1. Neolithic Revolution

2. The Beginning of Agriculture
Main Idea
The development of agriculture was a major turning point in human history and significantly changed the way in which many people lived.
Objectives:
Students will explore how early agriculture developed and spread.
Students will discover how the development of agriculture changed early societies?

3. Development of Agriculture
The development of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, radically changed how people lived. This shift to farming from hunting/gathering is referred to as the Neolithic Revolution.
End of Ice Age
New plants (wild grains)
New food source
People learned to farm
Domestication
Larger food supply
Plants
Domesticating animals
Careful selection and breeding
10,000 BC – dogs
Larger and more stable supply of meat, milk, skins, wool
Animals
Available plants, domesticated animals
Spread to regions:
Asia: rice
Africa: cattle
Mexico: corn
South America:
potatoes
Growth of Agriculture

5. Agriculture Changes Society
Agriculture dramatically changed Stone Age societies by providing a larger and more reliable food supply.
Some people began to live as nomadic pastoralists (sheep or cattle farmers)
Others gave up the nomadic lifestyle and formed settlements, pooling their resources.
Small settlements
Villages and towns
Increase in trade
Societies became more complex
Social status, authority
Religion, megaliths
Warfare, disease increased
Early Farming Societies
New tools and methods (evolved from the Paleolithic era)
Animals working in fields
Grindstones, pestles, pottery
Wool from sheep for yarn
Spinning and weaving
Copper, bronze, tin
New Technologies

6. Çatal Hüyuk (cha-TAHL hoo-YOOK)
A Neolithic settlement in what is now Turkey
Largest Neolithic site found
Home to 5,000–6,000 people in 6000 BC
Covered more than 30 acres
People raised barley, wheat, sheep, goats
Houses
One main room with areas for sleeping and domestic tasks like cooking
Religious shrines