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Early Agriculture and the domestication of animals. Farming and learning to live and work with animals<br>
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Early Agriculture and the domestication of animals Farming and learning to live and work with animals
Our Paleolithic beginnings Early humans survived by hunting and gathering. The men were usually the hunters of a family or group of families called a clan. The women cared for and taught the children the knowledge of their clan, while also gathering fruit, berries and nuts. Life was all about survival, and life was short and brutal. Every free moment was spent finding food, and most of their lives were spent moving from one place to another.
Early Agriculture • The last major ice age ended about 12,000 years ago. Temperatures increased world-wide and rainfall increased. Glaciers began retreating and land became available tor planting. • Most plants and animals adapted to the changes. Certain types of trees and plants spread north and south. Many of the larger animals could not adapt to the warmer temperatures, so these species died out. Hunters adapted and hunted small animals, or looked for new sources of food. Some learned to fish and some became farmers.
The birth of farming • Hunting and gathering was a difficult way to live, as hunts were not always successful and gathering meant traveling a wide area to find nuts, berries and fruit. Eventually early humans discovered that these things grew from seeds. They began to save seeds and replant them. Over generations of experimentation they learned when and where to plant, and what types of plants they could eat. • They learned they could feed many people on crops of wheat, corn or rice. Fruit and nut trees also fed people. Small bushes grew berries. Eventually they could stay in one place longer, and communities began to grow.
Plant Domestication The wild progenitors of crops including wheat, barley, and peas are traced to the Near East region. Cereals were grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago, while figs were cultivated even earlier; prehistoric seedless fruits discovered in the Jordan Valley suggest fig trees were being planted some 11,300 years ago.
Gradual Changes Though the transition from wild harvesting was gradual, the switch from a nomadic to a settled way of life is marked by the appearance of early Neolithic villages with homes equipped with grinding stones for processing grain. Food became plentiful and provided needed nutrition.
Mexico In Mexico, squash cultivation began around 10,000 years ago, but corn (maize) had to wait for natural genetic mutations to be selected for in its wild ancestor, teosinte. While maize-like plants derived from teosinte appear to have been cultivated at least 9,000 years ago, the first directly dated corn cob dates only to around 5,500 years ago.
Corn and Potatoes • Corn later reached North America, where cultivated sunflowers also started to bloom some 5,000 years ago. • This is also when potato growing in the Andes region of South America began. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND
Modifying their environment Early humans learned to change their surroundings to grow more food. They cut down trees, removed rocks and began to work the land with simple stone tools. Their tools would eventually became bronze and then iron. They used fire to clear larger areas of land. The new grass attracted deer and other grazing animals.. It was noticed that scattering seeds on the ground would soon sprout as new plants. They learned to burn areas to promote new plant growth.
Domesticating Animals • To domesticate means to change the behavior of. Domestic animals were probably bread from the friendlier wild animals that were comfortable around humans. Over generations they were bread to be bigger, quieter, fatter or more friendly. Humans had different needs for different animals. • The use of animals for hunting, farming, food (meat, eggs, and milk) and for protection allowed humans to survive and to gather in larger and larger clans, communities and eventually towns and cities.
Milk Humans have lived on the milk of animals for tens of thousands of years. Camels, Horses, Llama, goats, and more recently cows have been the beasts of burden, meat animals and providers of milk for many generations and civilizations.
N Neolithic Farming Tools
Benefits of farming • Farming allowed humans to have enough food • Food meant they were stronger and could live longer • Food meant they could have more babies and the babies would live to become adults • Communities would become larger • Farming allowed humans to save seeds and grow more food • Farming allowed them to stay in one place for a longer time, maybe a lifetime
Domesticating the wolf From the biggest dog to the smallest dog, their ancestors were the grey wolf. 30,000 years ago the friendliest wolves became the companions of human hunters, or at least spent a lot of time in human communities. Eventually early humans learned to breed the quieter gentler wolves together and this created quiet, gentle and obedient wolf pups. After a few generations this domestication and breeding changed the appearance and character of these wolves. The dog was born. Wolves are big scary animals that look like big scary dogs, that’s because dogs are the result of wolves being domesticated.
Farming spreads • Once humans realized that this farming thing was really good, more and more families and communities started farming. • Soon crops were growing and communities grew up around them. Market places were filled with fresh produce, milk, meat, eggs, and butter. Some markets even had fish and other products of rivers, lakes and oceans.
Effects of Farming Hunter-gatherers must travel to obtain food. In small nomadic groups, every member must help to find food. Farming develops. Humans domesticate plants and animals, and build communities. Tools and crops improve. People can grow more crops and build up surpluses. Populations grow larger. With more people and enough food, not everyone is farming. Specialization develops. People become potters, weavers, tool-makers, healers, storytellers, builders and artists.
New kinds of homes • Once new communities began new types of homes were being built. Humans are creative and eventually learned to adapt building styles and available materials to their environments. • Homes were built with, straw, clay, bricks, wood and even the bones and skin of animals. • Homes were built near or over rivers and lakes. They were build on mountains, in forests and in trees. They were build in arctic wastelands, deserts and even close to volcanoes.
New kinds of clothing • Domestication meant that cotton, leather and silk became common fabrics in some parts of the world.
Surpluses • This was the beginning of humankind learning that more was better. • More food, more possessions, and eventually more land. • Maybe that wasn’t a good thing? This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Beginning of Specialization • As humans settled in larger communities people began to become very good at certain skills. There were farmers, fishermen(and women), butchers, soldiers, merchants, storytellers, clothing makers, animal breeders, cooks, builders, teachers and eventually government people, priests and doctors. • These people learned their skills had value and could be traded for food, power, water, property, and then gold and other precious materials. • As the communities became wealthier soldiers became necessary to protect the people and property against attacks from nomads and even other communities.
Social Organization • Communities began to be organized into their skills and also by their wealth and importance to the community. Society began to separate the wealthy from workers, and everyone from the poor.
Domesticated Animals Farmed Animals Cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs all have their origins as farmed animals in the so-called Fertile Crescent, a region covering eastern Turkey, Iraq, and southwestern Iran. This region kick-started the Neolithic Revolution. Dates for the domestication of these animals range from between 13,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Migration of domesticated animals • Genetic studies show that goats and other livestock accompanied the westward spread of agriculture into Europe, helping to revolutionize Stone Age society. While the extent to which farmers themselves migrated west remains a subject of debate, the dramatic impact of dairy farming on Europeans is clearly stamped in their DNA.
