Agriculture And The Origins Of Civilization: The Neolithic Revolution Edited By: Robert Guisepi There was nothing

natural or inevitable about the development of agriculture. Because cultivation of plants requires more labor than hunting and gathering, we can assume that Stone Age humans gave up their former ways of life reluctantly and slowly. In fact, peoples such as the Bushmen of Southwest Africa still follow them today. But between about 8000 and 3500 B.C., increasing numbers of humans shifted to dependence on cultivated crops and domesticated animals for their subsistence. By about 7000 B.C., their tools and skills had advanced sufficiently for cultivating peoples to support towns with over one thousand people, such as Jericho in the valley of the Jordan River and Catal Huyuk in present-day Turkey. By 3500 B.C., agricultural peoples in the Middle East could support sufficient numbers of non-cultivating specialists to give rise to the first civilizations. As this pattern spread to or developed independently in other centers across the globe, the character of most human lives and the history of the species as a whole were fundamentally transformed.

Causes Of The Agrarian Transformation Because there are no written records of the transition period between 8000 and 5000 B.C. when many animals were first domesticated and plants were cultivated on a regular basis, we cannot be certain why and how some peoples adopted these new ways of producing food and other necessities of life. Climatic changes associated with the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age (about 12,000 B.C.), may have played an important role. These climatic shifts prompted the migration of many big game animals to new pasturelands in northern areas. They also left a dwindling supply of game for human hunters in areas such as the Middle East, where agriculture first arose and many animals were first domesticated. Climatic shifts also led to changes in the distribution and growing patterns of wild grains and other crops on which hunters and gatherers depended. In addition, it is likely that the shift to sedentary farming was prompted in part by an increase in human populations in certain areas. It is possible that the population growth was caused by changes in the climate and plant and animal life, forcing hunting bands to move into the territories where these shifts had been minimal. It is also possible that population growth occurred within these unaffected regions, because the hunting-and-gathering pattern reached higher levels of

productivity. Peoples like the Natufians found their human communities could grow significantly by intensively harvesting grains that grew in the wild. As the population grew, more and more attention was given to the grain harvest, which eventually led to the conscious and systematic cultivation of plants and thus the agrarian revolution. The Domestication Of Plants And Animals The peoples who first cultivated cereal grains had long observed them growing in the wild and gleaned their seeds as they gathered other plants for their leaves and roots. In Late Paleolithic times both wild barley and wheat grew over large areas in present-day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. Hunting-and-gathering bands in these areas may have consciously experimented with planting and nurturing seeds taken from the wilds or they may have accidentally discovered the principles of domestication by observing the growth of seeds dropped near their campsites. However it began, the practice of agriculture caught on only gradually. Archeological evidence suggests that the first agriculturists retained their hunting-and-gathering activities as a hedge against the ever-present threat of starvation. But as Stone Age peoples became more adept at cultivating a growing range of crops, including protein-rich legumes such as peas and beans, various fruits, and olives, the effort they expended on activities outside agriculture diminished. It is probable that the earliest farmers broadcast wild seeds, a practice that cut down on labor but sharply reduced the potential yield. Over the centuries, more and more care was taken to select the best grain for seed and to mix different strains in ways that improved both crop yields and resistance to plant diseases. As the time required to tend growing plants and the dependence on agricultural production for subsistence increased, some roving bands chose to settle down while others practiced a mix of hunting and shifting cultivation that allowed them to continue to move about. Though several animals may have been domesticated before the discovery of agriculture, the two processes combined to make up the critical transformation in human culture called the Neolithic (New Stone Age) revolution. Different animal species were tamed in different ways that reflected both their own natures and the ways in which they interacted with humans. Dogs, for example, were originally wolves that hunted humans or scavenged at their campsites. As early as 12,000 B.C., Stone Age peoples found that wolf pups could be tamed and trained to track and corner game. The strains of dogs that gradually developed proved adept at controlling herd animals like sheep. Relatively docile and defenseless herds of sheep could be controlled once their leaders had been captured and tamed. Sheep, goats, and pigs (which also were scavengers at human campsites) were first domesticated in the Middle East between 8500 and 7000 B.C. Horned cattle, which were faster and better able to defend themselves than wild sheep, were not tamed until about 6500 B.C. The central place of bull and cattle symbolism in the sacrificial and fertility cults of many early peoples has led some archeologists to argue that their domestication was originally motivated by religious sentiments rather than a desire for new sources of food and clothing. Domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep provided New Stone Age humans with additional sources of protein-rich meat and in some cases milk. Animal hides and wool greatly expanded the materials from which clothes, containers, shelters, and crude boats could be crafted. Animal horns and bones could be carved or used for needles and other utensils. Because plows and wheels did not come into use until the Bronze Age (c. 4000-3500 B.C.), most Neolithic peoples made little use of animal power for farming, transportation, or travel. There is evidence, however, that peoples in northern areas used tamed reindeer to pull sledges, and those farther South used camels for

