Neolithic Revolution
Announcements:
• 2nd art session next Tues. &
Thurs.
• Next Thurs. midterm will be
handed out units 1-3 + art
session 2- due in 1 week
Unit 2 wrap up
• Sahara Story
• Origins of agriculture
• Shifting agriculture
• Early Settled agriculture
• Earth map update
Unit 3 Artist as Scientist
• Classic Period
Climate March Washington DC
200,000 people stood up against the Trump
administrations assault on the environment
Unit #2 Neolithic Revolution Activities
Life ways concept map:
•
nomadic pastoralists
•
shifting agriculture
•
early settled agriculture
Connections concept map:
Neolithic era- Art , connection to nature
Lecture notes:
•
Sahara story – Artwork
•
beginning of agriculture
•
shifting agriculture
Earth Map update
Unit #2: Neolithic
Revolution
Neolithic
nomadic pastoralists
Tuareg
subsistence
Fertile Crescent
sustainable
shifting agriculture
THE SAHARA’S STORY
Prehistoric Sahara: Green Sahara
The Sahara Desert was
considerably more lush and
hospitable between 300010,000 years ago
Fossil evidence many water
loving species of animals,
shows there was a very
different environment than
the desert of today.
The rock paintings of Tassilin-Ajjer , Algeria show that
8000 to 9000 years ago
there was a change in
habitat type and life way.
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
WILD LIFE PHASE
• Created about 7-10 kya,
• the earliest art in Sahara
• created by huntergatherers.
• depicts large animals
such as elephant,
giraffe, rhino, hippo,
and a species of buffalo
now extinct.
THE SAHARA’S STORY: THE EARLIEST ART
THE SAHARA’S STORY: THE EARLIEST ART
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
7,000 – 9,000 yr old (DABOUS, NIGER)
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
(DABOUS, NIGER)
PASTORALISM
The dog is thought to be the
earliest domestic animal—
about 30,000 to 25,000 years
ago.
Early uses:
guard animals, sources of food,
fur and beast of burden.
Petroglyph from the Middle East
depicting a dog chasing an
antelope, possibly on a hunt
with humans.
Note: Most authorities think the dog (its wolf
ancestor that is) was the first to move in
with us.
THE SAHARA’S STORY: THE EARLIEST ART
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
arrival of nomadic pastoralists
CATTLE PHASE:
7,500 – 4,000 ya
Marks a shift from H/G to
nomadic pastorialists
Domesticated cattle
widespread by 5,500 years
ago
Need of plenty of water and
range land
Cattle supplanted wildlife in
the art work of this time.
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
HORSE PHASE:
3,000 – 2,000 ya.
Horses were introduced to
the Sahara approximately
3000 years ago.
At this time, adequate forage
and water still existed for
domestic animals such as
horses and cattle (also
sheep and goats).
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
The Camel Phase
2,500 – to present
Gradual change in the
environment
Desertification was
spreading
Camel replaced the horse
as beast of burden
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
THE DESERT REIGNS
By about 2.5 kya,
cattle and horses
were gone;
the desert
continued its
expansion.
Only camels and
goats could deal
with the harsh new
conditions.
THE SAHARA’S STORY:
THE DESERT REIGNS
THE SAHARA’S STORY
Threat to the legacy
World Heritage Site
The Tassili-n-Ajjer region
Where a large
percentage of the
rock art is located
15,000 pictographs
declared a UNESCO
world heritage site
because of it’s
special cultural
significance.
THE SAHARA’S STORY: TASSILI TODAY
the climate of the Sahara
changed gradually over
1000's of years
by 1600BC it became the
desert environment we
know today.
only those that adapted
to the harsh conditions
can exist.
Sahara Today- Tuareg
• Thought to be the direct descendants
of the early Saharan artists.
• Unique culturally and genetically.
• language has roots in ancient
Phoenician dialect.
• A proud people who separate
themselves from the outside cultures
• Caravan trading, oasis gardening and
herding livestock.
• Herders have lived in the Sahara for
thousands of years utilizing the same
grazing and trade routes year after
year.
• Today their routes cross international
boundaries creating conflict with
those countries
Nomadic Pastoralists today
• 30 – 40 million exist today
mostly in Central Asia and
Northern Africa
• Saami of Northern Europereindeer
• Brokpa of Himalayas- yak
• Maasai of Africa- cattle
• Navajo of North America sheep
Neolithic Revolution
Domestication of plants:
One of the key changes in the
human experience, second only
to the industrial age
Introduced by women (gatherers)
More control over our food
resources
populations increased
required a more settled
existence.
Spread very gradually
Neolithic Revolution
• Various H/G and nomadic
pastoralist groups resisted
the change, many never
adopted agriculture.
