Lecture 2
Before agriculture, humans were huntergatherers
 By 1900, hunter-gatherer societies were restricted to
small areas that were too dry, too cold or too wet for
agriculture.
 In good areas, people of hunter-gatherer societies don't
have to learn to plant.
 Some gatherers do plant seeds. Some gatherers replant
parts of root crops.
 Most cultures are based on seeds, not root crops,
although many root crops are important in the lowland
tropics.
 Some gatherers also irrigate.
 Gatherers learned how to cook or otherwise detoxify
food plants.
99% of mankind’s existence on
Earth has been as a HUNTER &
GATHERER!
A 19th century engraving of an Indigenous
Australian encampment.
Ice age hunters and gatherers
Paleolithic Societies
The Technology of Paleolithic Societies
 Early tools - wood, bones, animal skins, and stone,
 Tools provided shelter, protection, clothing and food.
 Tools used to build tents, huts, wooden and stone
structures.
 Fire for light and warmth
 First weapons included rocks and clubs, knives,
spears, axes, and the bow and arrow.
 Mats and baskets were used to carry nuts, berries, and
plants.
Social Organization During Paleolithic Age
 Family Unit
 Extended families clustered together, forming
clans bound by ties of kinship.
 Larger groups such as bands and tribes.
 Social groups sustained themselves by hunting
and gathering (foraging).
 Most hunter-gatherer societies were mobile or
nomadic.
 Coordination and teamwork were needed to hunt
large creatures and wage war.
Their tools
Social Organization During Paleolithic Age
 Gender Division of Labor
 Men hunted, made war, and performed heavy labor.
 Women gathered nuts, berries, and plants; prepared
food; maintained home; and tended children.
 Some historians believe women and men were
basically equal.
Religion of Paleolithic Societies
 Worshipped gods or deities.
 Practiced a variety of religious rituals.
 Buried their dead.
 Made sacrifices to gods and spirits
 Performed various ceremonies
Paleolithic Societies
 Oldest cave
paintings
discovered to date
are 16,000 years
old.
Lascaux caves, France
Intellectual Characteristics of Paleolithic
Societies
 Humans expressed
themselves in art and
music.
 The first known
musical instruments
are flutes from 30,000
years ago.
Divje Babe flute : cave bear femur
Agricultural Revolution or Agricultural
Transition?
 Agriculture was not
a sudden
transformation.
•The term,
“revolution,” is often
used because of the
magnitude of
change involved.
Why Change?
 Most evidence suggests
that hunters-gatherers
resisted agriculture as
long as they could.
 Why?
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.
Development and Spread of Agriculture
 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
Development and Spread of Agriculture
 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.)
 Followed by Southeast
Asia and Japan
 And then Central Asia
Problems and Advantages
 food supply is at the mercy of the
elements
 food supply is more varied and healthy
 food supply requires less work to
acquire
 Non-nomadic lifestyle avoids disease
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)
Agriculture Prompted New Ideas and Techniques
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.) in the Middle
East
•Copper was the first metal, followed by bronze –
a more resilient metal.
Neolithic Pottery
Sedentary Agriculturalists Dominate
•High starch diets slowly allow
Sedentary populations to grow.
•First plow invented c.6000BC;
crop yields grow exponentially by 4000BC.
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.
Grains grinding
Domestic plants? (sedentary
agriculture)
 four grasses: wheat, maize, rice,
sugar
 starches: potatoes, yam, manioc,
banana
 legumes: lentils, peas, wetches,
beans, peanuts, soybeans
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. 7000BC
First settled:
c. 7000BC
Surplus Food and the Specialization of Labor
 Emergence of villages and towns
 Discoveries at Çatal Hüyük, Turkey, occupied 7250-5400
BC
 Tremendous range of manufactured products
 Pottery, Jewelry, Textiles, Copper tools
 Development of crafts
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
3,000BC—ushers in the Bronze
Age!
•Metal working spread
throughout human communities
slowly as agriculture had.
Social Organization: Villages
 nuclear family: man, woman, children
 extended family: two or more married
couples and their children
 clans: groups of families
 tribes: inhabitants of the villages of a
given region
Extended Family
 more suitable for village economic life
 more hands to work
 more efficient at planting and harvest
 more intensive labor
Further Technological Advancements
Wheeled Vehicles
•Saves labor, allows transport of
large loads and enhances trade
Potters Wheel (c.6000BC)
•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.
Discovery of Neolithiic Village
Catal Huyuk (shot-l- hoo-yook) in southern
Turkey (est. 7000 BCE)
Neolithic Village: Catal Huyuk (shot-l- hooyook) in southern Turkey
•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
•Houses were lavishly decorated with hunting scenes
•Religious images of powerful male hunters and mother
goddesses representing agricultural fertility
Neolithic Village: Catal Huyuk (shot-l- hooyook) in southern Turkey
•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., Catal Huyuk had become part of a
civilization.
Drawing Depicting Catal Huyuk (shot-l- hooyook) in southern Turkey
Wall Painting from Catal Huyuk (shot-lhoo-yook) in southern Turkey
Statue from Catal Huyuk (shot-l- hoo-yook)
in southern Turkey
Civilizations
 Developed writing,
starting with cuneiform
(writing based on wedgelike characters) in the
Middle East around 3500
B.C.
 One of the earliest written
records from the Middle
East is a recipe for making
beer.
Civilizations
 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.
In conclusion….
 Mankind has a long history of hunting and gathering.
 Prehistoric societies evolved away from nomadic
lifestyles approximately 10,000 years ago in many
locations around the world.
 Agriculture contributes to the development of
civilization.