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The Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution. Setting the scene 10,000 years ago: ice age was ending Climate became stable Game became more scarce Agriculture first emerged in Southwest Asia, China, and the Americas, independently Agriculture then spread to Greece, Egypt

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The Neolithic Revolution

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  1. The Neolithic Revolution

  2. The Neolithic Revolution • Setting the scene • 10,000 years ago: ice age was ending • Climate became stable • Game became more scarce • Agriculture first emerged in Southwest Asia, China, and the Americas, independently • Agriculture then spread to Greece, Egypt • In Europe, agriculture spread from SE to NW between 6000 and 3000 BC

  3. Steps to an Agricultural Society • Hunter Gatherers: how man had lived for millions of years • Follow herds of wild animals • Gather food from wild plants • Short step from H-G to herding domesticated animals • Type of animals depended on location: sheep, pigs, even reindeer! • More stable than H-G: why? • Also hunted, gathered food

  4. Agricultural Society • Grow your own food • Crops grown depended on where people lived • Hunting and herding supplemented agriculture • Result = food surplus • Implications of farming? • Man settled down in one place • Food surplus led to larger families • Food surplus led to communities

  5. Did the steps happen at the same pace, everywhere? • NO!!! • Some people never got past herding • Others skipped herding and went right to farming • Still others stayed as H-G • Farming developed over 2-3000 years • Occurred spontaneously • H-G / herders / farmers co-existed, sometimes with conflict

  6. Types of Agriculture • Dry farming • First kind of farming developed • Dependent on amount of rainfall only • Subsistence farming (little surplus) • Slash and burn • Burn forest / grassland • Ash fertilized ground • Subsistence farming • Irrigation • Used rivers to water fields • Dug trenches, ditches & control systems for flow of water • Required lots of people and organization • BUT allowed for food surplus

  7. Irrigation in SW Asia • Mesopotamia (“Land Between Two Rivers”) • Irrigation developed around 4000 BC, probably because people were forced out of hills into river valley • Causes? • Overpopulation? • Conflict? • Irrigated agriculture led to Civilization!

  8. Civilization • Characteristics of Civilization • Advanced cities • Large population in small area; challenges? • Concentration of people became center of trade for region • Specialized workers • Most people worked as farmers • B/c of food surplus, some workers became skilled in specific area of work • If not farming, you had better be producing something important! • Complex institutions • Government arose to organize farmers to maintain irrigation systems

  9. Civilization • Characteristics (continued) • Complex institutions • Religion arose to explain the world • Record keeping • Government needed to keep track of taxes, laws • Religion maintained calendar, stories of gods / goddesses • Trade kept track of debts, transactions • Advanced technology • Agriculture led to ox drawn plows • Metallurgy (using metal for tools, instead of stone, bone or wood)

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