Chapter 2: First Farmers

Chapter 2: First Farmers

The Revolutions of Agriculture

1o,ooo B.C.E - 3ooo B.C.E

The Agricultural Revolution in World History

• Men & women began "directing" the process of evolution
• Animals transformed by selective breeding i.e sheep with more wool, cows with more milk, etc
• "Domestication" -- the taming & changing of nature for the benefit of human beings
• Mutual Dependence 
• Getting more for less -- more food meant more people

Comparing Agricultural Beginnings

• Neolithical revolutions occurred independent of one another, scattered across the world 
• Took place 12,ooo & 4,ooo years ago

Comparing Agricultural Beginnings

• Agricultural Revolution coincided with the end of the last Ice Age
• Ice Age coincided with the migration of Homo Sapians -- created new conditions that made agricultural possible
• Active hunting & climate changes pushed extinction of large mammals
• Warmer, wetter & stable conditions helped create conditions good for tropical plants -- which were the ancestors of domesticated crops
• "broad spectrum diet"
• In the Middle East people developed sickles to cut grain, baskets to carry it, mortars and pestles to remove husk and storage pits for preservation
• Learned to cut back plants and encourage growth of plants they prefered
• women were more involved in the gathering, and therefore scholars believe they were the innovators of farming, while men were probably in charge of domesticating animals
• the process of agriculture was a long process of human exploration
• Technology & natural global warming helped hunting and gathering people settle in more permanent homes and abandon their nomadic ways -- exploiting the surrounding area
•  Demands for food in a growing population was one of the causes for the start of agricultural innovation

Variations

• Fertile Crescent -- first place to experience full agricultural revolution
• Rich array of species capable of domestication avalible
• Cold, dry spell triggered the need to domesticate
• Figs, wheat, barley, rye, peas, lentils, sheeps, goats, pigs and cattles
• Foundation for produtive agricultural societies to follow
• In Africa around the same time, more domestication was occurring
• Saharan desert non-existent 1o,ooo - 5,ooo years ago
• Had grassland vegetation and frequent rainfall
• Cattle domestication began before plant domestication
• Sub-saharan Africa had scattered farming pratices
• Sorghum -- first grain to be "tamed"
• Enset, Teff, yams, oil palm trees, okra and the cola nut emerged scattered throughout africa
• Sorghum, castor beans, gourds, millet, the donkey spread throughout Eurasia
• In the Americas domestication of plants occurred in different locations
• Lack of animals that could be domesticated -- only had the llama
• Because of this they relied more on hunting and fishing for meat
• Americas also lacked cereal grains -- had Maize instead
• less nutrious than cereal grains, had to be supplemented with squash and beans
• Agricultural practices could not spread quickly because of geography of Americas

The Globalization of Agriculture

• Diffusion -- gradual spread of agricultural techniques, but not of the people themselves
• neighboring groups communicated ideas and products
• slow migrations of agricultural people also caused expansion
• movement of culture reflected in change of languages 
• Palolethic people slowly vanished 
• The globalization took 1o,ooo years
• Some of the hunter and gathering people chose to resist this reformation
• By the start of the Common Era, they dwindled in numbers -- succumbing to the relentless expand of agricultural societies -- takin out by disease, intermarriage, or even  violence

The Culture of Agriculture

• World population shot up from 6 million to 50 million during the Agricultural revolution
• Farming meant more hard work, and lots of it
• Diseases from animals, such as small pox, measles, and the flu, generated epidemics
• This time period witnessed explosion of technological innovation
• Loom operated by women
• "Secondary products revolution"
• milking livestock
• harvesting wool
• manure
• Growing impact on the environment -- deliberately altered the ecosystem

Social Variation in the age of Agriculture

• Resources opened up potential for growth of societies:
• Pastoral Societies:
• Regions where farming was difficult , people relied more on their animals, relying on milk, meat and blood
• These people emerged in Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Sahara and parts of Africa
• Domestication of horses enabled the growth of pastoral people
• Camels made it possible to occupy previously inaccessible land
• Grasslands enabled cattle raising pastorals
• There were no such societies in the Americas
• Relationship between nomadic herders and farmers = major theme of Afro-Eurasian history
• conflict as pastoral peoples were attracted to the wealth of the agrarian societies
• biblical story of rivalry between Cain, a "tiller of the ground," and Abel a "keeper of sheep," 
• It wasn't all conflict, there was also peaceful exchanges of ideas and technological enhanced both societies
• Agricultural Village Societies
• settled village based farmers 
• similar to the independence and equality in Hunting & Gathering societies
• Little social inequality, men and women could carry out a series of roles and positions
• Lineage system preformed the function of government without the formalities
• Village based societies could develop social and economical inequalities
• Elders could exploit labor of juniors, sough to control reproductive powers
• Lineage's sought to expand numbers, and often take in slaves
• Chiefdoms 
• Inherited positions of power and privilege -- chiefs however could not use force to compel obedience, instead they relied on generosity, gift giving or personal charisma
• chiefs held important rituals and ceremonies, organized community for warfare, directed economy, resolved internal conflicts
• collected tribute from commoners and used these materials to give back to warrior, craftsman and otehr subordinates

Personal Reflection: The development of agricultural technology seemed to be entirely beneficial to the growth of mankind, however I see little benefit to the earth as a whole. The Neolitical revolution was the gateway to a downfall of the environment, as humans became the dominating species, destroying other species. "Agriculture provided humankind with the power to dominate nature, it also, increasingly, enabled some people to dominate others," I found it very disheartening. The Hunting & Gathering lifestyle seemed to be the most peaceful and efficient way for people to coexist with nature without completely dominating and potentially destroying it. 

elation station