An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s6.2

v1.c9.s6.2

Braidwood and Home, 1960, for the first time tested the hypothesis relating to the origins of and the processes leading to food production and opined that the causes of the move towards the development of an agricultural way of life ‘occurred as the culmination of the ever-increasing cultural differentiation and specialization of human communities.’ As a result of his fieldwork it is being increasingly realized that the following factors would perhaps have played a causative role in the shift from hunting and gathering to food production: (a) demographic stresses, showing a tendency to settle more or less permanently at one place in a locality; (b) a proper environment; and (c) a distinctive level and type of exploitative technology.