carpenters used saws to cut planks from the tree. From these
they built furniture, beams for buildings, or coffi ns.
Most people in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and
Australia followed one occupation: survival. Each person
needed to know many craft s in order to make what was
needed to stay a l ive. It is l i kely t hat t he peoples of t he Japa nese
islands began to develop specialized occupations aft er about
200 b.c.e.. Th e numerous works of pottery and the building
of wooden palisades and wooden palaces by the third century
c.e. suggest that potting and carpentry may have become spe-
cialized occupations by then.EUROPE
BY JUSTIN CORFIELD
Th roughout Europe during ancient times most people were
involved in farming, with the vast majority of families liv-
ing in their farmhouses, which oft en incorporated protective
walls encompassing the house as well as the shelters for live-
stock. In some areas a wider expanse of land was surrounded
by protective walls against outsiders and invaders, incorpo-
rating some farming or grazing land and gardens.
One of the main considerations for European farmers
was (and still is) the diff erence in climate f rom nor t h to sout h.
In the north farmers enjoyed short summers with abundant
water and very fertile soil. In the south, on the other hand,
long, hot summers, some water shortages, and poorer soil re-
sulted in the need for more intensive cultivation.
On ancient farms the whole variety of agricultural pur-
suits would have been followed: plowing fi elds; planting,
nurturing, and then harvesting crops; maintaining the farm;
using organic fertilizers; tending the animals; and slaugh-
tering them for eating. In addition, milking cows, churning
milk, baking bread, preparing food, and maintaining herb
gardens were tasks oft en done by women, with the children,
even small children, used for scaring away birds, watching
over grazing animals, or generally helping their parents and
family. In addition, women were oft en involved in spinning,
with both men and women operating weaving looms. Mem-
bers of the farming household made and decorated ceramic
vessels, baskets, tools, and weapons. Th e collection of fi re-
wood was a very time-consuming task.
Around 2000 b.c.e. we see the fi rst evidence for craft
specialization in ancient Europe; certain people minimized
their role in farming or gave it up completely to specialize in
making particular types of artifacts. Th e earliest specialists
were probably metalworkers. In each village there would also
have been blacksmiths and metalworkers who were capable of
dealing with copper and subsequently bronze and then iron.
Many of these men would have been involved in simple tasks,
such as making agricultural tools or simple weapons. Espe-
cially in towns, a number, such as the mirror makers in south-
ern Britain, became quite skilled at decorative work. Because
of the need for horses for transport and war, there were many
horse breeders as well as people involved in “breaking in” and
then looking aft er the animals. Th ere were also leather mer-
chants who engaged in treating leather products, including
saddles, reins, harnesses, and household items. Coopers, who
made barrels, and wheelwrights, who made carts, were also
important.
Th ere were also tribal chiefs, their families, adminis-
trators, and people in charge of collecting taxes. Th eir rolesMany of the islands of the Pacifi c Ocean are small
and hard, and as such offered the people who settled
them little opportunity to cultivate agriculture or live-
stock. They do, however, offer excellent access to the
ocean and to the thousands of types of fi sh there. As
soon as humans spread out from Papua New Guinea
to the smaller islands to the northeast, beginning in
approximately 28,000 B.C.E., fi shing became the prin-
cipal source of sustenance, marking them as some
of the earliest people on the planet to pursue fi sh.
Fossils show a huge range of fi sh and shellfi sh con-
sumed on the islands, from crab, lobster, and turtle
to three species of sharks. Since there are no signs of
fi shhooks from the Pleistocene, the general assump-
tion is that fi shing was done either by spearing or by
catching fi sh in motion in nets or traps.
Fishing was practiced throughout the Pacifi c Is-
lands, though different islands had different species
of fi sh, from cod in the temperate Chatham Islands to
the parrotfi sh that were overwhelmingly common in
more tropical waters. While abundance certainly had
much to do with the kind of fi sh that were sought,
there also developed over the centuries cultural tradi-
tions that imparted social preferences for some spe-
cies over others. For instance, among the people of
Kapingamarangi Atoll of Pohnpei, it is common to
hear stories about the various methods of pursuit of
the rainbow runner, even though that fi sh is small and
its population is certainly much less signifi cant to the
islanders’ eating habits than the grouper.
Of course, centuries of fi shing have led to the evo-
lution of different methods of catching fi sh. In lagoons
and inland freshwaters, spearing and bow-and-arrow
fi shing eventually gave way to baited hooks. Since
fi shing was such a signifi cant part of the oceanic life,
it is only natural that some cultures carved ornate
hooks that resemble works of sculpture. For ocean
fi shing, nets were the preferred method, manipulated
by crews in large canoes. There is evidence that as far
back as 2,000 years ago, individuals in small canoes
braved the ocean to fi sh individually, with hooks, for
larger, big-game fi sh, like marlin.FISHING
occupations: Europe 813