• Resistant to settled lifestyle
• Culture, ritual, ceremonies
relationship to nature
steeped in a nomadic naturebased view point.
• Environmental
conditions not conducive
to cultivation
Neolithic Revolution: Early Agriculture
Began with the development of
agriculture in ~ six parts of
the world
Most located along flood plains of
major rivers.
End of the ice age, more water and
fertile soil was available.
More productive individual plants
selected over time creating
more optimal characteristics
Pea
Wheat
Neolithic Revolution
Mesopotamia– Fertile Crescent, Middle East– 10,000 ya
1st settled farming way of life – wheat and barley
Neolithic Revolution
Yangtze River Valley, China– rice 8,000 ya
Neolithic Revolution
Northern Greece --Macedonia
sheep, wheat, grapes--Olive harvest–
Earliest agriculture in Europe --7,000 ya
Neolithic Revolution
Nile River Valley, Egypt-– 9,000 ya
Wheat and barley—earliest farming settlement in Africa
Neolithic Revolution
Peru , South America
8,000 ya wheat, barley, quinoa and legumes
7 – 8,000 ya irrigation canals
Neolithic Revolution
Mexico, Mayan and
Aztec- Central
American• 3 sisters --Maize, squash
and beans– 10,000 ya
• Spread to North America
~5,000 ya from central
America
• By 3,000 ya they had
highly developed
stratified societies.
• By contact, population in
the millions
Neolithic Revolution
IKONOS satellite image
of likely Mayan
irrigation canals dating
from approximately
3000 ya. Yucatan, Mexico
LCM 3a. SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
Slash and burn
agriculture
• Earliest subsistence
method – Neolithic
period in Middle East,
Europe and the
Americas
• Closest agriculture
comes to being nomadic
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
the process
• Small plot is cleared
• by hand using primitive tools.
• Fire is used to clear slash
• Ash provides nutrients for crop
plants
• Plots are cultivated
• for ~5yr or fewer depending on
habitat type
• plots are abandoned-Allows soil to regenerate
rate
-return to plot 10 yr. later
• Many families having multiple
plots they move between in a
circuit– handed down generations
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
3a. Can be sustainable IF:
-Plots are small and not on
steep terrain.
-Continuous forest
surrounds plots
-clear manually before being
burned.
-Reseeding of forest
occurs
before moving
on to
another plot
-Area not further disturbed
10+year
-supports small human
population
Shifting Agriculture
LCM 3b IMPACTS:
Early Traditional: sustainable
Few impacts
Secondary forests
CO2 emissions
increase in biodiversity
decrease in wildlife
habitat
Today:
Has become one of the most destructive agricultural methods usedIncrease in populations relying on this method
sustainable techniques are not followed:
•
Too many plots, too close together, creating clear cut-like
conditions
•
Plots not being allowed to regenerate soil.
•
Marginal land is being utilized: Plots on slopes
Shifting Agriculture
Today practiced sustainably
by primitive tribes
throughout India,
Amazon, Borneo and
Central Africa for 1000’s
of years
Using traditional methods
Baiga , India
Kayapo , Brazil
Slash and Burn agriculture today
Between 200 – 500 million people
use slash and burn technique
today---7% of the earth’s pop.
Contemporary Impactsdevastating
•
deforestation
•
erosion
•
air pollution
•
habitat destruction
•
green house gases
Disastrous especially in Tropical
climates where soil degrades
quickly and regenerates slowly
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
Do these examples
qualify as
sustainable?
Top: Belize (steep slopes)
Bottom: Madagascar
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
NASA satellite photos of erosion of uplands, Haiti
SHIFTING AGRICULTURE
Worldwide, shifting
agriculture (here termed
subsistence agriculture)
causes the majority of
deforestation.
LCM 4a. Settled agriculture- 10,000 – 300 ya
Early subsistence agriculture:
Neolithic 10,000-3000ya
• Permanently settled
• Variety of crops cultivated and
livestock raised on one farm.
• Subsistence
• Use of natural methods of fertilization
of soil and pest
control, etc.
• Local impact
• Small family farms
• Individual ownership of land
Lessons from traditional AGRICULTURE
• Mixed cropping
• Companion
planting
• Permaculture
• Crop rotation
• Cover cropping
• Forest gardening
• Use of indigenous
species of plant
and animal
LCM 4b. Settled agriculture
IMPACTS: localized
Hybridization of plants and
animals
Soil degradation and erosion
Loss of habitat and open
space
Decrease of water
quantity/quality
Increase in surplus- waste
Earth Map update
2a.
Saharan Desert- nomadic past.
2e. Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia
2b. China, Southeast Asia
2f. Greece, Europe
2c.Egypt, Africa
2g. Yucatan peninsula, Central America
2d. Peru, South America