers of agriculture and their territorial location makes it possible to see many geographical patterns.

It is clearly seen that all the first centers were located in the foothills and mountains, and only a few thousand years later the river valleys were covered by “agricultural civilization.” Further, also at intervals of several thousand years, agriculture “stepped” onto the coasts of inland seas, and even later, the oceans.

A particularly large role in the history of human culture belongs to the so-called great river civilizations that arose several thousand years BC. e.

What factors contributed to the development of the economy in these territories? A higher level of human development brought into play new factors, which were determined by the presence of:

1. fertile soils (alluvial);
2. natural boundaries that protected new economic centers (mountains, seas);
3. a single relatively compact territory, convenient for internal communications;
4. on the other hand, this same territory made it possible to provide food for a significant population.

In each of these territories, large rivers played a special role, being their economic “core”, a powerful unifying force. Specific natural conditions required a huge amount of labor from a person (a typical labor-intensive economy), pooling of efforts and division of labor (to increase its efficiency).

Despite some geographical differences between the great river civilizations, the type of economy that formed in them was very similar.

In agriculture, field cultivation, vegetable gardening and horticulture have received the greatest development; in animal husbandry, the breeding of pedigree and draft animals has received the greatest development.

The development of irrigation required enormous collective efforts (usually the entire community) and even the state.

As during the long subsequent period, trade was mainly external, and it was carried out with the Mediterranean territories. The first metal money appeared in the countries of the East in the form of various coins and bars.

At the turn of the last century and our era, a higher type of civilization emerged in the Mediterranean basin, which was called Mediterranean (it gradually transformed into European). The greatness and dominance of the Mediterranean civilization lasted for about 35 centuries - from the 20th century. BC e. and until the 15th century. n. e., up to the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. A typical Mediterranean civilization developed in Ancient Greece and Rome, although during this long period of history there were the rise of Crete, Byzantium and the city-republics of Northern Italy - Genoa, Florence.

Unlike previous civilizations (mountain and river), it was a typical maritime civilization that formed on the coast of an inland sea. Its formation became possible only when progress was made in navigation (technology, navigation). It is no coincidence that the Mediterranean Sea is called the “cradle of navigation”, because in this inland sea, in “greenhouse” conditions, the development of maritime affairs took place. The name of the sea itself suggests that it is surrounded on all sides by land. The coastline is very indented, which made it possible for ships not to lose sight of the shore while sailing. The sea itself was a good natural barrier from outside raids. There are practically no ebbs and flows in the Mediterranean Sea, which allowed even small ships to moor to the shore at any time.

The nature of the main economic relations within the Mediterranean has become significantly more complex compared to earlier river civilizations. Man became a powerful productive force, actively participating in all processes taking place in this territory.

Thus, the first maritime civilization in human history developed. Indians, Africans and Australian aborigines were rather loosely connected with the sea (with the exception, of course, of Oceania). Arabs, Indians, Chinese and even Japanese (inhabitants of the islands!) did not have such developed navigation as the Europeans. However, Europeans succeeded not only on the seas. During the existence of the Roman Empire, a network of land roads with inns and other transport “infrastructure” was created.

During the Roman Empire (see article ““), the productive economy reached a high level. Various fertilizers were widely used, and crop rotation was introduced into practice. Poultry farming developed in livestock farming, and extensive pastures were developed for livestock and fodder grasses were sown. Much attention was paid to the economic justification of agricultural production. So, in the 2nd century. BC e. The Roman scientist Varro made calculations of the profitability and profitability of the “agricultural sector”. He also spoke a lot about “the spiritual virtues of agriculture, which brings man closer to nature.”

According to archaeological data, the domestication of animals and plants occurred at different times independently in 7-8 regions. The earliest center of the Neolithic revolution is considered to be the Middle East, where domestication began no later than 10 thousand years ago. years ago. In the central regions of the World System, the transformation or replacement of hunting-gathering societies by agrarian ones dates back to a wide time range from the X to the 3rd millennium BC; in most peripheral regions the transition to a productive economy was completed much later.