transporting goods. More importantly, the Neolithic peoples used domesticated herd animals as a steady source of manure to enrich the soil and thus improve the yield of the crops that were gradually becoming the basis of their livelihood. The Spread Of The Neolithic Revolution The greater labor involved in cultivation and the fact that it did not at first greatly enhance the peoples' security or living standards caused many bands to stay with long-tested subsistence strategies. Through most of the Neolithic period, sedentary agricultural communities coexisted with more numerous bands of hunters and gatherers, migratory cultivators, and hunters and fishers. Even after sedentary agriculture became the basis for the livelihood of the majority of humans, hunters and gatherers and shifting cultivators held out in many areas of the globe. For example, due to the absence of the horse and most herd animals in the Americas, nomadic hunting cultures became the main alternatives there. The domestication of animals gave rise to pastoralism which has proven the strongest competitor to sedentary agriculture throughout most of the world. Pastoralism has thrived in semiarid areas such as central Asia, the Sudanic belt south of the Sahara desert in Africa, and the savanna zone of East and South Africa. These areas were incapable of supporting dense or large populations. The nomadic, herding way of life has tended to produce independent and hardy peoples, well-versed in the military skills needed not only for their survival but also to challenge more heavily populated agrarian societies. Horse-riding nomads who herd sheep or cattle have destroyed powerful kingdoms and laid the foundations for vast empires. The camel nomads of Arabia played critical roles in the rise of Islamic civilization. The cattle-herding peoples of central, East, and South Africa produced some of the most formidable pre-industrial military organizations. Only with the rather recent period of the Industrial Revolution has the power of nomadic peoples been irreparably broken and the continuation of their cultures threatened by the steady encroachment of sedentary peoples. In the era of the Neolithic revolution (roughly 8000-5000 B.C.), agriculture was far from the dominant mode of support for human societies. But those who adopted it survived and increased, and passed their techniques of production to other peoples. The cultivation of wheat and barley spread throughout the Middle East and eastward to India. These crops also spread northward to Europe, where oats and rye were added later. From Egypt, the cultivation of grain crops and fibers, such as flax and cotton that were used for clothing, spread to peoples along the Nile in the interior of Africa, along the North African coast, and across the vast savanna zone south of the Sahara desert. Agriculture in the African rain forest zone farther south evolved independently in the 2d millennium B.C., and was based on root crops such as cassava and tree crops such as bananas and palm nuts. In northern China during the Neolithic period, a millet-based agricultural system developed along the Huanghe or Yellow River basin. From this core region, it spread in the last millennia B.C. east toward the North China Sea and southward toward the Yangtze basin. A later, but independent, agricultural revolution based on rice began in mainland Southeast Asia sometime before 5000 B.C. and slowly spread into South China and India and to the islands of Southeast Asia. In the Americas maize- (or corn), manioc-, and sweet potato-based agrarian systems arose in Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America today) and present-day Peru. Long before the arrival of Columbus in the Americas in A.D. 1492, these and other crops had spread through large portions of the continents of the Western Hemisphere, from the temperate woodlands of the North Atlantic coast to the

rain forests of the Amazon region. Thus, varying patterns of agricultural production were disseminated on all the inhabited continents except Australia, to virtually all the regions of the globe where there were sufficient rainfall and suitable temperatures. The Agrarian Revolution And The Birth Of Civilization, Part Two

