1. Agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution

2. Think about…
“The world as we enter the 21st century is one of greed, of gross inequalities between rich and poor, of racists and national chauvinist prejudice, of barbarous practices and brutal wars”
Chris Harman, A People’s History of the World
How did we get here???

3. Migrations of Humans

4. Agricultural and Economic Regions

5. Before Neolithic Revolution (Paleolithic Age)
Lived in small scale kin-based groups with collective or common ownership of land and resources
30-40 members
Egalitarian or democratic political relations
Shared and helped each other, no rulers, no rich or poor
Consensus and cooperative, reciprocity
Foraging for shelter, food, and clothing; dependent upon each other
Absence of male superiority of men over women; division of labor still existed

6. 5. No concept of private property
6. Continually moving from one source to another, or in pursuit of animals
No accumulation of private wealth carried easily for moving
Big Question: How did class rule and the concept of the “state” and civilization come into being???
Great Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux Cave

7. Foragers Farmers Food procurers Fit into nature Manage landscape
Hunt and gather
Fit into nature
Little environmental impact
Manage landscape
Dependence on wild plants and animals
Stable food supply and population
Move in response to environmental changes, vulnerable
Little labor, population control
Stable society
Kinship and age fix place in society, sexes share labor by specialization in diff. tasks
Food producers
Breed and domesticate animals
Change nature
Herders: some impact; tiller: massive impact
Nature remade and remained
Interdependence between humans, plants, and animals
exploited and domesticated
Unstable food supply
Small range, ecological disasters, narrow diet
Expanding population
Increase in food supply=increase in pop.
Concentrations of animals=Spread of disease
Radically changes, unstable society
Control of labor and food distribution= social inequalities, elites, complex technologies

8. Why did farming start? Population pressure Outcome of abundance:
Stress from pop. Growth and overexploitation of wild foods
Hunting game to extinction and overgathering plants
Once start farming cannot go back due to population
Outcome of abundance:
Spare time
Location rich in easily domesticated in grasses and herding animals
Global climate changes
Asia vs. Americas
Power of politics:
Power and prestige is associated with food
Symbolize identity and generate rituals, show off wealth

9. 6. Agriculture by accident:
Cult Agriculture:
Religious inspiration fertility right, sacred plants
Birth and nurture of God
Domestication of animals for sacrifice, plants for alter
5. Climatic Instability
Global warming drought, “little ice age”
Forests into grasslands, decrease in wild game
6. Agriculture by accident:
observing how seeds, when dropped, germinated

10. Seeking Stability:
Gathering, hunting, herding , and farming developed together during intense climatic changes
Increased opportunities and incentives for people to experiment with food
Stabilization of a changing world; cope with environmental changes too fast to preserve all traditional ideas

11. Life in Neolithic Communities
Cultural Expressions:
Worship ancestral and nature spirits; scared groves and wild animals; deities reflect Mother Earth and the Sky God
Megaliths and calendar circles
Early Towns and Specialties
Villages, growth of towns
Food storage, specialized craftsmen
Jericho and CatalHuyuk
Walled, mud brick dwellings, emergence of social organization

12. CatalHuyuk Jericho