Child examined the transition to agriculture using the example of only one, Western Asian, focus, but considered it within wide boundaries - from Egypt to Southern Turkmenistan. Following him, many modern authors consider the area designated by Child to be a standard for the study of the “Neolithic Revolution.” Until recently this had some justification. The fact is that in other regions of the world these processes remained unstudied, although it was assumed that they could have had their own old, early agricultural centers.

In the twenties and thirties of the 20th century, the outstanding Soviet botanist N.I. Vavilov and his colleagues managed to outline the boundaries of a number of primary centers of world agriculture. But this was only the first step towards knowledge. It was necessary to clarify their boundaries and identify cultural and historical specifics. A lot has been done in recent decades. The locations of most of the primary and secondary early agricultural centers are now known, their boundaries have been outlined, and a chronology has been developed - it is known how agriculture spread across the globe over time. Of course, discussions are still ongoing on all these issues, and many things will gradually become more and more clarified.

I think it would be useful to clarify the concept of primary and secondary foci. Primary agricultural centers are fairly large areas, areas where a whole complex of cultivated plants gradually developed. This is very important, because it was this complex that served as the basis for the transition to an agricultural way of life. Usually these outbreaks had a noticeable impact on the surrounding areas. For neighboring tribes who were ready to accept such forms of management, this was an excellent example and incentive. Of course, such powerful outbreaks did not arise immediately. This was probably the result of quite a long interaction between several primary microfoci, where the domestication of individual wild plants took place. In other words, the appearance of only individual cultivated plants was associated with microfoci, and entire complexes of such plants were associated with the foci. And then it is clear that microfoci should have arisen at the time that we called stage B, and foci - at the third, final stage B.

There were probably microfoci that did not become the basis for the formation of large foci, or at least did not play a big role in this. Some could, for one reason or another, die out, others could merge into larger, secondary centers that arose under the strong influence of neighboring more powerful agricultural centers.

With secondary foci, everything is also ambiguous. Of course, these are the areas where agriculture was finally formed after the penetration of cultivated plants from other areas. But it is likely that there were important prerequisites that contributed to the success of borrowing, that is, a situation typical of stage A developed. But there could also have been a micro-focus of early agriculture here (stage B), as, for example, in some eastern regions of what is now the United States . In addition, in new natural conditions, the primary complex of cultivated plants could change greatly; it is quite natural to assume that new species, unknown in the primary focus, were introduced in the number of cultivated plants. Finally, under favorable conditions, secondary outbreaks became even more significant than the primary ones, and, obviously, had the opposite effect on those who gave birth to them. It is known that the first civilizations often developed on the basis of secondary agricultural centers - Sumer, Egypt, ancient Indian civilization, Mayan city-states.

Now we can distinguish seven primary and about twenty secondary early agricultural centers. And yet it is absolutely necessary to talk about the main features. These features were the reason for the completely ambiguous, multivariate transition to an agricultural way of life. The yield of tuber crops is approximately ten times higher than that of cereals and legumes. This means that in order to obtain equally high yields of cereals and legumes, it was necessary to cultivate an area ten times larger, which naturally required much greater labor costs. Growing grains and legumes depleted the land more quickly than growing tubers, and this also added to the difficulties. And it was easier to work with tuberous plants; for example, they did not need to be protected as carefully as cereals and legumes. And it was easier to remove them - less people and their efforts were required: ripe tubers could be stored in the ground for months, and cereals and legumes had to be harvested in a short time.

But grains and legumes gave people a more balanced, so to speak, diet. With such a diet, as a rule, people were more likely to abandon the lifestyle dictated by hunting and gathering. More likely than those who grew root crops.

The sociocultural situation in which the transition to agriculture took place was also different in different centers. And this also influenced the pace and features of the transition. In the mountains of Mexico and South America, agriculture arose among itinerant hunters and gatherers; in Syria and Palestine, it arose among highly developed semi-sedentary hunters and gatherers; and in Southeast Asia and the Sahara-Sudan region, among highly developed tribes of fishermen. In many Asian centers, the development of agriculture was accompanied by the domestication of animals, and in many areas of the New World (except Central Andean), with the exception of dogs and birds, there were no domestic animals at all. Obviously, the introduction of cereals and legumes into the economy and the emergence of cattle breeding shortened the time of stage B.

