To c. 600 B.C.E
 In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about
10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in new ways, while
others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture appeared in several
different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture crated a more reliable,
but not necessarily more diversified, food supply. Agriculturalists also had a
massive impact on the environment through intensive cultivation of selected
plants to the exclusion of others, through the construction of irrigation
systems, and through the use of domesticated animals for food and for labor.
Populations increased; family groups gave way to village life and, later, to urban
life with all its complexity. Patriarchy and forced labor systems developed,
giving elite men concentrated power over most of the other people in their
societies. Pastoralism emerged in parts of Africa and Eurasia. Pastoral peoples
domesticated animals and led their herds around grazing ranges. Like
agriculturalists, pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified than hunterforagers. Because pastoralists were mobile, they rarely accumulated large
amounts of material possessions, which would have been a hindrance when
they changed grazing areas. The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become
an important conduit for technological change as they interacted with settled
populations.
 Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the
development of new and more complex economic and social systems.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural
villages emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean.
Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile
River Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the
Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea, Mesoamerica,
and the Andes.
Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands of AfroEurasia.
Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core
regions, depending on available local flora and fauna.
Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land
and create the water control systems needed for crop production.
These agricultural practices drastically impacted environmental
diversity. Pastoralists also affected the environment by grazing large
numbers of animals on fragile grasslands, leading to erosion when
overgrazed.
 Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies.
(How?)
A.
B.
C.
Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food
supplies, which increased the population
Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor,
including new classes of artisans and warriors, and the development
of elites.
Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural
production, trade, and transportation.
 Required examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade, and
transportation:





D.
Pottery
Plows
Woven textiles
Metallurgy
Wheels and wheeled vehicles
In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accumulated
wealth, creating more hierarchical social structures and promoting
patriarchal forms of social organization. (Theocracies emerge)
 Agriculture was not
a sudden
transformation.
•The term,
“revolution,” is often
used because of the
magnitude of
change involved.
The Neolithic Revolution
(8000BCE-3500BCE)
•Sometimes termed the
Agricultural Revolution.
•Humans begin to slowly domesticate plant
and animal stocks in Southwest Asia.
•Agriculture requires nomadic peoples to
become sedentary.
•Populations begin to rise in areas where
plant and animal domestication occurred.
Domestication can be defined as a primitive form of
genetic engineering in which certain plants and animals
are brought under human control, their objectionable
characteristics eliminated, their favorable ones enhanced
and in the case of animals, can be induced to reproduce
in captivity. --Nagle, p. 3.
Domestication of Animals
 Farming developed
first in the Middle
East, in an arc of
territory running from
present-day Turkey to
Iraq and Israel (Fertile
Crescent)
 Barley and wild wheat
were abundant
 Farming then spread to




parts of India, north
Africa, and Europe.
Agriculture spread
much later to Africa.
Agriculture was
invented separately in
the Americas much
later (around 5000
B.C.E.)
Followed by Southeast
Asia and Japan
And then Central Asia
Independent Development vs.
Cultural Diffusion
• Areas of Independent Development:
1. SW Asia (wheat, pea, olive, sheep, goat)
2. China & SE Asia (rice, millet, pig)
3. Americas (corn, beans, potato, llama)
• Areas of Agriculture Through Diffusion:
1. Europe
2. West & Sub-Saharan Africa (?)
3. Indus River Valley (rice cultivation)
The need for storage facilities for grains and seeds
prompted the development of basket-making and
pottery.
Agricultural needs also encouraged certain kinds of
science, supporting the human desire to learn more
about weather or flooding.
Discovery of metal tools (4000 B.C.E.) in the Middle
East
•Copper was the first metal, followed by bronze –
a more resilient metal.
Sedentary Agriculturalists Dominate
•High starch diets slowly allow
Sedentary populations to grow.
•First plow invented c.6000BCE;
crop yields grow exponentially by 4000BCE.
Pop. grows from 5-8 million to 60-70 million.
