the birth of
AGRICULTURE
(and the neolithic revolution)
SOME VITAL
TERMS
AGRICULTURE
Cultivation of domesticated animals, plants, and fungi for food, fiber,
and other products. Horticulture for plants, animal husbandry for
animals
DOMESTICATION
Process by which a taxon (plant or animal) diverges from original
gene pool (through a process of selection) and develops traits
desired by humans.
NEOLITHIC (REVOLUTION)
A period in the development of human history that is traditionally the
last part of the Stone Age (neolithic = “new stone age”). Usually
associated with the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering
communities, to agricultural subsistence and settlement.
SEDENTARY COMMUNITIES
Year round habitation in permanent settlements (size of community
not a variable in definition)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
AGRICULTURE
u
PLANTS
v
ANIMALS
w
MATERIAL CULTURE
u
PLANTS
v
ANIMALS
w
MATERIAL CULTURE
u
PLANTS
v
ANIMALS
w
MATERIAL CULTURE
DOMESTICATED ANIMAL:
u
DISTINCT MORPHOLOGY
v
OUTSIDE NATURAL RANGE
w
CHANGES IN DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
DOMESTICATED PLANTS:
u DISTINCT
MORPHOLOGY
u
PLANTS
v
ANIMALS
w
MATERIAL CULTURE
seriously, why do we care about
AGRICULTURE?
WHY?
after ca. 180,000 years did (modern) humans in many parts of the
world begin transitioning to village life and agricultural subsistence?
21
WHY?
did the transition to settled, village life and agricultural subsistence
happen earlier in the Near East than other parts of the world?
22
NEAR EAST
FERTILE
CRESCENT
(or the Cradle of Civilization)
AGRICULTURE
NON-AGRICULTURE
DATES FOR THE
NEOLITHIC
REVOLUTION
9000 BP
4000-3000 BP
11,000 BP
5000-4000 BP
5000-4000 BP
5000-4000 BP
9000-6000 BP
the point...
AGRICULTURE DOESN’T HAPPEN
AT THE SAME TIME AROUND THE
WORLD
NEAR EAST
WHY?
MESOLITHIC
(UPPER PALEOLITHIC)
CLIMATE
THE MESOLITHIC
20,000-9500 BC
HOLOCENE
10,000 BC
HOLOCENE EXTINCTION EVENT
NEAR EAST
NEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
NEOLITHIC TRANSITION
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
TODAY
WHEAT
BARLEY
LENTILS
SHEEP
GOATS
CATTLE
CAMELS
ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE IN EGYPT
MESOPOTAMIA
EGYPT
MERIMDE
FAYUM
FAYUM
NABTA PLAYA
WESTERN DESERT
57
NABTA PLAYA
EVIDENCE FOR AGRICULTURE
NEOLITHIC SUB PLUVIAL
Neolithic Subpluvial/Wet Holocene
Extended period (from about 7500-7000 BC to about 3500-3000
BC) of wet and rainy conditions
Sahara supported a much richer biota than the present day desert
NEAR EAST
NEOLITHIC TRANSITION IN
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
NATUFIAN
12,500 - 9,500 BC
NATUFIANS
Sedentary (or semi sedentary)
Hunter (gazelle) & gatherer subsistence strategy
intense exploitation of wild plants and cereals (not intensive
agriculture)
Evidence for animal domestication (dog)
NATUFIAN HOUSE
TRANSITIONARY
PRE POTTERY
NEOLITHIC
PRE POTTERY NEOLITHIC A/B/C
First truly neolithic phases in the Levant
Intensive agriculture
large, sedentary communities
No pottery production
Phases: PPNA, PPNB, PPNC
PPNA: 8500 - 7600 BC
PPNB: 7600 - 6000 BC
PPNC: ca. 6200 (?)
PRE POTTERY NEOLITHIC A
Larger sedentary communities
Communal structures
Granaries
Unique burial practice - “living with the dead”
PRE POTTERY NEOLITHIC B
Larger, more complex settlements
Increased dependence on domesticated animals and plants
(moving towards more intensive agriculture)
Change in houses (square, not round - possibly indicating an influx
of non-local groups)
JERICHO
JERICHO
THEORIES OF
AGRICULTURE
OASIS THEORY
Maintains that as the climate got drier due to the Atlantic
depressions shifting northward, communities contracted to oases
where they were forced into close association with animals, which
were then domesticated together with planting of seeds.
FEASTING MODEL
Development of agriculture was driven by ostentatious displays of
power, such as giving feasts, to exert dominance. This required
assembling large quantities of food, which drove agricultural
technology.
DEMOGRAPHIC MODEL
Sedentary population that expanded up to the carrying capacity of
the local environment and required more food than could be
gathered.
THE END