These processes also progressed faster when agriculture gained strength among highly developed tribes of hunters, fishermen and gatherers. That is why agriculture gained dominance especially quickly in Western Asia, and more slowly in the mountains of Mexico. In the first case, this process took place in the VIII-VII millennia BC, and in the second, it lasted from the VIII-VI until the III-II millennia BC.

And one more important feature. If the emergence of agriculture occurred among a population with a highly efficient appropriating economy, its introduction did not lead to a fundamental change in existing social relations, but only intensified previously emerging trends.

In the pre-agricultural period, as in the early agricultural period, such societies had a developed tribal system, and early social differentiation existed. This appropriative economy, which was not much inferior to early agriculture in terms of labor productivity, contributed to this. For sago pickers and Papuan farmers, for example, it took 80-600 man-hours to obtain one million calories (for the former - 80-180), and for wandering hunters and gatherers - more than one thousand. At the same time, in terms of the complexity of their social structure, sago pickers sometimes even outstripped their neighboring farmers, and in New Guinea there are cases when they switched from engaging primarily in agriculture to sago mining, and at the same time the social organization became more complex. Something similar can be noticed between developed hunters, fishermen and gatherers, on the one hand, and early farmers, on the other, according to a number of demographic parameters - population growth and density, its age and sex structure, and so on.

The formation of a producing economy turned out to be more complex and more diverse. In different areas, this process occurred at different speeds and with ambiguous socio-economic consequences - in some cases the social organization did not change significantly, in others it changed quite radically. Something similar happened in the demographic sphere: on the one hand, conditions appeared for population growth, and on the other, the epidemiological situation worsened, and this, of course, adversely affected the health of ancient people and led to greater mortality. The complexity and ambiguity also lies in the fact that in highly developed societies of sedentary or semi-sedentary hunters, fishermen and gatherers, processes took place that were in many ways reminiscent of those that we record among early farmers.

neolithic civilization agriculture

The apogee of development of the appropriating economy of the early tribal community was the achievement of a relative supply of natural products. This created the conditions for the emergence of the two greatest achievements of the primitive economy - agriculture and cattle breeding, the emergence of which many researchers, following G. Child, call the “Neolithic revolution”. The term was coined by Child. Although agriculture and cattle breeding did not become the main branches of the economy for the majority of humanity in the Neolithic, and many tribes remained hunting and fishing, not even knowing agriculture as an auxiliary branch of production, yet these new phenomena in industrial life played a huge role in the further development of society.

For the emergence of a productive economy, two prerequisites were required - biological and cultural. It was possible to move to domestication only where there were plants or animals suitable for this, and only when this was prepared by the previous cultural development of mankind.

Agriculture arose from highly organized gathering, during the development of which man learned to take care of wild plants and obtain their new harvest. From here it was not far from real agriculture, the transition to which was facilitated both by the appearance of food supplies and the associated gradual development of a sedentary life.

There are two points of view on the question of the origin of agriculture: monocentric and polycentric. Monocentrists believe that the primary focus of agriculture was Western Asia, from where this most important innovation gradually spread to North-East Africa, South-East Europe, Central, South-East and South Asia, Oceania, Central and South America. The main argument of the monocentrists is the consistent emergence of agriculture in these areas; they also indicate that it was not so much different agricultural cultures that spread, but rather the idea of ​​agriculture itself. However, the paleobotanical and archaeological material accumulated to date makes it possible to consider the theory of polycentrism developed by N.I. Vavilov and his students, according to which the cultivation of cultivated plants independently arose in several independent centers of the subtropical zone, more justified. There are different opinions about the number of such centers, but the main ones, the so-called primary ones, can apparently be considered four: Western Asia, where no later than the 7th millennium BC. e. barley and einkorn wheat were cultivated; the Yellow River basin and adjacent areas of the Far East, where millet-chumiza was cultivated in the 4th millennium; Southern China and Southeast Asia, where by the 5th millennium BC. e. rice and some tubers were cultivated; Mesoamerica, where no later than 5-4 millennia, cultures of beans, peppers and agave, and then maize, arose; Peru, where beans have been grown since the 6th millennium, and pumpkin, peppers, maize, potatoes, etc., from the 5th to 4th millennia.