The Neolithic Transition With the development of agriculture, humans began to radically transform the environments in which they lived. A growing portion of humans became sedentary cultivators who cleared the lands around their settlements and controlled the plants that grew and the animals that grazed on them. The greater presence of humans was also apparent in the steadily growing size and numbers of settlements. These were found both in areas that they had long inhabited and in new regions that farming allowed them to settle. This great increase in the number of sedentary farmers is primarily responsible for the leap in human population during the Neolithic transition. For tens of thousands of years before agriculture was developed, the total number of humans had fluctuated between an estimated five and eight million persons. By 4000 B.C., after four or five millennia of farming, their number had risen to 60 or 70 million. Hunting-and-gathering bands managed to subsist in the zones between cultivated areas and continued to war and trade with sedentary peoples. But villages and cultivated fields became the dominant features of human habitation over much of the globe. The Transformation Of Material Life The growth of sedentary farming communities in the Neolithic era greatly accelerated the pace of technological and social change. The relatively sudden surge in invention and social complexity in the Neolithic era marks one of the great turning points in human history. Increased reliance on sedentary cultivation led to the development of a wide variety of agricultural implements, from digging sticks used to break up the soil and axes to clear forested areas to the introduction of the plow. Techniques of seed selection, planting, fertilization, and weeding improved steadily. By the end of the Neolithic period, human societies in a number of areas had devised ways of storing rainwater and rechanneling river water to irrigate plants. The reservoirs and canals, dikes and sluices that permitted water storage and control represented another major advance in the ability of humans to remake their environment. These changes protected the thin and fragile soils of the tropical or semitropical areas from the sun and torrential rains. More and better tools and permanent settlements gave rise to larger, more elaborate, and commodious housing and the construction of community ritual centers. Building materials varied greatly by region, but sun-dried bricks, wattle (interwoven branches, usually plastered with mud), and stone structures were associated with early agricultural communities. Seasonal harvests made improved techniques of food storage essential. At first, baskets and leather containers were employed, but by the early Neolithic period pottery, which protected stored foods better from moisture and dust, was known to a number of cultures in the Middle East. Houses in early agricultural settlements usually included special storage areas, and most were centered on clay or stone hearths that were ventilated by a hole in the roof. The presence of stored food in early villages made the houses tempting targets for nomadic bands or rival settlements. For that reason they were increasingly fortified. More dependable and varied food supplies, walls, and sturdy houses greatly enhanced the security and comfort

of human groups. These conditions spurred higher rates of procreation and lowered mortality rates, at least in times when crop yields were high. By the end of the Neolithic period in the 6th millennium B.C., many of the major food plants that humans cultivate today had been domesticated. In addition to food crops, plants, such as flax and cotton whose fibers could be woven into clothing, tents, and rugs, had begun to be cultivated in the Middle East and other areas. New tools and ready supplies of hides also led to new forms of water transport. Axes made possible the carving of paddles and dug-out canoes capable of crossing large bodies of water. Skin-covered boats and reed-and-log rafts were also surprisingly effective forms of water transport. Even after the introduction of the wheel in Afroasia in the 4th millennium B.C., water transport remained much more efficient than land, particularly when bulk goods were involved. Not until railways revolutionized land transport in the 19th century A.D. was this situation reversed. Social Change The surplus production that agriculture made possible was the key to the social transformations that made up another dimension of the Neolithic revolution. Surpluses meant that cultivators could exchange part of their harvest for the specialized services and productions of noncultivators, such as toolmakers and weavers. Human communities became differentiated on an occupational basis. Political and religious leaders arose who eventually formed elite classes that intermarried and became involved in ruling and ceremonies on a full-time basis. But in the Neolithic period the specialized production of stone tools, weapons, and perhaps pottery was a more important consequence of the development of agriculture than the formation of elites. Originally, each household crafted the tools and weapons it required, just as it wove its own baskets and produced its own clothing. Over time, however, families or individuals who proved particularly skilled in these tasks began to manufacture implements beyond their own needs and exchange them for grain, milk, or meat. Villages in certain regions specialized in the production of materials in demand in other areas. For example, flint, which was extremely hard, was the preferred material for the blades of axes. Axes were needed for forest clearing, which was essential to the extension of cultivation throughout much of Europe. The demand was so great that villagers who lived near flint deposits could support themselves either by mining the flint or by crafting the flint heads that were then traded, often with peoples who lived far from the sources of production. Exchanges such as these set precedents for regional specialization and interregional trade. But the emergence of full-time merchants appears to have been associated with the rise of cities in a later period. It is difficult to know precisely what impact the shift to agriculture had on the social structure of the communities that made the transition. It is likely that social distinctions were heightened due to occupational differences, but that well-defined social stratification, such as that which produces class identity, was nonexistent. Leadership remained largely communal, though village alliances may have existed in some areas. Judging by research on peoples who still live at roughly Stone Age levels, such as in New Guinea, property in Neolithic times was held in common by the community, or at least all households in the community were given access to village lands and water. By virtue of their key roles as plant gatherers in prefarming cultures, it can be surmised that women played a critical part in the domestication of plants. Nonetheless, there is evidence that their position declined in many

