PATTERNS OF

SUBSISTENCE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Identify the Five categories of patterns of subsistence and describe the major activities associated

with obtaining food in each system.

• Explain the difference between wild and domesticated resources and how plants and animals are

domesticated.

• Analyze the ways in which the global agricultural system separates producers from consumers and

contributes to wealth differences.

• Appraise the ways in which human intervention in the environment has made it difficult to separate

the “natural” from the human-influenced environment.

 PATTERN
A particular way in
which something is
done or organized, or
in which
something happens
SUBSISTENCE

A non-monetary
economy which relies
on natural resources
to provide for basic
needs, through
hunting, gathering,
and subsistence
agriculture.
THEREFORE…

PATTERNS OF SUBSISTENCE

Is a strategy that means by which

a society satisfies its basic needs for survival.
This encompasses the attainment of nutrition,
water, and shelter.
THERE ARE 5
CATEGORIES IN
PATTERNS OF
SUBSISTENCE:
1. FORAGING
FORAGING
Foraging is the oldest subsistence pattern, with all
human societies relying on it until approximately 10,000
years ago.

Foraging societies obtain the majority of their

resources directly from the environment without
cultivation. Also known as Hunter-gatherers, foragers may
subsist through collecting wild plants, hunting, or fishing.
2. HORTICULTURE
 HORTICULTURE
These methods allow for higher population densities,
but still depend on the availability of plentiful,
undeveloped land.
A common type of horticulture is slash-and-
burn cultivation, wherein regions of wild foliage are cut
and burnt, producing nutrient-rich biochar in which to
grow crops.
3. PASTORALISM
PASTORALISM
Pastoralism is the herding and breeding of domestic
animals. Pastoralism is common in arid geographic regions,
or those with inconstant and fluctuating rainfall.

In such places, raising herbivores is often a more

reliable lifestyle than farming, and the livestock convert wild
vegetation that is indigestible to humans into meat and dairy
products.
4. AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture is the intensive maintenance and
cultivation of land for food production.

It is distinct from horticulture in its use of more

diverse and complex technology to plant, irrigate, plow,
fertilize, and harvest from considerably larger tracts of
land.
5. INDUSTRIAL FOOD PRODUCTION
INDUSTRIAL FOOD PRODUCTION

Industrial food production is a variation of

agriculture common among industrial societies.

It is characterized by even greater, energy

intensive use of modern mechanical, chemical, and
biological technologies to maximize production.
DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS AND
PLANTS
DOMESTICATION

Domestication is the process of adapting wild

plants and animals for human use.
Domestic species are raised for food, work, clothing,
medicine, and many other uses.

Domesticated plants and animals must be raised

and cared for by humans. Domesticated species are not
wild.
 WILD
DOMESTICATION
• The domestication of wild
animals, beginning with the dog,
heavily influenced human
evolution.
• These creatures, and the
protection, sustenance, clothing,
and labor they supplied, were
key factors that allowed our
nomadic ancestors to form
permanent settlements.
HOW ANIMALS ARE
DOMESTICATED?
Domestication
happens through selective
breeding.

Individuals that
exhibit desirable traits are
selected to be bred, and
these desirable traits are
then passed along to
future generations.
WHAT ARE THE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS?
THERE ARE 14 LARGE ANIMAL HAVE BEEN
DOMESTICATED:
• GOAT
• SHEEP
• COW
• PIG
• HORSE
• ARABIAN CAMEL
• BACTRIAN CAMEL
• LLAMA AND ALPACA
• DONKEY
• REINDEER
• WATER BUFALLO
• YAK
• BALI CATTLE
• MITHAN
 • Plant domestication is the process
whereby wild plants have been
evolved into crop plants through
artificial selection.
• This usually involves an early
hybridization event followed by
selective breeding.
PLANT
DOMESTICATION
HOW PLANTS DOMESTICATED?

There are three process of

domestication in plants

• ARTIFICIAL SELECTION
• CROSS-BREADING
• GENETICALLY SIMILAR
REFERENCES
Haviland, William; Prins, Harald; McBride, Bunny; Walrath, Dana (2014). "Seven". Cultural Anthropology: The
Human Challenge (14 ed.). Wadsworth CENGAGE Learning. pp. 151–173. ISBN 978-1-133-95742-3.

Jump up to:a b c d Spradley, James; McCurdy, David (2008). Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural
Anthropology (13 ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 83–87. ISBN 978-0205645855.

Lee, Richard; DeVore, Irven (1968). Man the Hunter (1 ed.). Aldine Transaction. ISBN 9780202330327.

Reed, Richard (2009). Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors: Indigenous Models for International Development (2
ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 39–52. ISBN 9780205628117.

Peoples, James; Bailey, Garrick (2009). Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (8 ed.). Wadsworth
CENGAGE Learning. pp. 130–133. ISBN 978-0-495-50874-8.

Jump up to:a b Barlett, Peggy (1987). "Industrial Agriculture in Evolutionary Perspective". Cultural
Anthropology. 2 (1): 137–150. JSTOR 656400.