The initial cattle breeding dates back to approximately the same time. We saw the beginnings of it already in the late Paleolithic - Mesolithic, but in relation to this time we can only speak with confidence about the domestication of the dog. The domestication and domestication of other animal species was hampered by the constant movements of hunting tribes. With the transition to sedentism, this barrier fell away: osteological materials of the Early Neolithic reflect the domestication of pigs, sheep, goats, and possibly cattle.

The question of the place of origin of cattle breeding also remains a subject of debate between monocentrists and polycentrists. According to the first, this innovation spread from Western Asia, where, according to modern paleozoological and archaeological data, cattle, pigs, donkeys and, probably, the dromedary camel were first domesticated. According to the second, pastoralism arose among various groups of primitive humanity, and at least some species of animals were domesticated completely independently of the influences of the Central Asian focus: the Bactrian camel in Central Asia, the deer in Siberia, the horse in the European steppes, the guanaco and guinea pig in the Andes.
As a rule, the formation of a producing economy occurred in a complex form, and the emergence of agriculture was somewhat ahead of the emergence of cattle breeding. This is understandable: for the domestication of animals, a strong food supply was necessary. Only in some cases were highly specialized hunters able to domesticate animals, and, as ethnographic data show, in these cases there was usually some kind of cultural influence of settled farmers-pastoralists. Even the domestication of reindeer was no exception: although there is still debate about the time and centers of its domestication, the most well-reasoned point of view is that the peoples of Southern Siberia, already familiar with horse breeding, took up reindeer husbandry and moved to the northern regions unfavorable for horses.
With the emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding, a transition took place from the appropriation of finished products of nature to their production (reproduction) with the help of human activity. Of course, at first, the producing (reproducing) economy was in one way or another combined with the appropriating one, and in many areas of the ecumene, highly organized hunting and fishing remained for a long time the main or even the only type of economy. In general, the invention of agriculture and cattle breeding, associated with certain environmental conditions, increased the unevenness in the historical development of mankind. But the results of this were felt later and mainly outside the era of the primitive tribal community.

The discovery of copper metallurgy and its historical significance. The beginning of the craft.

The discovery of metal turned out to be a factor that determined not only the development and spread of metallurgy, but also many other economic and social changes that clan groups experienced. These changes are clearly visible in the history of tribes, for example, Eastern Europe of the 4th-2nd millennia BC. e. First of all, these are changes in the economy. The beginnings of agriculture and cattle breeding, which appeared in the Neolithic (for example, in the Bug-Dniester and Dnieper-Donets cultures), developed, which affected the expansion of the number of types of cultivated cereals and the beginning of the cultivation of some garden crops. Land-cultivating tools are being improved: the primitive horn hoe is being replaced by a plowing tool (of course, without a metal point yet), requiring the use of draft animals. With the onset of the Early Bronze Age at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. There are significant cultural changes. They can be traced across vast areas of Eurasia, but are especially noticeable in South-Eastern Europe. Here, bright Eneolithic cultures with painted ceramics disappear without a trace, and along with them, the system of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province collapses. These events are associated with the first powerful migration of the ancient Indo-European tribes, whose migration covered a vast area around the Black Sea. Many researchers prefer to see the role of the ancient Indo-Europeans as the bearers of the Kurgan cultures of the south of Eastern Europe, and above all, the Yamnaya cultural and historical community. An analysis of the vocabulary associated with the Indo-European “proto-language” indicates that it originated and developed among mobile cattle breeders and horse breeders who knew the wheel and wheeled transport, used vans on wheels, mastered the rudiments of agriculture, and developed the skills of processing copper and bronze. The way of life of the Yamnaya tribes most closely matches the reconstructed picture, so their connection with the ancient Indo-Europeans looks quite likely.