agricultural communities. They worked, and have continued to work the fields in most cultures. But men took over tasks involving heavy labor, for example, land clearing, hoeing, and plowing. Men monopolized the new tools and weapons devised in the Neolithic era and later times, and they controlled the vital irrigation systems that developed in most of the early centers of agriculture. As far as we can tell, men also took the lead in taming, breeding, and raising the large animals associated with both farming and pastoral communities. Thus, though Neolithic art suggests that earth and fertility cults, which focused on feminine deities, retained their appeal, the social and economic position of women may have begun to decline with the shift to sedentary agriculture. Agriculture And The Rise Of Civilization In The Middle East And Africa

The Middle East By 4000 B.C.: The Causes Of Civilization As you have seen, one reason that civilization first appeared in the Middle East was because agriculture had taken hold in this region. Over many centuries agriculture became more common and productive in the Middle East; it began to create the conditions for further innovations - including civilization. But the first civilization also required an additional set of stimuli, the new inventions and organizations that had taken shape around 4000 B.C. Much time elapsed between the development of agriculture and the rise of civilization in the Middle East and many other places. The successful agricultural communities that formed were based primarily on very localized production, which normally sustained a population despite recurrent disasters caused by bad weather or harvest problems. Localized agriculture did not consistently yield the kind of surplus that would allow specializations among the population, and therefore it could not generate civtlization. Even the formation of small regional centers, such as Jericho or Catal Huyuk, did not assure a rapid pace of change. Their economic range remained localized, with little trade or specialization. Most families who inhabited them produced for their own needs and nothing more. It was important that more and more regions in the Middle East were pulled into the orbit of agriculture as the Neolithic revolution gained ground. By 4000 B.C. large nomadic groups still flourished only at the southern end of the region in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula. Even the knowledge of agriculture spread slowly, so the gradual conversion of virtually the whole Middle East and some surrounding areas was no small achievement. But the shape of agricultural communities themselves in 4000 B.C. differed little from that of pioneering agricultural centers 4000 years before. Based on the expansion of agriculture in the Middle East, a detached observer who lived a little before 4000 B.C. might have predicted the gradual spread or independent development of agriculture in many parts of the world. Portions of India, northern Africa, central Asia, and southern Europe were already drawn in (though other nearby regions, such as Italy, remained immune for another millennium and a half). A separate Neolithic revolution was beginning to take shape in Central America. All this was vital, but it did not assure the civilizational revolution within key agricultural regions themselves. Dynamic Implications Of Agriculture Several factors flowed together to create the unexpected development of civilization. While the establishment of agriculture did not guarantee further change, it did ultimately co tribute to change by encouraging new forms of

