1. The Beginning of Agriculture
Preview
Main Idea / Reading Focus
The New Stone Age
Development of Agriculture
Map: Growth of Agriculture
Agriculture Changes Society

2. The Beginning of Agriculture
Main Idea
The development of agriculture was a major turning point in human history and significantly changed the way in which many people lived.
Reading Focus
What new tools and technologies did early humans develop during the New Stone Age?
How did early agriculture develop and spread?
In what ways did the development of agriculture change Stone Age society?

3. The New Stone Age
As prehistoric people developed more sophisticated tools, the Paleolithic Era gave way to the Neolithic Era.
Stones chipped to make points
Wood and bone tools
Nets from plant fibers and animal sinew
Paleolithic Tools
Polished stones to make points
More specialized tools:
chisels
drills
saws
Neolithic Tools

4. Contrast
How did toolmaking in the New Stone Age differ from toolmaking in the Old Stone Age?
Answer(s): Old Stone Age—chipped stones to produce sharp edges; New Stone Age—polished and ground stones to shape tools

5. Development of Agriculture
The development of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, radically changed how people lived. This shift to farming is referred to as the Neolithic Revolution.
End of Ice Age
New plants
New food source
People learned to farm
Domestication
Larger food supply
Plants
Domesticating animals
Careful selection and breeding
10,000 BC – dogs
Larger and more stable supply of meat, milk, skins, wool
Animals
Available plants, domesticated animals
Spread to regions:
Asia: rice
Africa: cattle
Mexico: corn
South America:
potatoes
Growth of Agriculture

7. Identify Cause and Effect
How did people benefit from farming and the domestication of plants and animals?
Answer(s): more reliable food supply; people could pool labor and resources

8. Agriculture Changes Society
Agriculture dramatically changed Stone Age societies by providing a larger and more reliable food supply.
Some people began to live as nomadic pastoralists.
Others gave up the nomadic lifestyle and formed settlements, pooling their resources.
Small settlements
Villages and towns
Increase in trade
Societies became more complex
Social status, authority
Religion, megaliths
Warfare, disease increased
Early Farming Societies
New tools and methods
Animals working in fields
Grindstones, pestles, pottery
Wool from sheep for yarn
Spinning and weaving
Copper, bronze, tin
New Technologies
As people began to make items from bronze, the Stone Age gave way to the Bronze Age, which began as early as 3000 BC in some areas.

9. Çatal Hüyuk A Neolithic settlement in what is now Turkey
Largest Neolithic site found
Home to 5,000–6,000 people in 6000 BC
Covered more than 30 acres
People raised barley, wheat, sheep, goats
Houses
One main room with areas for sleeping and domestic tasks like cooking
Religious shrines

10. Ötzi the Iceman
Discoveries added to our knowledge of Neolithic societies
1991- hikers discover frozen male body
Scientific tests performed
5,300 years old, from Neolithic Era
Ötzi and belongings well preserved
Clothes: three types of animal skins stitched together
Leather shoes, woven grass cape, fur hat, backpack
Quiver with arrows, dagger, ax with copper blade
Scientists’ theories
Diet included coarse grains
Did not live in location where found
Might have been murdered

11. How did the development of agriculture affect Neolithic societies?
Summarize
How did the development of agriculture affect Neolithic societies?
Answer(s): revolutionary changes; men and women assumed different roles; led to towns, government, religion, trade