Formation of crafts. The formation of craft, as F. Engels wrote, prepared the way for the “second major division of labor,” which indicated significant progress in the development of production and social relations. It was universal in nature, appearing with enviable regularity in almost all areas of the world where the process took place class formation.Home crafts are the production of products in the household itself for domestic consumption. The craft primarily serves external customers and the market. Home crafts were available to every family or family group, and the craft was carried out by individual specialists who had certain knowledge and skills, and were often kept secret from other community members. Since artisans took a certain payment for their work, sooner or later, with the deepening of specialization, they had to break with agricultural labor - the separation of crafts from agriculture occurs.

The process of developing the craft first touched upon metallurgy, and due to the complexity of their occupation, metallurgists were professional artisans from the very beginning. At the initial stage of development of metallurgy, all or part of the community mined. The main products of this production were metal ingots intended for exchange. Metal products, as a rule, were made to order. Subsequently, due to the growing complexity of the metallurgical process, learning the craft most often occurred along the family line, therefore, the occupation of metallurgy and metalworking was increasingly associated with individual clans. At the same time, as a rule, knowledge was passed on from father to son, less often - from uncle to nephew. The next step was the transformation of metallurgists into a closed endogamous caste. Pottery production, weaving craft, etc. had essentially the same character.

The evolution of pottery is associated primarily with the improvement of pottery kilns (VII millennium BC) and the emergence of the potter's wheel (VI millennium BC). The use of special pottery forges contributed to the improvement of the firing of dishes and, therefore, made it possible to expand the range of products, and in addition, created the prerequisites for the development of mass production. Sometimes it is possible to trace a stable connection between the development of crafts and the process of formation of cities, and, consequently, the strengthening of control over them by the nobility. The great influence on the early development of the craft of interests that formed during that period is evidenced by the very range of products associated primarily with the socially prestigious sphere and religious rituals (magnificent jewelry, expensive weapons, ritual objects, rich dishes). During this period, many highly artistic products were made specially as burial goods or for hiding in treasuries.

In addition to metallurgists, in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC such specialists as arrow makers, tanners, carpenters, and bone carvers did not emerge. This was reflected in the peculiarities of the manufacture and decoration of funeral goods. Some of these primitive professions gained particular popularity.

Trypillian culture.

Chalcolithic archaeological culture, widespread in the 6th-3rd millennium BC. e. in the Danube-Dnieper interfluve, its greatest flowering occurred in the period between 5500 and 2750. BC e. The Trypillians were replaced by the Indo-European peoples of the Yamnaya culture.

History of discovery

The culture was called “Cucuteni” after the name of the village in Romania where the first artifacts associated with this culture were found. In 1884, Romanian researcher Theodore Burada, during excavations, found elements of pottery and terracotta figurines near the village of Cucuteni. After scientists became familiar with his find, it was decided to continue the excavations, which began at this site in the spring of 1885.

Research of monuments later attributed to the Trypillian culture took place in Western Ukraine in the 70s of the 19th century. Archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered the first Trypillian settlement on the territory of the Russian Empire in 1893-94. in Kyiv on Kirillovskaya street, 55 (now Frunze street). He presented his findings in August 1899 at the XI archaeological congress in Kyiv. In 1896-1897, several settlements with materials similar to the Kyiv finds were found by Khvoyka in the vicinity of the village of Tripolye, Kyiv povet (now the village of Tripolye, Obukhov district, Kyiv region). In Soviet, Russian, Ukrainian, Moldavian and other publications, the name “Tripillian culture” is common for monuments from the territory of Ukraine and Moldova.

Over time, it became clear that the archaeological Cucuteni culture on the territory of Romania and the Tripoli culture on the territory of the Russian Empire belong to the same cultural complex.

The Trypillian culture was widespread in the Chalcolithic era on the territory of right-bank Ukraine, in Moldova, in eastern Romania (Cucuteni), as well as in Hungary. Trypillian culture is Eneolithic (Copper-Stone Age).