social organization. Settled agriculture, as opposed to slash-and-burn varieties, usually implied some forms of property so that land could be identified as belonging to a family, a village, or a landlord. Only with property was there incentive to introduce improvements, such as wells or irrigation measures, that could be monopolized by those who created them or left to their heirs. But property meant the need for new kinds of laws and enforcement mechanisms, which in turn implied more extensive government. Here agriculture could create some possibilities for trade and could spur innovation - new kinds of regulations and some government figures who could enforce them. Farming encouraged the formation of larger and more stable communities than had existed before Neolithic times. Most hunting peoples moved in small groups containing no more than 60 individuals who could not settle in a single spot lest the game run out. With settled agriculture the constraints changed. Communities developed around the cleared and improved fields. In many early agricultural areas including the Middle East, a key incentive to stability was the need for irrigation systems. Irrigated agriculture depended on arrangements that would allow farmers to cooperate in building and maintaining irrigation ditches and sluices. The needs of irrigation, plus protection from marauders, help explain why most early agricultural peoples settled in village communities, rather than isolated farms. Villages that grouped several hundred people constituted the characteristic pattern of residence in almost all agricultural societies from Neolithic days to our own times. Some big rivers encouraged elaborate irrigation projects that could channel water in virtually assured quantities to vast stretches of land. To create larger irrigation projects along major rivers such as Tigris-Euphrates or the Nile, large gangs of laborers had to be assembled. Further, regulations had to assure that users along the river and in the villages near the river's source would have equal access to the water supply. This implied an increase in the scale of political and economic organization. A key link between the advantages of irrigation and the gradual emergence of civilization was that irrigated land produced surpluses with greater certainty and required new kinds of organization. It is no accident that the earliest civilizations arose along large rivers and amid irrigation projects. Civilization in Mesopotamia and then Egypt involved not only the central fact of economic surplus but also the ability to integrate tens, even hundreds of square miles along rivers. Regional coordination, based first on irrigation needs, could easily lead to other contacts: shared cultures, including artistic styles and religious beliefs; economic contacts, including trade; and common political institutions. Further Innovations: New Tools And Specializations In The 4th Millennium The first civilization also required the technological developments whose impact coalesced around 4000 B.C. These developments addressed problems faced by agricultural peoples who were encouraged by opportunities available in individual villages to share ideas and encourage inventive colleagues. Most of the inventions thus occurred in regions where agriculture was best developed, which for a long time meant the Middle East. At the same time, the new inventions enhanced the productivity of Middle Eastern agriculture, creating the consistent surpluses that would ultimately shape civilization itself. The result was a recurrent series of technological changes. The first potter's wheel was invented by about 6000 B.C. It encouraged faster and higher-quality ceramic pottery production, which facilitated food storage and improved the reliability of food supplies. Pottery production promoted the emergence of a group of specialized manufacturing workers who made pots to exchange for food produced by others.

Better tools allowed improvements in other products made out of wood or stone. Obsidian, a hard stone, began to be used for tools in the late Neolithic centuries. The wheel was another Middle-Eastern innovation. Wheeled vehicles long remained slow but they were vital to many monumental construction projects where large blocks of stone were moved to the construction sites of temples. Shipbuilding also gradually improved. Developments of this sort, enhancing production and possibilities for trade, set the framework for the outright emergence of civilization with the rise of Sumerian society along the Tigris-Euphrates. A key technological change, which occurred slightly after the emergence of the first civilization, was the introduction of metal for use in tools and weapons. By about 3000 B.C., copper began to be mixed with tin to make bronze; this development occurred around the Black Sea and in the Middle East. Use of metal allowed manufacture of a greater variety of tools than could be made of stone or bone, and the tools were lighter and more quickly made. The Middle East was the first region to move from the Neolithic (stone tool) Age to the Bronze Age. Other parts of the eastern Mediterranean soon made the transition. Metal hoes, plows, and other implements proved extremely useful to agricultural societies and also to herding peoples in central Asia. Again new technology promoted further specialization as groups of artisans concentrated on metal production, exchanging their wares for food. Widespread use of bronze also encouraged greater trade, because tin, in particular, was hard to find; by 2000 B.C. trade had become a motivation for extensive development of sea routes.