Production of Food in Relation to Morgan and Rappaport’s Theories
Morgan theory explains how man’s production of food is related to his evolutionary development. According to this theory, during the early period of savagery, the earliest evolutionary ages, man possessed less developmental knowledge in how to get food. This fact, therefore, drove human beings to extract food directly from the environment; they could find sources of food without many complications. Some of these minor complications include modified methods of gathering or preparing food. Hence, human beings relied on fruits, roots, and nuts for food.
The middle age period of savagery marked an improvement in the evolutionary development of human beings. They learned more sophisticated methods of acquiring food rather than just gathering it directly from the environments. This step forward might have been caused by their curiosity, which facilitated the need for food diversity. This age also marked an onset of human beings having bigger families; consequently, there was a need for an increase for food gathered. This made people think outside the plants products’ box. In this age, human beings learned how to fish; therefore, they added fish to their diet. The use of fire to prepare food also promoted fish feeding since it was uncomfortable to eat raw fish. Apart from preparation, the fire was used to preserve the fish for food reserve.
During the late stages of savagery, introduction of bows and arrows facilitated hunting and hence caused an increased diversity of food. Coupled with the presence of fire, it was more prestigious to feed on meat from wild animals. In addition, because of the development of the Punaluan family mode of living, there emerged a need to have extra food in case there was a shortage of it in the future. Fire enabled human beings to preserve the hunted meat.
The older age of barbarism, which was characterized by the discovery of pottery, marked another milestone in the nutrition of human beings. Pottery allowed them to gather raw food and cook it using the fire. Since the land was owned communally, it was easy to practice crop farming. The iron ores were yet to be discovered; hence, the most likely mode of cultivation was using hoes made of stone blades. The more developed family organization provided an appropriate way of getting labor. The Turanian and Gandowanian systems, which were spearheaded by goodwill, provided a good environment for land to be used and managed communally with fewer conflicts.
In the middle period of barbarism, the western hemisphere adopted domestication of animals while the eastern hemisphere started crop farming using irrigation. This provided human being with more food, as well as increased diversity. In this age, discovery of pottery also came in hand since most of the food products gathered using these modes could not be consumed directly.
Manufacture of iron ore in the late period of barbarism was extremely important to the nutritional evolution of man. Since there was an increased mode of personal ownership of land, people increased food production to avoid shortages. Iron ores allowed them to cultivate bigger pieces of land in relatively less time.
Invention of the phonetic alphabet followed by production of literary record in the civilization age promoted communication and accurate accountability on food production. It enabled people to produce more food through coordination. It also helped them in trading food and exchanging it for other products, which they were unable to produce themselves. Literary records helped people to keep good track of food reserve. Increased production was also promoted by the desire of people to earn a lot of wealth.
RAPPAPORT’S THEORY
Rappaport’s theory tries to assess the relationship of pig with the human environment and its effect on the ecosystem. Among the Tsembaga, pigs were used to redistribute land. This dictated how much land one person owned and hence, the amount of food he could produce in his individual piece of land.
Apart from land redistribution, these animals were also used to regulate the frequency of fights. Naturally, fights affect the production of food as food products were wasted. In addition, fight reduced the labor force cultivation. Hence, pigs were fundamental in food production. Pigs were also used to maintain the biotic communities, which ensured that an ecological imbalance was avoided. This facilitated production of a wider variety of food without favoritism of pone food or any other type.
Type of Food in Relation to Rappaport and Morgan’s Theories
MORGAN’S THEORY
During the early stages of evolution, there was less use of tools and equipment. Note that, in the earliest savagery period, there were no tools; hence, a man relied on food extracted (gathered) directly from the environment. The middle savagery period led to the development of fishing hence an increase in the fish diet. Fire also helped in preparation and preservation of fish. The late period of savagery was marked by the invention of bows and arrows, which allowed man to hunt animals. This made meat be included in their diet. Fire also helped them in preparation and preservation of the meat.
During the early barbarism period, pottery allowed people to cook the food they gathered. Introduction of domestication of animals in the middle barbarism period (in the western hemisphere) ensured that people got dairy products, as well as meat directly from the animals, as opposed to hunting. In the eastern hemisphere, irrigation facilitated the increased crop farming hence an increase in the amount and diversity of food. The late period of barbarism, which marked the introductory use of iron ores, promoted crop farming.
RAPPAPORT’S THEORY
Since pigs were used to regulate and maintain the biotic communities, they ensured that there was no production of one crop in excess. This fact, therefore, allowed for food diversification in the early human communities.
