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The Importance of Agriculture

The Importance of Agriculture. Hunter & Gatherers. 99% of mankind’s existence on Earth has been as a HUNTER & GATHERER !. History of Agriculture. What is a hunter/gatherer?. Hunting/gathering behaviors exist back 2 million years to the dawn of man’s cultural evolution.

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The Importance of Agriculture

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  1. The Importance of Agriculture

  2. Hunter & Gatherers 99% of mankind’s existence on Earth has been as a HUNTER & GATHERER!

  3. History of Agriculture

  4. What is a hunter/gatherer? Hunting/gathering behaviors exist back 2 million years to the dawn of man’s cultural evolution. No word for “work” exists in various languages of hunters/gatherers. Do hunting/gathering societies still exist today? Does modern mankind exhibit characteristics of hunter/gatherers??

  5. Hesoid’s Ages of Man (Greek poet, 8th-7th century B.C.) I. Golden age (prehistory) A. Age of the hunter-gatherer B. Eden-like pre-agricultural II. Silver Age (8,000 B.C.) A. Concept of work born B. Symbolized by the “Yoke of Oxen” III. Bronze Age (3,500 B.C.) A. Trade developed IV. Iron Age (1,500-600 B.C.)

  6. Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization Earth’s carrying capacity for hunter-gatherers estimated at 20-30 million. How many people exist on Earth today? Agricultural and the first cultural revolutions developed symbiotically. What relevance does this statement have on society today?? Solar energy (harvested through photosynthesis) fueled the agricultural revolution. Explain. Fossil fuels drove the industrial revolution.

  7. Use of these basic energy sources stimulated cultural, social, and civil development. Mechanization/fossil-fuels increased capacity to produce food while reducing labor, but also increased environmental degradation and social conflict. Agrarian societies viewed children as economic assets (large families were necessary for survival). Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization…continued

  8. A Catch 22 developed: A. More people require more food B. Requiring more intensive agriculture C. Requiring more energy to produce food D. Leading to more environmental degradation (particularly soil erosion) E. Leading to crop failure F. Leading to starvation G. Leading to migration to new lands H. Requiring more people to produce food Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization…continued

  9. Demographic transition – rising population with shrinking resources. What about today…Are resources shrinking? How will this affect society?? Today? Tomorrow? Agriculture, Energy, and Civilization…continued

  10. Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture Human population growth rate increased slowly: A. .0007-.0020 % /yr. Pleistocene age B. .1 % /yr. Neolithic C. 1-2 % /yr. Present day Low birth rate attributed to lifestyle of hunter-gatherer – not food scarcity. Were children an asset?? Not ignorance of plant growth, but lack of need to practice agriculture prevented earlier development of agriculture.

  11. Wild seeds were abundant, inexhaustible, and could easily be harvested In Turkey, a person could harvest 2.2 lbs. of wild wheat (einkorn, which contains 57% more protein than current domestic wheat) in an hour In Mexico, an 11-day supply of “wild corn” (teosinte) could be gathered in 3.5 hours In Wisconsin, Ojibwa Indians could fill their canoes with wild rice in a few hours. Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculture

  12. Man simultaneously developed agriculture worldwide 10,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age…suggests that climate changes contributed to the cultivation of plants. Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculturecontinued…

  13. Hunter gatherers settled in small communities in the Fertile Crescent, a narrow band of land arcing across the Near East.

  14. Also South America, the tropical coast of Ecuador…squash

  15. and China …rice on the Yangtze

  16. Also North America and Mesoamerica (The Maya homeland, called Mesoamerica, spans five countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

  17. New evidence suggests that people cultivated rye over 13,000 years ago, while continuing to hunt animals and gather wild plants in the Fertile Crescent. Evidence suggests that the transition from hunting/gathering to agricultural lifestyles is a long, slow development process. Hunter-gatherers turn to agriculture only as a last resort when population pressure forces them to acquire more food on available space? Transition from Hunting-Gathering to Agriculturecontinued…

  18. In conclusion…. Mankind has a long history of hunting and gathering. Prehistoric societies evolved away from nomadic lifestyles approximately 10,000 years ago in many locations around the world. Agriculture contributes to the development of civilization.

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