Low-level food production

Societies with low-level food production economies occupy the vast and diverse middle ground between hunting-fishing-foraging and agriculture. Efforts by Ford, Harris, Rindos, Zvelebil, and others to characterize this 'in-between' territory are discussed, and a new conceptual framework is proposed. Domestication, the central landmark of this middle ground, is situated well away from the boundaries with hunting-gathering and agriculture, and separates low-level food production economies into two broad categories. Key issues and questions concerning societies with low-level food production, both with and without domesticates, are discussed. Hunter-gatherer and agriculture boundary zones on either side of the middle ground are considered, as one the developmental pathways that traverse them.