The Rise of Agriculture and Agricultural Civilization

1
The Rise of Agriculture and Agricultural
Civilization

• Chapter 1
• EQs What is the difference between the
  Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages?
• What role does Geography play in the early
  development of mankind?
• How did the discovery of agriculture lead to
  civilization?

2
The Paleolithic Era

• Paleolithic Old Stone Age
• Was a lengthy period beginning several million
  years ago and ending around about 14,000 BC
• During this period, different incarnations of man
  made their appearance (Neanderthal, Homo erectus,
  Homo sapiens sapiens)
• These early forms of man learned to use simple
  tools, make fire (ooga!)
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, these people were
  hunter-gatherers that MOVED/MIGRATED

3
Things to know about Paleolithic Era

• 1. Early humanoid life was centered in East
  Africa and spread out from there
• 2. People were Hunter/Gatherers (in small groups)
  AND this forced many people to be nomads (people
  moved around a lot)
• 3. Environment dictated human life
• 4. These people had simple tools made of stone,
  bone or wood
• 5. Spoken language only
• 6. Geography presented extreme challenges
• 7. People believed in spirits and forces gt
  animals play a role (cave paintings) people had
  small statues representing things
• 8. People believed in life after death

4
The Paleolithic Era

• What was the Earth like during this period?
• During the Pleistocene era the Earth was in its
  final Ice Agesea levels were low, glaciers
  covered most of the Northern Hemisphere
  (overhead) (map 1.1 page 10)
• Man had room to move around! You had land
  bridges (notably Russia to Alaska, Korea to
  Japan, and Indonesia to Australia)

5
Human Environmental Interaction

• Environmental Determinism
• Environment dictates human activitythe general
  principle of Paleolithic society
• humans do adapt to those environmental
  constraints 
• Andes Mts. the natives have large lungs for the
  lack of oxygen
• Eskimos have genetic disposition to have more
  body fat
• Skin pigmentation people in warmer climates are
  darker, more the sun, the more the melanin in the
  body darkens the skin

6
The Neolithic Revolution

• Neolithic New Stone Age
• This revolution is equated to the earliest
  historical foundations of Agriculture
• Agriculture/farming sedentism staying in one
  place
• By staying in one place, societies were now free
  to explore other avenues of development, the
  first being metal working and pottery and
  exchanged this knowledge with people who just
  farmed (the first form of economy in the world)

7
Human Environmental Interactions

• Environmental Accommodation
• This principle can be characteristic of the
  Neolithic Era
• Humans make slight changes to the environment to
  find what works to survive
• RF slash burn
• Irrigation is an accommodation
• Environmental Modification
•   a drastic change to an environment
  (modernizations)
• - the NE US was once all forest, not anymore
• - cities are a drastic change to the environment

8
Let There Be Agriculture

• Agriculture must be thought of as a series of
  discoveries involving the domestication of plants
  and animals and their management The precise
  origin of the first center of agriculture is
  obscure but the progenitors of Agriculture were
  (drum roll please), WOMEN!
• The spread of early agricultural (overhead)
  techniques led to new advances as new plant forms
  were carried to new environments. Archaeological
  evidence is the "literature" of the beginnings of
  agriculture. The evidence places contemporary
  agriculture 7000 to 9000 years ago in the river
  valleys in three locations
• Tigris-Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamiapresent day
  Iraq)
• Indus River
• Nile River
• .

9
Domestication and Nomadism

• Domestication
• Man learns to keep and cross breed seeds
  therefore making plants stronger and more durable
• Man also captures wild animals and puts them in
  pens. Captivity invariably alters each animals
  genetics (making them tame and weak)
• Pastoral Nomadism
• Pastoral Nomadism refers to a primitive type of
  animal agriculture in which there is no fixed
  location but the herder and the flock or herd
  rotates in a search for suitable pasture.
  Nomadism is the link between hunting and farming.
  
• Any groups who did not succeed in adapting
  domestication agriculture continued to practice
  hunting/gathering

10
What Agriculture Creates

• CIVILIZATION
• From the Latin civilis (city) the concept of
  organized man, sedentary, with adapted
  government, writing and economic systems
• 8 features characterize civilization cities,
  organized government, complex religion,
  specialization, social classes, arts
  architecture, public works, and writing
• Elements in PERSIA Civilization (politics,
  economics, religion, social, intellectual
  achievements (inventions), arts)
• Specialization
• Not everyone had to produce food, some could work
  metal and make tools, some could write/catalogue
  texts, some could build, some could become
  artists/artisans etc.

11
For the remainder of time

• I/O prep time For Wednesday, I/O discussion on
  Civilization Read In Depth article on pages
  23-24 and be prepared to discuss criteria, using
  what we have/are learning in C1 plus what you
  discovered in your summer assignment research!
• The key focus is What does it mean to be
  civilized?
• Summer Assignments handed back MONDAYKEEP WITH
  YOU FOR NEXT FEW WEEKS!!!
• Info from Chapter 1 Sumer, Babylon, Assyria,
  Persia, Egypt (all kingdoms), Indus River Valley,
  Shang China
• Info from Chapter 2 Zhou, Qin and Han China
• Info from Chapter 3 Aryans, Mauryan and Gupta
  India
• Info from Chapter 4 Ancient Greece and Rome
• Research Paper