According to the periodization of T. S. Passek, 3 stages of development of Trypillian culture are distinguished:

Early stage - (Trypillia A) - second half of the 6th - beginning of the first half of the 5th millennium BC. e. Dwellings are dugouts and small above-ground adobe “platforms.” Tools were made of flint, stone, horn and bone; a few copper items (awls, fishhooks, jewelry); only the Carbun treasure in Moldova is distinguished by its wealth of copper products. Kitchen ceramics have an admixture of fireclay, sand, a rough surface (pots, bowls), ornamentation in the form of notches, moldings, the dining room is decorated with fluted (pots, jug-shaped vessels, cups, scoops) and in-depth ornamentation (fruit bowls, pear-shaped vessels, lids). There are many figurines depicting a seated woman, fewer zoomorphic figures; clay armchairs, models of dwellings, and decorations are known. A single burial was discovered in a dwelling (Luka-Vrublevetskaya).

Middle stage - (Trypillya B - Trypillya C1) - second half of the 5th millennium BC. e. - 3200/3150 BC e. A number of settlements on the capes were fortified with ramparts and ditches, the area of ​​settlements increased, and sometimes dwellings were located in a circle. There are two-story houses. There are known models of dwellings with a gable roof and round windows. Flint processing is being improved, and tool-making workshops are appearing. The extraction of copper raw materials (ore and native copper), as well as metal smelting, begins in the territory between the Dniester and the Dnieper. The quantity and range of copper products (axes, knives, daggers, adzes, awls, jewelry) is increasing. Painted ceramics and other kitchen ceramics appeared - with an admixture of crushed shells or sand in the mass, striped smoothing and “pearl” ornaments. The shape of the figurines changes - standing figurines with a rounded head; along with female ones, there are also male images. Burials were found in dwellings.

Late stage - (Trypillia C2) - 3150-2650 BC. e. The territory of the Trypillian culture is expanding due to the advance of tribes to the north and east. Small settlements are located on fortified places, along with small above-ground dwellings there are dugouts. Metal mining and processing continues to develop. The amount of painted ceramics decreases, round-shaped dishes appear with an admixture of sand and crushed shells with ornaments along the edge of the rim (tucks, imprints, ropes, pins). Flint processing is being improved, there are many polished flint hatchets. Female figurines of elongated proportions with a schematized head and fused legs are common. Ground and burial mounds are known. In the Dnieper region, burials according to the rite of cremation were found. Funeral equipment: flint sickles, stone battle axes and hammers, copper daggers, awls, knives, jewelry, bracelets, piercings, copper, stone and glass beads; ceramics - spherical amphorae, cups, bowls, anthropomorphic figurines.

Trypillian culture is characterized by a high level of economic development and developed social relations. During the time of this culture, there was a significant increase in population density in its distribution area. Trypillian villages were most often located on gentle slopes suitable for farming, near water. Their area reached several dozen, and in some cases - 200-450 hectares. They consisted of above-ground adobe dwellings, sometimes separated by internal partitions or two-story. Part of the premises, which served as living quarters, was heated by stoves, open hearths, and had round windows; some were used as storage rooms. One or more families probably lived in such houses. The village was used for about 50 years, until the surrounding land was depleted (chernozems had not yet formed), then it was necessarily burned according to a special ritual, and the tribe moved to a new place. Tribes were ruled by leaders, and there were also supreme leaders of tribal unions.

Tools and weapons were made from animal bones, flint and stone, and sometimes copper; there is evidence of trade in flint blanks.

Trypillians grew chaffy wheat, chaffy and naked oats, millet, peas, barley, beans, grapes, cherry plums, and apricots. The slash-and-burn farming system was used to cultivate the land. They raised large and small cattle, pigs, and horses. They hunted with a bow and arrow. They used dogs for hunting. Pottery craft reached a high level. Trypillian ceramics occupied one of the prominent places in Europe at that time in terms of the perfection of dressing and painting.

Religion - agrarian cults, veneration of the Great Goddess, the sacred animal was the dog, important objects of worship were clay monocles, binoculars and trinoculars.

The Trypillians, in the Southern Bug basin, created giant proto-cities measuring 250-400 hectares with a population of up to 20 thousand people or more (Maidanetskoye - 270 hectares, Dobrovody - 250 hectares, Talyanka - 400 hectares), which is comparable to Kiev in the pre-Mongol era, when it was superior to many major centers of medieval Europe.