SEDENTARY: meaning and characteristics

Thousands of years ago, human beings are sedentary, we went from nomadic to sedentary life and it was one of the main factors that make us the that we are today and it is that, thanks to the passage to sedentarism, human beings became beings social. To better understand the main elements, in this lesson from a Teacher we must talk about the meaning of sedentary and characteristics.

Index

1. Sedentary meaning: easy definition
2. Why Humans Became Sedentary
3. What are the characteristics of sedentary lifestyle?

The sedentary lifestyle It is the way of life of a family, tribe, society, etc., which is based on stay in one place and establish this area as the only home. Is what contrary to nomadismSince this is based on constant movement without having a fixed seat and, as we have just seen, sedentary lifestyle is the opposite.

The transition from nomadism to sedentary lifestyle is considered one of the most important moments in the history of mankind,

Not only are human beings sedentary, but there is a huge variety of animals who, like us, have a sedentary lifestyle living in the same area throughout their lives and without changing their home. Many of these animals have been domesticated by humans for their similarities to our sedentary lifestyles.

We must bear in mind that, although it is usual that the sedentary way is chosen, sometimes it does not happen like that, existing Peoples who have been forced to take this way of life, such as Bedouins, Romanian Gypsies or Tibetans nomads.

Sedentary life was closely linked to emergence of agriculture, since it was one of the main reasons why the human population could stop depending on what nature gave them and start producing their own agricultural products.

Despite this, the reality is that the first sedentary peoples predated the origin of agriculture. These first sedentary peoples appeared during the Superior paleolithic in what is currently Czech Republic and on the plains of Eastern Europe. They were areas that, due to their enormous amount of resources, seem to have been used for parking in a single place even without agriculture.

The sedentary population creates a larger population, since having a fixed place allows a greater facility to have children; For this reason, this greater amount of resources made it difficult for society to be maintained through hunting and gathering. In this situation, human beings were able to create agriculture and livestock, vital jobs for get a lot of food without having to move around the regions.

Slowly, the world population was becoming sedentary, since the advances of agriculture were passing from some human groups to others until occupying a large part of the world population. Some of the first peoples to become sedentary were the natufian culture in the Middle East, the Jomon culture in Japan, or an incredible number of different towns in the Scandinavian area.

The emergence of so many sedentary peoples caused the origins of first cities on the planet and, over the years, this evolved until the emergence of great cultures, creating huge civilizations on all continents.

Image: Slideshare

To end this lesson on the meaning of sedentary and characteristics, we must talk about the main elements that define sedentary people and, thanks to this, differentiate them from nomads. The main characteristics of sedentary are as follows:

• The concept of the blood family is created, but also the idea of ​​a community made up of people living in the same location.
• Not only did the agriculture and livestock, but the emergence of these helped people to perform other tasks such as crafts or trade. It is where the concept of specialization and work is born, being able to choose what to do since they are not necessarily hunters and gatherers.
• It begins to transform nature, changing the surrounding environment to adapt it to the needs of the population, arising the felling of trees, the construction of walls, the first large orchards or the destruction of nature to build houses or buildings.
• Houses are created in order to protect themselves, looking for a kind of artificial cave that can protect humans from natural elements such as rain.
• The first social classes as a consequence of the birth of the so-called societies, evolving over the years depending on the civilization.
• It begins to tame animals, looking for quiet species that make life easier for human beings, some of the first domestic animals being dogs, cows and sheep.

• They begin to use the first languages, necessary for large groups of human beings.

• The idea of create common elements, which are used to differentiate the different human groups from each other, with elements such as religion, a monarch, a language of their own, etc.

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Alimen, M. H., & Steve, M. J. (Eds.). (1989). Prehistory (Vol. 1). Siglo XXI de España Editores.

García, J. V. (1998). The prehistory of the tributary mode of production. Hispania, 58(200), 823-839.