The Neolithic Revolution
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“Until about 12,000 years ago humans hunted and gathered their food, following the
migrations of animals and the seasonal cycles of the crops. They established temporary
base camps for their activities and caves served them for homes and meeting-places but
they had not established permanent settlements. They had begun to domesticate some
animals, especially the dog and the sheep, but they had not yet begun the systematic
practice of agriculture. Then, about 10,000 B.C.E., people began to settle down,
constructing the first agricultural villages.
Why did they do it? Is food production through agriculture easier than hunting and
gathering? Surprisingly, the answer seems to be ‘no.’ Research suggests that, with the
technology available at that time, adult farmers had to work an equivalent of 1000-1300
hours a year for their food, while hunter-gatherers needed only 800-1000 hours. Moreover,
agricultural work was more difficult.
Why did they change? An appealing, although unproved, answer is that increasing
population pressure, perhaps accompanied by worsening climatic conditions, forced people
to take on the more productive methods of agriculture. Scientists estimate that even in a
lush tropical environment, 0.4 square miles of land could support only nine persons
through hunting and gathering; under organized, sedentary agricultural techniques, the
same area could support 200-400 people. In the less fertile, sub-tropical and temperate
climates into which the expanding populations were moving at the end of the last ice age,
after about 13,000 B.C.E., hunting and gathering were even less productive. To survive,
sedentary agriculture became a necessity.
The memory of this transition survives in myth. For example, the myth of Shen Nung,
whom the ancient Chinese honored as the inventor of agriculture and its wooden tools (and
of poetry), captures the transformation:
The people of old ate the meat of animals and birds. But in the time of Shen Nung, there
were so many people that there were no longer enough animals and birds to supply their
needs. So it was that Shen Nung taught the people how to cultivate the earth. (Bairoch, p.6)”
~ The World’s History
Questions:
1- Describe human societies prior to 10,000 B.C.E.
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2- Describe changes that occurred in some human societies about 10,000 B.C.E.
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3- Compare food production through agriculture and through hunting and gathering.
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4- What is one theory regarding the movement towards agriculture?
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5- How is memory of the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture
preserved in some societies?
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6- What does the myth of Shen Nung reveal about the transition from hunting and
gathering to agriculture in China?
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Notes:
I. The Neolithic Revolution
A. Beginning around 12,000 years ago
B. Definition: Domestication of plants and animals
II. Effects
A. Permanent settlements
B. New diseases from close proximity to animals
C. Food Surpluses led to cities
D. Increased impact on environment
III. Factors that Encouraged Agriculture
A. Global warming that began 16,000 years ago
B. Around 11,000 years ago, Ice Age was over
C. Migration of Homo sapiens across planet
D. New conditions for agriculture
1. Natural flourishing of wild plants, especially cereal grasses
E. Extinction of some large mammals
F. Locations: occurring separately and independently
IV. Fertile Crescent
A. Present-day Iraq, Syria, Israel, and southern Turkey
B. After 9,000 BCE, figs, wheat, barley, rye, peas, lentils, sheep, goats, pigs,
and cattle domesticated
C. Use of sun-dried mud bricks
V. Eastern part of Sahara, present-day Sudan
A. Between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, Sahara desert did not exist
B. Cattle and donkey domesticated
C. Widely scattered farming practices
1- Sorghum, teff, yams, oil palm trees, okra, and kola nuts
VI. Americas
A. Coastal Andean regions, Mesoamerica, Mississippi Valley, Amazon basin
B. Absence of animals that could be domesticated
1- Only one (llama/alpaca) large mammal
C. Lacked sources of protein, manure, and power from domesticated animals
D. Lacked rich cereal grains
1- Had maize or corn, first domesticated in southern Mexico by 4000 to
3000 BCE
E. North/South Orientation of Americas impacted progress of Agricultural
Revolution
1- Distinct climatic and vegetation zones
VII. Spread of Agriculture
A. Through gradual spread of agricultural techniques or colonization
1- Bantu migration
2- Austronesian expansion
VIII. Culture of Agriculture
A. Increase in population/Permanent settlements
B. Technological explosion
C. Soil erosion and deforestation
D. Class divisions and patriarchal systems
IX. Variations
A. Pastoral societies  dependent on animals
B. Agricultural village societies  without kings
C. Chiefdoms  inherited positions of power
What is the most appropriate
title for this map?
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1- When did the Neolithic Revolution begin?
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2- What occurred during the Neolithic Revolution?
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3- Identify a significant of agriculture:
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4- Identify a significant disadvantage of agriculture:
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5- What factors encouraged agriculture?
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6- Identify one difference between agriculture in the Fertile Crescent and Eastern
Sahara.
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7- How did the lack of domesticated animals impact the peoples of the Americas?
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8- How did the North/South orientation or axis of the Americas affect the spread of
agriculture in the Americas?
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9- How did agriculture spread throughout the world?
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10- Yet did agriculture develop independently? Explain your answer.
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11- Defend the following statement: The Neolithic Revolution was the most significant
turning point in world history.
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12- How did agriculture clearly change the cultural realities of many individuals?
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13- Did women benefit from the rise of agriculture?
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14- How did agriculture impact the rise of class hierarchies?
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15- Was the Neolithic Revolution a blessing or a curse? Explain your answer.
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1. Which of the following was NOT
a common trait of early
civilizations?
(A) Writing
(B) Formal state structures
(C) Urban life
(D) Monument building
(E) Nomadism
3. Based on the preponderance of
archaeological evidence, which region of
the world saw the development of the
earliest civilizations?
(A) Northern Eurasia
(B) South America
(C) Indonesia
(D) The Middle East
(E) North America
4. Which of the following was true
for ALL of the early agricultural
systems?
(A) Domestication of perennial
(living for more than two
years) plants in each region
(B) Wheat and barley cultivation
(C) Economic activity based on
raising a combination of
domesticated plants and draft
animals
(D) Primary reliance on pastoral
forms of social organization
(E) Abandonment of sedentary
agriculture
2. River valley civilizations,
such as the Egyptians or
Sumerians, developed all of
the following EXCEPT
(A) Craft specialization
(B) Social stratification
(C) Constitutional monarchy
(D) Long-distance trade
(E) Complex religious rituals
5. Compared to other revolutions in
world history, which feature of
the Neolithic Revolution is most
unusual?
(A) Altered gender roles and
relations
(B) Attenuated unfolding over
thousands of years in diverse
locales
(C) Impact on population growth
(D) Transformation of class
relations
(E) Abandonment of previously
held patterns of religious
worship
6. Surplus production
(A) Is caused by poor cultivation
methods
(B) Prevents specialization of
labor
(C) Gives rise to specialization
and stratification of society
(D) Can never occur in modern
societies
“Populations did not grow because agricultural peoples were better nourished or
healthier or somehow lived easier. Disease actually increased, in part because population
densities rose and because many diseases of livestock transferred to humans. Living
together, people and animals thickened the web of infectious connections…But agricultural
populations increased because birthrates rose. The settled life permitted women to have
more children during their reproductive age by shortening the intervals between births.
Given the natural urge to sexuality, a sedentary living pattern meant that cultural
restraints against multiple children relaxed.” ~ Experiencing World History
1- Why did disease increase among agricultural peoples?
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2- Why did populations increase among agricultural peoples? _____________________