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WHAT’S FOR
DINNER TONIGHT?
Evidence of Early Agriculture:
The First Farmers
900L
A HISTORIAN’S JOURNAL ENTRY / BY ANITA RAVI
We have learned that agriculture — the seventh
threshold — was a result of humans living in
denser populations. These humans living closer
together were able to share ideas with each other.
Why did humans begin to raise plants? David Christian answers that question in
the Unit 7 video Why Was Agriculture So Important. He says that climate change made
agriculture possible. Overpopulation made it necessary.
•
When the last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago, the climate became warmer,
wetter, and more stable. These changes made agriculture possible. Humans could
now plant something, stay for the harvest, and replant for the next year.
•Cultural
Humans now had more reliable sources of food. They could stay in one place and have
more babies because they didn’t have to move around from place to place anymore.
Larger families meant there were more mouths to feed, what Christian calls
“overpopulation.” Humans began to experiment with different forms of agriculture to
grow food and feed their families.
How do we know what humans were doing 12,000 years ago or 8,000 years ago?
What evidence have we used to figure all of this out? How has our understanding of
the earliest farmers changed over time?
vailable financial and human resources. You can’t begin a dig without the funds
A
and the people to do it. To raise money, archaeologists have to convince funders
that a certain project will actually lead to discoveries.
preferences for studying sites in one part of the world over another.
Throughout history, cultures and nations have argued over who is more
“civilized.” Finding evidence of early human life in one region or another can
allow one culture to feel superior to others.
Why are these four factors important? We must keep them in mind when we look at
the current archaeological evidence of early human farming. What we know now will
probably change over time. The factors above will also change over time. In addition,
what we know now is based on our current level of technology and the amount of time
and money available to investigate sites.
Now let’s look at archaeological evidence from three different sites around the world.
Let’s see what the evidence tells us about early farming in those places.
There are not many written records from this time, just a few cave paintings scattered
around the world (South Africa, Central America, India). Most evidence of what people
ate is perishable: it dissolves over time, leaving nothing behind.
Still, archaeologists have worked hard to locate and excavate (dig up) sites around
the world. They have uncovered evidence of how these early farmers lived. How do
they know where to dig? How confident should I be about their claims?
Susan Douglass is a historian at George Mason University. Douglass says there
are four factors that help archaeologists decide where to dig:
•People
have dug there before. Archaeologists and historians look for evidence
that is uncovered by accident. For example, construction workers might find
an old burial ground or a set of ancient pottery while building a new housing
complex. More digging in the area is likely to uncover more evidence of early
human life.
•The
climate and social conditions make discovery of a site very likely. Very
dry places are more likely to preserve ancient artifacts. Very wet places cause
decay that destroys them. It’s also important that the very dry place is not in
a war zone. It’s difficult to create an archaeological dig in the middle of a war.
Decorative pottery from Ban-po-ts’un shows evidence of a fishing culture.
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RICE FARMING IN BAN-PO-TS’UN, EAST ASIA
crops. It also tells us that rice and millet were staples — key foods — in the Banpo diet.
I learned that one of the earliest farming sites in East Asia is Ban-po-ts’un, also called
Banpo (pronounced baan-paw). It is located in Shaanxi province, northern China,
near the medieval city of Xi’an. The site is from the Neolithic period — the New Stone
Age — and it was first settled about 6,000 years ago.
The evidence proves that dry-land agriculture was established in northern China by
6000 BCE. It’s also an example of how new technologies allow us to return to ancient
sites and learn more about the people who lived there.
Archaeologists working at this site have found several types of evidence. This evidence
has taught us a lot about early farming here.
In the 1950s, Chinese archaeologists discovered over 500,000 pieces of pottery. Some
of the pottery were basic pieces made from red clay that were probably used for
daily cooking. The archaeologists also found decorated pottery. An example of this can
be seen in the image on the previous page.
The designs on this piece of pottery are evidence of a fishing culture. The large symbol in the middle may represent the people in the community who created this pot.
The fish surrounding the symbol tell me that fish supported the community and were
important as a food source.
Archaeologists also found evidence of a large settlement of houses at this site that
was surrounded by a moat. It’s possible that fish lived in the moat. If so, it means
the Banpo created the right conditions for fish to survive — they created a habitat to
raise fish.
SQUASH AND CORN CULTIVATION IN OAXACA, MEXICO
The peoples of Mesoamerica took longer to adapt to farming than peoples in East Asia,
the Middle East, and North Africa. How do we know this? Excavations at the Guilá
Naquitz Cave Group in what is now Oaxaca, Mexico, tell us that these people began
raising plants while still living a semi-nomadic lifestyle.
Naquitz is a cave that overlooks the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico in North America. It is
almost 200 meters (about 656 feet) above sea level. Two rivers flow through the valley:
the upper Rio Atoyac and the Rio Salado.
Evidence suggests that people lived inside the cave. But it was the lands around the
cave where these early farmers experimented with agriculture.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that the people of Guilá Naquitz grew squash
about 9,000 years ago. Scholars used their current knowledge of plants native to
Mexico. They also gathered data from radiocarbon dating. Using this evidence, they
determined that the squash, Curcurbita pepo, were grown for their protein-rich seeds.
Here’s a picture of one of the squash seeds they discovered in the cave:
Archaeologists also found six kilns in the settlement that were used to make pottery.
They also found farming tools such as stone hoes, spades, knives, and mortars
and pestles. These tools all provide evidence that the Banpo were early farmers who
harvested their food sources and used tools to grind them.
