Extended Response Question
6.3 Explain the importance of the discovery of metallurgy and agriculture
Use the questions and documents below to write an informative paragraph.
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How did the emergence of agriculture (farming) change the way people lived?
How did innovations such as metallurgy, domestication, and irrigation led to the
advancement of human civilization?
Between 10,000 and 3000 B.C.E., people in several areas around the earth developed new
agricultural methods and machines, such as the plow pulled by horses or oxen. Learning
methods of working with metals, pulling metal from the earth, and forming new metals
I(metallurgy) also helped develop technologies such as the plow and the scythe. During the
time, people also began the slow domestication and development nd development of both
crops and animals. Results of these changes made agriculture production much more
productive. Food output increased. More land could be farmed by fewer people or in fewer
hours. This result greatly improved production and increased the availability of food. Irrigation,
the building of canals, ditches and dykes to deliver water to distant lands from rivers, helped
agriculture develop in permanent settlements.
Extended Response Question
6.3 Explain the importance of the discovery of metallurgy and agriculture
Teacher Sample
During the Neolithic Revolution, people used agriculture and innovations in metallurgy,
domestication, and irrigation, to improve production and increase the availability of food.
Improvements in agriculture created an abundance of food. According to the text, people used
metallurgy, to develop new tools, such as the plow and the scythe, which made farming more
productive. They also began domesticating crops and animals, which allowed them to settle in
one place. Finally, people used irrigation or the building of canals, ditches, and dykes to move
water from rivers to distant lands, to help agriculture to develop. The emergence and
innovations in agriculture, metallurgy, domestication, and irrigation helped to increase food
supplies during the Neolithic Revolution.