Causes and Consequences of the Growth of Agriculture

We left off around the year 10,000 B.C.E with life looking like this… By 4000 B.C.E life looked like this…

So, how did we get from… to HERE HERE? to Jot down some notes on what events you think might have taken place between 10,000 and 4,000 BCE.

One of the major changes was DOMESTICATION of… animals Wild Sheep Domesticated Sheep Definition- the process humans used to change the genetic makeup of plants and animals by influencing the way they were reproduced. Making them more appealing in taste, size, and nutrition, as well as easier to grow, process, and cook.

and plants

Domestication of plants and animals was a monumental change. Have you ‘herd’ about pastoralism? It resulted in the new way of living we know as FARMING (AGRICULTURE)… Definition- science of cultivating the land, producing crops, and raising livestock …which included both PASTORALISM Definition-herding sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and camels),

(cultivation of domesticated plants), and… Crop-growing (cultivation of domesticated plants), Definition- planting, growing and harvesting crops or plants the development of… FARMING COMMUNITIES

Between about 12,000 and 1,000 BCE, farming appeared INDEPENDENTLY in a number of places, possibly in all of the places marked in red on the map. Eastern North America China Fertile Crescent Nile valley West Africa Mesoamerica New Guinea Ethiopia Andes Amazonia

Prior to farming, population size in any one area was limited by the availability of wild game, grain, berries, seeds, and nuts. Population Extensification- humans multiplied and flourished by spreading thinly across all the major land masses of the world POPULATION INTENSIFICATION That means population increases in certain areas. Population in those areas became both larger and denser. Farming and the large, relatively dependable crops it provides allowed for…

SURPLUS FOOD PRODUCTION At the same time, farmers in some places were, in spite of population growth, able to produce SURPLUS food. What does SURPLUS FOOD PRODUCTION mean for a society?

SURPLUS FOOD PRODUCTION… …means that not everyone has to grow food or tend animals. They can take on other tasks. They can specialize in some non-farming task.                                                                  

This is called… Job Specialization. Men and women may become: Weavers Stone Masons Potters Priests Scribes Traders Army officers

Domestication of Plants and Animals Farming Population Intensification Surplus Food Specialization Sedentary settlement Definition- The practice of living in a specific place, as opposed to the mobile way of life centered on hunting and gathering