1. The Agricultural Revolution
Lesson 3.2
The Agricultural Revolution

2.      I. Neolithic Times
A. After the last Ice-Age, Earth's temperatures rose, and early nomads began to settle in areas with a mild climate and fertile land.
B. For the first time, people began to remain in the same place and farming replaced hunting and gathering as the main source of food.

3. I. Neolithic Times
C. People also began to domesticate or tame animals for human use.

4. II. The Neolithic Age
A.      These changes in the way people lived marked the beginning of the Neolithic age.
B.      The Neolithic Age lasted from about 8000 B.C to about 4000 B.C. and while new stone tools were made, the major change during this time was the shift from hunting and gathering to systematic agriculture.

5. III. Big Changes for Humankind
A. Historians call this settled farming during the Neolithic Age the Agricultural Revolution.
B. The word revolution refers to any change that has an enormous effect on people’s way of life.

6. III. Big Changes for Humankind
C.      Once humans learned to produce a constant food supply, they began to live differently.
a.       Nomads gave up their way of life and began to live in settled communities.
D.      Some historians consider the Agricultural Revolution the most important event in human history.

7. IV. Widespread Farming
A. By 8000 B.C., Southwest Asia had begun growing wheat and barley. From there, farming and domestication of animals spread to Europe.
B. By 4000 B.C., farming was an established economic activity in Europe.
C. At the same time, around 6000 B.C., people began growing wheat and barley in the Nile River Valley in Egypt.
a. From there, farming spread along the Nile River to other regions in Africa.

8. Farming Continues
A. In Central Africa different kinds of crops emerged such as yams, other root crops, and bananas.
B. Wheat and barley farming moved eastward into India between 8000 and 5000 B.C.

9. Farming Spreads
F. By 6000 B.C. people in Northern China were growing a new grain called millet, as well as domesticating dogs and pigs.

11. Farming Spreads
By 5000 B.C., farmers in Southeast China were growing rice, which slowly spread into Southern China.
F. In the Western Hemisphere, between 7000 and 5000 B.C., people in Mexico and Central America were growing corn, squash and potatoes. They also domesticated chickens and dogs.

12. Region/Crop Table

13. V. Life in the Neolithic Age
A. During the Neolithic Age, people located villages near fields, so they could plant and harvest their crops more easily. Villages were also located near water sources.

14. VI. Neolithic Communities
A. Neolithic farming villages developed throughout Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Mexico.
B. Jericho, one of the earliest known communities was established about 8000 B.C. in an area between present day Israel and Jordan.
a. In Jericho, sun-dried brick houses were surrounded by walls that were several feet thick.

15. A. Another well-known Neolithic community was Catalhuyuk, in present day Turkey.
a. People lived in mud-brick houses with no doors. Instead, they entered through a hole in the roof.
b. The insides of homes were decorated with wall paintings.
c. In addition to homes, Catalhuyuk had special buildings that were shrines, or holy places decorated with images and statues or gods and goddess
i. Both the shrines and the statues show that the role of religion was growing in Neolithic people.
d. People in Catalhuyuk farmed and stored food, raised livestock, hunted and fished for food.
Catalhuyuk

16. VII. What Were the Benefits of Settled Life?
A. A settled life provided security.
B. Steady food supply created healthier, growing populations.
C. More workers meant more crops were able to be grown.
i. Abundance of food meant they were able to trade with other communities.

17. Benefits of Settled Life
i. This also meant less workers were needed in the field, allowing people to take part in activities other than farming.
1. Specialization, the act of training for a job, occurred. People learned to make weapons, pottery, jewelry, baskets, and cloth

18. Gender Roles
D. Men’s roles shifted to farming, herding animals and protecting the village.
E.Women were responsible for raising children, sewing clothes, and managing the food supplies.

19. Population Growth
F. A disadvantage of settled life and rapid population growth was the effect this had on natural resources.
i. In some areas, loss of forestation caused desert-like conditions.

20. VIII. The End of the Neolithic Age
a. During the Neolithic Age, people made more technological advances. One was the discovery of copper, and its use in making tools and weapons. Craftspeople in Asia discovered that mixing copper with tin formed bronze, which was stronger than copper.

21. Copper to Bronze
Bronze became widely used between 3000 and B.C. This period became known as the Bronze Age.

22. IX. Civilizations Emerge
a. By the beginning of the Bronze Age, complex cultures called civilizations began to emerge. Four of the great river valley civilizations that emerged around B.C. were Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China.

23. X. Cities and Governments
a. One characteristic of these civilizations was that they developed cities and formed governments.
b. In these early civilizations, these early governments were monarchies.

24. XI. Religion
a. Religions helped explain the forces of nature and the role of humans in the world.
b. Early people believed their gods were responsible for the communities survival.
c. Rulers claimed their power was based on the approval of the gods.

25. XII. Social Culture a. Early civilizations had class structures.
i. At the top of the class were rulers, priests, and government workers.
ii. The “middle class” were the farmers, artisans and craftspeople.
iii. At the bottom class were enslaved people, most of whom were captured from enemies during war.

26. XIII. Writing and Art
a. To pass on knowledge and keep records, systems of writing were developed using symbols in place of letters or words.
b. Art served as entertainment and had practical purposes.
i. People designed massive burial tombs for kings and buildings to be used as places of worship.