Early Humans and the Neolithic Revolution

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)

Found in Austria, age 25,000 years,size 4” tall

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 pre-human 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?

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!

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!!!

The nomads stopped moving around… why?

They started farming, this was a big change

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

(aka the Agricultural 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

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 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?

Area Crop Type

  Cereals, Grasses Pulses

Fertile Crescent wheat, barley pea, lentil, chickpea

China millet, rice soybean, adzuki bean, mung bean

Mesoamerica corn common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean

Andes, Amazonia Corn lima bean, common bean, peanut

West Africa and Sahel sorghum, millet, African rice cowpea, groundnut

India [wheat, barley, rice, sorghum, millets]

hyacinth bean, black gram, green gram

Ethiopia teff, finger millet, [wheat, barley]

[pea, lentil]

Eastern United States maygrass, little barley, knotweed, goosefoot

 

New Guinea sugar cane —

Examples of Early Crops around the Ancient World

Species Date (B.C.)

Place

Dog 10,000 Southwest Asia, China, North America

Sheep 8,000 Southwest Asia

Goat 8,000 Southwest Asia

Pig 8,000 China, Southwest Asia

Cow 6,000 Southwest Asia, India, (?)North Africa

Horse 4,000 Ukraine

Donkey 4,000 Egypt

Water buffalo 4,000 China?

Llama / alpaca 3,500 Andes

Bactrian camel 2,500 Central Asia

Arabian camel 2,500 Arabia

Dates of Domestication of Large Mammal Species

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…