The Neolithic Revolution and Early
Agricultural Societies
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Farming:
The Biggest Mistake???
• Food production =
Hard Work!
• It often led to:
– poorer health
– shorter lifespan
– harder labor for the
majority of people
So Why Did People Switch From Hunting
and Gathering To Farming?
Paleolithic Era
The Pre-Farming Era
• Definition: the time before people started
doing agriculture
• 2 million BCE – about 10,000 BCE
• Literal Meaning: “Old Stone Age” – use of
stone tools
Life of Paleolithic Humans
The
Neolithic
Revolution
What is this?
Where did it happen?
When did it happen?
WHY did it happen?
Neolithic Era
After 10,000 BCE
What?
• “Agricultural Revolution” =
domestication of plants &
animals
• Literal Meaning: New Stone
Age
• The first permanent human
settlements emerged
• Still used stone tools
• Pottery appears
Catal – Hyuk:
A stone-age village in
modern Turkey
Where?
“Fertile Crescent” (modern day Iraq)
•End of Last
Ice Age
• Warming
Climate
•Wild grasses
abundant
~Wild Grasses
closest to
domesticated
varieties
Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
The area around
these rivers is
known to history
as Mesopotamia
How did Agriculture Develop?
• Availability of calories determines how
people get food
• End of ice age  Plants thriving
• Humans began “helping” plants along and
selecting for traits, to increase calories
gathered
• Certain plants were abundant and provided
many calories=Humans actively chose these
– Wheat
Where & When?
Location
Dates (B.C.E)
Plants
Animals
Southwest Asia
(Fertile Crescent)
9000-7000
Barley, wheat, lentils,
figs
Goats, sheep, cattle,
pigs
China
6500-5000
Rice, millet, soybeans
Pigs, chickens, water
buffalo
Saharan and SubSaharan Africa
3000-2000
Sorghum, millet,
yams, teff
Cattle (perhaps 8000
B.C.E)
Highland New Guinea 7000-4000
Taro, bananas, yams,
sugarcane
Andes region
3000-2000
Potatoes, quinoa,
manioc
Llamas, alpaca, guinea
pig
Mesoamerica
3000-2000
Maize, squash
(perhaps 7000 B.C.E),
beans
Turkey
Eastern woodlands of
North America
2000-1000
Sunflower, goosefoot,
sumpweed
What else is needed for a Neolithic
Revolution?
• Animal Domestication – what is it?
– An animal will breed where and when we want
it to and often. It will come to us for food. It is
not aggressive.
• Examples?
Important Domesticated Animals
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Horse
Cow
Pig
Sheep
Goat
Chicken
Ox
Indian Elephant
• All from Eurasia
What was in the Americas?
Only the guinea pig, turkey,
and…
llamasong.flv
So What?
What does the Neolithic Revolution allow?:
–
–
–
–
–
–
A sedentary lifestyle
The need for cooperation and group effort
Job specialization
Social Hierarchies (Social classes)
Patriarchy (Rule by males)
Population Growth
Results for Agricultural Society
• Now that you have
possessions, what
do you have to do?
• Kings- to direct
• Militaries – to
protect
• Priests – to protect
and record
(BUREAUCRATS)
• Scribes and writing
– to protect and
keep accounts
• Artisans- make
storage vessels
(pottery)
Did Everyone Switch?
NO!
• Who Didn’t?
• Why Not?
River Valley Civilizations:
Called that for a reason!
Eurasian
Steppe
(grasslands)
African Savannah
Inuit Lands