The Neolithic Revolution WHAP/Napp
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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.
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. 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
Description of Human Life Until about 12,000 Years Ago / What significant development occurred round 10,000 B.C.E. / Possible Theory for this Dramatic Shift:How Myth may support this theory?
Key Words
/Questions / 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 encouraging agriculture
1- Natural flourishing of wild plants, especially cereal grasses
2- Extinction of some large mammals
E. 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. Sorghum, teff, yams, oil palm trees, okra, and kola nuts
VI. Americas
A. Coastal Andean, Mesoamerica, Mississippi Valley, Amazon basin
B. Absence of animals that could be domesticated
1- Only one (llama/alpaca) large mammal
2- Lacked animal proteins, manure, and power from animals
3- Lacked rich cereal grains
a. Had maize or corn, first domesticated in southern Mexico
C. North/South Orientation of Americas slowed diffusion
VII. Spread of Agriculture
A. Through gradual spread of agricultural techniques or colonization
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
Reflection:
1- When did the Neolithic Revolution begin? ______
2- What occurred during the Neolithic Revolution? ______
3- Identify a significant advantage of agriculture:
______
4- Identify a significant disadvantage of agriculture: ______
5- What factors encouraged agriculture? ______
6- Identify one difference between agriculture in the Fertile Crescent and Eastern Sahara.
______
7- How did the lack of domesticated animals impact the peoples of the Americas? ______
8- How did the North/South orientation or axis of the Americas affect the spread of agriculture in the Americas? ______
9- How did agriculture spread throughout the world? ______
10- Yet did agriculture develop independently? Explain your answer. ______
11- Defend the following statement: The Neolithic Revolution was the most significant turning point in world history. ______
12- How did agriculture clearly change the cultural realities of many individuals? ______
13- Did women benefit from the rise of agriculture? ______
14- How did agriculture impact the rise of class hierarchies? ______
15- Was the Neolithic Revolution a blessing or a curse? Explain your answer. ______
1. 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 / 2. 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
Excerpt from “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” by Jared Diamond, 1999
“…From the progressivist perspective on which I was brought up, to ask ‘Why did almost all our hunter-gatherer ancestors adopt agriculture?’ is silly. Of course they adopted it because agriculture is an efficient way to get more food for less work. Planted crops yield far more tons per acre than roots and berries. Just imagine a band of savages, exhausted from searching for nuts or chasing wild animals, suddenly grazing for the first time at a fruit-laden orchard or a pasture full of sheep. How many milliseconds do you think it would take them to appreciate the advantages of agriculture?
…While farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers provides more protein and a better balance of other nutrients. In one study, the Bushmen's average daily food intake (during a month when food was plentiful) was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people of their size. It's almost inconceivable that Bushmen, who eat 75 or so wild plants, could die of starvation the way hundreds of thousands of Irish farmers and their families did during the potato famine of the 1840s.
…There are at least three sets of reasons to explain the findings that agriculture was bad for health. First, hunter-gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers obtained most of their food from one or a few starchy crops…Second, because of dependence on a limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop failed. Finally, the mere fact that agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies led to the spread of parasites and infectious disease. Epidemics couldn’t take hold when populations were scattered in small bands that constantly shifted camp.
Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers have little or no stored food, and no concentrated food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each day. Therefore, there can be no kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others…”
Identify and explain the author’s thesis and two points to support his thesis. ______