•Eventually agricultural populations begin to
spread out, displacing or assimilating
nomadic groups; farming groups grow large
enough for advanced social organization.
First Towns Develop
•Towns require social differentiation:
metal workers, pottery workers, farmers,
soldiers, religious and political leaders.
(POSSIBLE B/C FOOD SURPLUSES!)
•Served as trade centers for the area;
specialized in the production of certain unique
crafts
•Beginnings of social stratification (class)
First Towns Develop
Catal Huyuk
Modern Turkey
Jericho
Modern Israel
First settled:
c. 7000BCE
First settled:
c. 7000BCE
Towns Present Evidence of:
•Religious structures
(burial rites, art)
•Political & Religious
leaders were the same
•Still relied on limited
hunting & gathering for
food
Roles of Women
•Women generally lost status under maledominated, patriarchal systems.
•Women were limited in vocation,
worked in food production, etc.
•Women may have lacked the
same social rights as men.
Metal Working: From Copper to Bronze
•Early settlements gradually
shifted from copper to the
stronger alloy bronze by
3,000BCE—ushers in the
Bronze Age!
•Metal working spread
throughout human communities
slowly as agriculture had.
 6600 BCE – Copper used in Europe, Asia
 Metalurghy – extracting from raw ore and metalwork – crafting –
quite difficult
 Jewelry predates 6400 BCE, but tools not efficient until later
 3500-3000 BCE – Bronze from copper/tin discovered in Middle East,
Balkans, Southeast Asia – later part Neolithic Age – Bronze Age
 Americas and Asia never had a bronze age – tin scarce
 Scarcity of tin pushed need for international trade
 1500-1200 BCE – Iron Age – Hittites
 Spread to Europe in 1000 BCE, Africa in 500 BCE
 Possible to cultivate hard packed soil/more land
 Wave of invasions from outside Mesopotamia
Further Technological Advancements
Wheeled Vehicles
•Saves labor, allows transport of
large loads and enhances trade
Potters Wheel (c.6000BCE)
•Allows the construction of more
durable clay vessels and artwork
Irrigation & Driven Plows
•Allows further increase of food
production, encourages pop. growth
Early Human Impact on the Environment
•Deforestation in places where copper,
bronze, and salt were produced.
•Erosion and flooding where agriculture
disturbed soil and natural vegetation.
•Selective extinction of large land animals
and weed plants due to hunting &
agriculture.
•on 32 acres
•Houses made of mud bricks set in timber frameworks
crowded together with few windows
•People spent time on rooftops to experience daylight
and make social contact (broken bones)
•Houses were lavishly decorated with hunting scenes
•Religious images of powerful male hunters and mother
goddesses representing agricultural fertility
•Some trade with hunting people who lived in
surrounding hills
•Large villages like Catal Huyuk ruled over smaller
communities, bringing about specialization in
politics and organization of military.
•Accumulation of wealth initiated social classes.
•By 3000 B.C.E., Catal Huyuk had become part of a
civilization.
 Developed writing,
starting with cuneiform
(writing based on wedgelike characters) in the
Middle East around 3500
B.C.E.
 One of the earliest written
records from the Middle
East is a recipe for making
beer.
 People in civilizations looked down on any society
lacking in civilization.
 The ancient Greeks coined the word “barbarian” to
describe such cases.
 As a result of labels like this, it is easy to think of much
human history as divided between civilizations and
primitive nomads.
Questions
A. Life was easier for early farmers than it was for those
B.
C.
D.
E.
in hunter-gather communities
Early farming settlements were contaminated with
human wasted and often ravaged by disease
A dependable food supply helped people to survive
drought
The focus of religion shifted to deities representing
Mother Earth and elements like fire, wind, and rain
Members of early farming communities ate a less
varied and nutritious diet.
 Farmers in settled comunities probably had to work
harder than their predecessors as they had to clear
land and invest a lot of time and energy cultivating
land that often yielded meager resutls.
 Characteristics and benefits of early agricultural
societies?
 Importance of bronze? Iron?
 Reasons why cities are important to civilization?