An Archaeobotanical Perspective on the Relationship between Grain Crops, Non-Grain Crops and States

Jade D'Alpoim Guedes

doi:10.1017/s0959774319000350

Jade D'Alpoim Guedes

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959774319000350

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Abstract

Asking the public to question the assumption that our current systems of governance and food production represent the apex of an evolutionary trajectory is timely and well warranted.

Highlights

Asking the public to question the assumption that our current systems of governance and food production represent the apex of an evolutionary trajectory is timely and well warranted
Drawing on more than half a century of research in anthropology and archaeology, he argues that early states are ‘ecologically and politically and prone to collapse and fragmentation’ (p. 27)
I challenge the idea that individuals who reside in what Scott calls the barbarian zone employ ‘few if any standing grain crops’

Summary

Introduction

Asking the public to question the assumption that our current systems of governance and food production represent the apex of an evolutionary trajectory is timely and well warranted. We have what Scott calls the ‘barbarian zone’, characterized by the type of production illegible to states: ‘hunting, slash-and-burn cultivation, shellfish collection, foraging, pastoralism, roots and tubers, and few if any standing grain crops.

Results

Conclusion