Bell Work

What makes a civilization? What

characteristics must it have to be considered a
civilization?

Bonus song
Question: Why and how did humans
shift to agriculture?

Based on your
understanding of hunter-
gatherer life, would you
be interested in switching
to agriculture?
Several archaeologists and anthropologists
now argue that violence was much more
widespread in hunter-gatherer society than
in more recent eras. Two-thirds of modern
hunter-gatherers are in a state of almost
constant tribal warfare, and nearly 90% go to
war at least once a year. Death rates are high
usually around 25-30% of adult males die
from homicide.
Not so many women as men die in
warfare, it is true. But that is because
they are often the object of the fighting.
To be abducted as a sexual prize was
almost certainly a common female fate
in hunter-gatherer society.
 Under what kind of
circumstances would hunter-
gatherers switch to
agriculture?
 Why did it happen?
Textbooks often teach that farming
started when some people one day
figured out that plants grow when
you plant seeds, and then suddenly
people decided to farm
This is a simplistic view that insults
the intelligence of early humans, as
they knew the environment well
and knew how plants grew
So why did they wait to start
farming?
 The Natufians
Around 11,000 BCE the world
began to warm and glaciers
shrank, and Southwest Asia
(Middle East) became warmer
and wetter
The Natufians, hunter gatherers
in the Levant lived near
grasslands full of antelope and wild
edible grasses
oak and pistachio forests
the Mediterranean Sea
 Environmental Change
Younger Dryas Theory
BUT THEN, all the way in Canada,
melting glaciers caused an overflow of
fresh water into the Atlantic, disrupting
the current of warm water toward
Europe
This caused the Earth to cool down
again for about 1000 years, bringing ice
back to Europe, and creating drought
(no rain) in Southwest Asia
Forests shrank, less grass grew, animals
were fewer in number. It was becoming
more difficult for anything to survive.
 Domestication
Domestication = selective breeding of plants and
animals to make them more useful for humans
Took care of animal herds, helping them get water
and food, breed, found goats and sheep to be easy
to control
Took care of wild grasses, watering, fertilizing, and
eventually planting to get more to grow
Picked the plants/animals with best qualities to
reproduce, like obedient goats and stronger wheat
that would not drop its seeds naturally
Teosinte grass was domesticated by selecting
for large kernels until it became corn (maize)
Dogs were domesticated by picking the
friendliest and most obedient wolves
 Neolithic Revolution: The Basics
Neolithic Revolution: Transition of human
populations from nomadic hunting/gathering to
settled agriculture starting around 10,000 BCE
It did not happen overnight, and it did not
happen to all people at one time. Over
thousands of years, agriculture spread to
different human populations.
The first farmers were STILL Hunter-Gatherers,
and they used farming first as a supplement
 Some people who domesticated animals lived
by Nomadic Pastoralism (AKA Herding):
Way of life in which people have only
domesticated animals, like sheep or cows, and
they move with them from place to place in
search of pastureland for their flocks
 Homework 1
DBQ (essential) Due 8/14
Read each document carefully and answer the
question(s) that follow
Then write a TOFFEE response
 TOFFEE
Topic
What are you writing about? Give background information
Opinion
Answer the question(s) what do you think
Fact
Explain one document that supports your opinion and how is supports your
opinion
Fact
Do the same as above but with a different document
Evaluation
Tie the two documents together and give an overview
Ending
Conclusion
 Homework
Read the one of the two articles that you were
given in class, and annotate with the goal of
identifying arguments you can make in a
debate over the question Was agriculture a
positive/negative development for
humanity?
 Ticket Out the Door
PROS CONS