In the eastern United States, most of the native domesticates are plants that thrive on the disturbed soils of major river floodplains. Smith believes that when people harvested those plants from the wild and brought the seeds back to their campsites, it opened up new niches for the plants. The disturbed soils where people lived provided a new type of disturbed environment and the plants started growing near campsites. Again, people noticed this accidental cultivation and began to intentionally plant seeds. Barbara Bender and Brian Hayden both see cultivation as a way to increase social power.
Archaeologists debate the question constantly.
Most people today agree that not only are there probably multiple causes that combine environmental, social, and demographic factors, but that the causes may well be very different from region to region. In class, we discussed at length the question of intentionality . Certainly, these theories all include some level of human intent. People can t accidentally plant seeds year after year, saving seed between growing seasons. They have to intend to save seed, intend to till the earth, etc.