Definition: When archaeologists speak of a "secondary products revolution," they refer to a change in strategies for using animals and plants, in the general evolution of how we obtain food and continue to live. The earliest relationships we humans have with animals and plants is simply eating them; but during the early Holocene period a shift towards exploiting plants and animals for their other qualities was developed. Milk, blood, and wool are probably among the first products that we as humans developed; but also, of course, were the plow and the cart.
While V. G. Childe and Andrew Sherratt are the two scholars most associated with the theory, they never directly tested the idea against real data. The first major test of the theory was by Haskel Greenfield, who through the analysis of animal bones from SE European sites, discovered that there were major changes in domestic animal exploitation strategies coincident with the beginning of the post-Neolithic (3300 BC - Chalcolithic and Bronze Age) that indicated sheep, goats and cattle were being exploited for the first time for both their primary and secondary products on a larger scale.
While V. G. Childe and Andrew Sherratt are the two scholars most associated with the theory, they never directly tested the idea against real data. The first major test of the theory was by Haskel Greenfield, who through the analysis of animal bones from SE European sites, discovered that there were major changes in domestic animal exploitation strategies coincident with the beginning of the post-Neolithic (3300 BC - Chalcolithic and Bronze Age) that indicated sheep, goats and cattle were being exploited for the first time for both their primary and secondary products on a larger scale.
Sources
Thanks to Haskel Greenfield for assistance with this entry.
Fall, Patricia L., Steven E. Falconer, and Lee Lines 2002 Agricultural intensification and the secondary products revolution along the Jordan Rift. Ecology 30(4):445-482.
Sherratt, Andrew. 1966. Secondary products revolution. Pp/ 632-634 in Brian Fagan (ed), The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
Also Known As: SPR