About 20 years ago, archaeobotanists developed a new technology that helped them
investigate ancient farming in China. They found evidence that the ancient Chinese
in this area grew rice and millet. (Archaeobotanists are archaeologists who specialize
in ancient plants).
This new technology was called the flotation method. It used water to separate grains
of rice and millet out of soil samples. The grains that had been burned by fire floated
to the top.
Archaeobotanists using this method discovered 106 different types of rice and millet
near Banpo in 2002. This tells us that farmers were experimenting with different
kinds of grains. They were probably trying to figure out which produced the best
BIG HISTORY PROJECT
WHAT’S FOR DINNER TONIGHT? / 900L
Squash seed from the Guilá Naquitz cave.
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This squash is the same species as the modern pumpkin and the summer squash.
How do we know this? Scientists compare the cell structure of the ancient seeds to
squash grown today. They can see if the structures are similar or different.
Within the last 15 years, archaeologists also found evidence that these early Mesoamericans may have been the first to domesticate teosinte: the ancestor of maize. Before
this discovery, most scholars believed that maize cultivation first began north of Mexico
City about 7,000 years ago.
These early farmers created artificial ponds using the natural wetlands. They then
built canals to connect these ponds to the natural water source. They also built stone
fish traps to take advantage of the migration cycles of the eels. The traps looked like
this:
The Naquitz cave site provided evidence that people lived there for about 2,000 years.
The first humans arrived about 9,000 years ago. Inside the caves there is evidence
of further development: butchering meat, food processing, cooking, toolmaking. The
skins of the squash were found in one piece. This suggests the Naquitz people used
them as containers.
Like the Banpo, the people of Guilá Naquitz experimented with different types of
farming. How do we know? Different types of seeds were found in the cave. Some of
these seeds (today) grow in wet conditions while some grow better in drier soil.
It seems these early farmers planned for different amounts of rain. They decided
which seeds to plant to make sure they would always have enough food.
I am starting to see a pattern here: Agricultural development moved at different
speeds in China and Mexico. Still, farmers in both places experimented with different
types of seeds and grains to find what worked best for their local climates.
EEL FARMING BY THE GUNDITJMARA OF AUSTRALIA
So far I’ve learned that early farmers were very resourceful and clever: They built
kilns to make pottery. They lived in caves, but still planted corn. They even harvested
eels.
Until I came across this evidence, I never thought I’d use “eels” and “farming” in
the same sentence.
In Aboriginal Australia, farming started very early. It looked a lot different than
farming in China or Mexico.
Archaeologist Dr. Heather Builth has studied this area extensively. She found that
about 8,000 years ago, early Australians (the Gunditjmara people) from the Lake
Condah region of southeastern Australia farmed a large area: almost 100 square kilometers (more than 24,000 acres). They didn’t raise corn or millet or squash. They
raised eels.
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WHAT’S FOR DINNER TONIGHT? / 900L
Eel trap from Lake Condah area.
Builth and her team found many eel traps. The number of traps tells us that the Gunditjmara could feed more than 10,000 people with the eels they farmed. They also
discovered burnt, hollowed-out trees right next to the eel traps. Builth believes these
tree stumps were smokehouses used to preserve the freshly caught eels.
If the Gunditjmara people were preserving that many eels, Builth concluded that
they were probably trading them for another resource.
Builth didn’t just discover evidence of ancient farming. She also discovered the ruins
of stone huts — of settlements. This is evidence that the Gunditjmara were a sedentary,
settled people.
In the past, experts thought the rock formations had formed naturally. Dr. Builth used
careful measurement and statistical analysis. She showed that the rock formations
were actually the foundations of ancient stone huts.
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Working Bibliography & Notes
CONCLUSION OR “SO WHAT?”
What can I conclude from these three cases? I’ve reviewed the evidence from
archaeologists around the world. I can now say with confidence that:
1.Archaeologists and other scientists found ancient artifacts. They used these
artifacts to develop logical accounts of how people lived and farmed 9,000 to
6,000 years ago,
2.These scientists have created new technologies to gather this evidence
and support their claims.
3.As a result, we now know that people all around the globe were developing
new ways to feed their growing, sedentary populations.
Based on evidence, I can now conclude that our early ancestors in many parts
of the world:
Bickley, Mary, and Susan Douglass.
“Landscape Teaching Unit 3.2 Farmers
Around the World, 10,000 to 1500 BCE.”
World History for Us All. PDF file.
Image of bowl from Banpo, which
is currently housed at the National
Museum of China, is courtesy of
Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D.
This short journal entry is an example
of how historians go about exploring
important questions and looking at new
information. They use a mixture of
historical documents and the writings of
other historians to inform their thinking.
All sources are listed in the working
bibliography.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/9828990785/in/
set-72157635672488756
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Banpo_basin_with_human_face_
and_fish_designs.JPG
1. were very intelligent;
2.experimented with different plants;
3.invented new technologies and tools to increase their ability to produce
food and goods;
4.passed on what they learned to others, increasing collective learning.
Image of squash seed from Guilá
Naquitz courtesy of Harrington,
Spencer P.M. “Earliest Agriculture in
the New World.” Archaeology Newsbriefs
50:4 (July/August 1997): 1. Web.
Image of eel trap from Lake Condah
area courtesy of McNiven, Ian J. and
Damein Bell. “Fishers and Farmers:
historicising the Gunditjmara freshwater fishery, western Victoria.”
LaTrobe Journal 85 (May 2010): 96. Web.
Cover image: Egyptian Eighteenth
Dynasty Wall Painting of Agricultural
Scenes from the Tomb of Unsou.
Courtesy of The Gallery Collection/
Corbis.
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