Download In the beginning…

IN THE
BEGINNING…
Early Humans and the Neolithic Revolution
OUT OF AFRICA
Modern humans evolved in eastern Africa
between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago
 Modern?

 Physically
modern bodies, like ours
 Behaviorally modern too, they had:
 Technology
(tools of stone, bone and horn)
 Art (painting, sculpture)
 Religion (burial customs)
EARLY SCULPTURE
Found in Austria, age 25,000 years,
size 4” tall
ON THE MOVE – EARLY HUMAN MIGRATION

Groups divide, mix, reunite, sharing genes,
languages, customs, technology = STRONGER
60,000ya: spread to SW Asia (MidEast)
 50,000ya: South Asia (India)
 40,000ya: Australia
 15-30,000ya: the Americas


How do we know this? DNA Mapping
This map shows both
physically modern
humans as well as prehuman ancestors like
Neanderthals. The last
of these died less than
24,000 years ago.
Early modern humans
probably met them,
and even competed for
resources with them.
Mated?
“OUT OF AFRICA”
AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
These modern humans were like us in many
ways, but 1 very important thing made their
lives very different from ours.
What do you think it was?
 Need a hint?

 They
had to keep moving around…
 Looking for something…
 FOOD!
HUNTER-GATHERERS

They were nomadic hunter-gatherers, moving
around, hunting animals, gathering plants…
why?

Then came the big discovery:
 “If
you put seeds in the ground, they turn into
plants! Plants we can eat!!!”
 THIS WAS REVOLUTIONARY!!!
VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

The nomads stopped moving around… why?

They started farming, this was a big change

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

(aka the Agricultural Revolution)
FACTS OF THE REVOLUTION

WHAT: the change to farming

WHEN: beginning about 13,000ya

WHY: to produce food instead of hunt-gather

WHERE: first the Fertile Crescent, then China,
India and (later) North and South America

HOW: Domestication of plants and animals
THE ORIGINAL AGGIES
This map shows places where agriculture was developed. Places with a
question mark are unsure if farming developed independently or if it was
copied from another area.
This is where the
Agricultural Revolution
began. The first people to
stop nomadic hunting and
gathering and grow their
own food started farming
here, about 13,000 years
ago.
Fertile Crescent farmers
domesticated the grains
wheat and barley, together
with some kinds of peas
and beans.
These first farmers and
herders domesticated
animals, too. They began
with dogs and then goats,
sheep, pigs and cows.
THE FERTILE CRESCENT
DOMESTIC LIFE
The key to the Revolution was DOMESTICATION,
making a wild plant or animal more useful to
humans.
 How? Controlled breeding. More useful?

 Plants:
bigger edible parts (fruit, leaves or seeds)
 Animals: more products or useful services

Must have wild stock to begin with, some
places do, some don’t. Advantage? Effects?
CARE FOR A BANANA?
HOW ABOUT SOME CORN?
Examples of Early Crops around the Ancient World
Area
Crop Type
Cereals, Grasses
Pulses
Fertile Crescent
wheat, barley
pea, lentil, chickpea
China
millet, rice
Mesoamerica
corn
soybean, adzuki
bean, mung bean
common bean,
tepary bean, scarlet
runner bean
Andes, Amazonia
Corn
West Africa and Sahel
sorghum, millet, African rice cowpea, groundnut
India
[wheat, barley, rice, sorghum, hyacinth bean, black
millets]
gram, green gram
Ethiopia
teff, finger millet, [wheat,
barley]
maygrass, little barley,
knotweed, goosefoot
[pea, lentil]
sugar cane
—
Eastern United States
New Guinea
lima bean, common
bean, peanut
Dates of Domestication of Large Mammal Species
Species
Date
(B.C.)
Place
Dog
10,000
Southwest Asia, China, North
America
Sheep
Goat
Pig
Cow
8,000
8,000
8,000
6,000
Southwest Asia
Southwest Asia
China, Southwest Asia
Southwest Asia, India, (?)North
Africa
Horse
Donkey
Water buffalo
4,000
4,000
4,000
Ukraine
Egypt
China?
Llama / alpaca
3,500
Andes
Bactrian camel
2,500
Central Asia
Arabian camel
2,500
Arabia
AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
This was a BIG change, a revolution
 What effects do you think this had on the lives
of these early people, the first farmers?
 Think about food, homes, population, society,
health, work, the environment…
