The Effects of Agriculture

Team Pegasus Ancient Civ. Name:

Class: Y R G BTable #: 1 2 3 4 5

Essential Question:What were the effects of agriculture on humans and our world?

Directions: Examine the following documents. As you answer the questions for each document, think about what this information is telling you about the way that agriculture affected humans and changed our world.

Source A: Graph of Population Changes During the Neolithic Period

  1. Make two observations about this graph:

a) ______

b) ______

  1. How did world population change over time? Use this graph as evidence to support your answer.

______

Source B:Life in Paleolithic and Neolithic Communities

Paleolithic / Neolithic
Questions:
Think about how humans spent much of their time outside their homes or dwellings. What does this picture tell you about Paleolithic life?
Evidence/rationale from picture: / Questions:
Think about how humans lived inside these buildings. What does this picture tell you about Neolithic life?
Evidence/rationale from picture:
Based on what you see in both of these images, what can we tell about the transition from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age?

Source C:Graph Showing Changes in Rates of Death and Population Growth

This chart illustrates changes over time as people moved from hunter-gatherer societies to societies formed around agricultural production. The chart shows that over the period, death rates and populations increased.

  1. Locate the Introduction of agriculture on this chart. According to the graph, what happened to the world population around the time that agriculture was introduced? Why do you think this happened?

______

  1. What happened to death rates around the time that agriculture was introduced? Why do you think this happened?

______

  1. According to this chart, the rise of infectious diseases happened around ______BCE and the first pandemic occurred around ______BCE. (fill in the blanks)

What do you think might have caused both of these things to happen? Use this graph and your own prior knowledge to answer this question.

______

  1. Choose another event on this graph and make an observation about how it impacted world populations and death rates.

______

What were the effects of agriculture on humans and our world?

Use your notes from this packet, the History Alive! textbook, the Natufians video and any other classroom materials we have used to make a list of all of the ways that agriculture affected humans and changed the world.

Positive effects of agricultureNegative effects of agriculture