Tab 2
Name ____________________________________________ Date ________________ Period __________
Revolutionary Transitions in Human Society:
Evolution of Settled Societies
Which of these pictures below shows …?
o Individual humans surviving the most logical way? Why?
o What was the most productive for a group of people living in a settled (sedentary) village? Why?
o The way humans were the happiest? Why?
Timeline – Evolution of Sedentary Societies
Directions: Circle the biggest changes; highlight the things that stay the
same.
9,000 B.C.E.
Hunting and gathering (foraging): evidence of cave paintings, Venus
statues, and baskets everywhere in the world
8,000 B.C.E.
Agricultural Revolution
Evidence of sedentary communities with domestication of plants and
animals in Fertile Crescent (wheat and barley, sheep, goats, and cows)
Farming in the Sahara
Hunting and gathering (Foraging)
7,000 – 5,000 B.C.E.
Agriculture continues and sedentary communities expand
Neolithic Villages: permanent buildings, connected houses with farming
plots in Jericho and Catal Huyuk (Mesopotamia); no apparent class
structure; traded obsidian tools, weapons, mirrors, ornaments, pottery,
baskets, beads, and leather goods; religious shrines
4,000 B.C.E.
Expansion of organized communal work: Megaliths in Egypt and England
(Stonehenge)
3,000 B.C.E.
Urban Revolution – Beginning of Civilization
Walled cities in Egypt and Mesopotamia with urban populations supported
by rural agricultural surplus. Distinct class structure.
Farming
Directions: Use the Word Bank at the bottom of the page to fill in the blanks below.
_______________________ REVOLUTION (also called the Agricultural Revolution)
I.
Origin of the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
a. Prior to 8,000 B.C.E., humans survived by __________________, gathering wild plants and
hunting animals. Earlier hominids scavenged animals killed by other predators.
b. Evidence appears clearly about 10,000 years ago in Middle Eastern area of __________________,
__________________ communities (villages) in Mesopotamia.
II.
Effects of the Agricultural Revolution
a. __________________ increased
i. 5 - 10 million before 10,000 B.C.E.
ii. Around 300 million in 1 C.E.
b. Labor divided into food-producing and non-producing jobs = __________________ in economic
and political structures
c. Social complexity increased = greater __________________ differences
d. Patriarchy increased = greater __________________ differences
e. Diseases increased = need for __________________ birth rate
Word Bank:
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increased/higher
gender
class
hierarchy
Population
Neolithic
sedentary
agricultural
foraging