The Rise of Agriculture and Agricultural Civilization

1. The Rise of Agriculture and Agricultural Civilization Chapter 1 EQs: What is the difference between the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages? What role does Geography play in the early development of mankind? How did the discovery of agriculture lead to civilization?

2. The Paleolithic Era • Paleolithic = Old Stone Age • Was a lengthy period beginning several million years ago and ending around about 14,000 BC • During this period, different incarnations of man made their appearance (Neanderthal, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens sapiens) • These early forms of man learned to use simple tools, make fire (ooga!) • MOST IMPORTANTLY, these people were hunter-gatherers that MOVED/MIGRATED

3. Things to know about Paleolithic Era • 1. Early humanoid life was centered in East Africa and spread out from there • 2. People were Hunter/Gatherers (in small groups) AND this forced many people to be nomads (people moved around a lot) • 3. Environment dictated human life • 4. These people had simple tools made of stone, bone or wood • 5. Spoken language only • 6. Geography presented extreme challenges • 7. People believed in spirits and forces > animals play a role (cave paintings) & people had small statues representing things • 8. People believed in life after death

4. The Paleolithic Era • What was the Earth like during this period? • During the Pleistocene era the Earth was in its final Ice Age…sea levels were low, glaciers covered most of the Northern Hemisphere (overhead) (map 1.1 page 10) • Man had room to move around! You had land bridges (notably Russia to Alaska, Korea to Japan, and Indonesia to Australia)

5. Human Environmental Interaction • Environmental Determinism • Environment dictates human activity…the general principle of Paleolithic society • humans do adapt to those environmental constraints  • Andes Mts. – the natives have large lungs for the lack of oxygen • Eskimos – have genetic disposition to have more body fat • Skin pigmentation – people in warmer climates are darker, more the sun, the more the melanin in the body darkens the skin

6. The Neolithic Revolution • Neolithic = New Stone Age • This revolution is equated to the earliest historical foundations of Agriculture • Agriculture/farming = sedentism – staying in one place • By staying in one place, societies were now free to explore other avenues of development, the first being metal working and pottery and exchanged this knowledge with people who just farmed (the first form of economy in the world)

7. Human Environmental Interactions • Environmental Accommodation • This principle can be characteristic of the Neolithic Era • Humans make slight changes to the environment to find what works to survive • Slash & burn • Irrigation is an accommodation • Environmental Modification •   a drastic change to an environment (modernization) - the NE US was once all forest, not anymore - cities are a drastic change to the environment

8. Let There Be Agriculture • Agriculture must be thought of as a series of discoveries involving the domestication of plants and animals and their management The precise origin of the first center of agriculture is obscure but the progenitors of Agriculture were (drum roll please), WOMEN! • The spread of early agricultural techniques led to new advances as new plant forms were carried to new environments. Archaeological evidence is the "literature" of the beginnings of agriculture. The evidence places contemporary agriculture 7000 to 9000 years ago in the river valleys in three locations; • Tigris-Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia–present day Iraq) • Indus River • Nile River • .

9. Domestication and Nomadism • Domestication • Man learns to keep and “cross breed” seeds therefore making plants stronger and more durable • Man also captures wild animals and puts them in pens. Captivity invariably alters each animals genetics (making them tame and weak) • Pastoral Nomadism • Pastoral Nomadism refers to a primitive type of animal agriculture in which there is no fixed location but the herder and the flock or herd rotates in a search for suitable pasture. Nomadism is the link between hunting and farming. • Any groups who did not succeed in adapting domestication agriculture continued to practice hunting/gathering

10. What Agriculture Creates • “CIVILIZATION” • From the Latin civilis (city) the concept of organized man, sedentary, with adapted government, writing and economic systems • 7 features characterize civilization: cities, organized government, complex religion, specialization, social classes, arts & architecture, and writing • Elements in PERSIA = Civilization (politics, economics, religion, social, intellectual achievements (inventions), arts) • “Specialization” • Not everyone had to produce food, some could work metal and make tools, some could write/catalogue texts, some could build, some could become artists/artisans etc.