Origins of Agriculture: the stepping stone for civilization Essay

Farming has been a source of work ever since man has been introduced to the earth, but the past 100 years have been promising in continuing to provide for the needs of the growing population. The people have become more educated, and technology has become much more advanced. The two have come together to boon the land and animals so that they produce to their fullest potential. The people of the world have been influenced to the extent that they work smarter not harder to provide for the growing population. Farming, a crucial necessity to the survival of mankind, has evolved in the area of education of the people which has assisted in the advances of technology, land, and animal production which will lead to the provision of food for the growing

Agriculture is only one of the many contributes to where we are today. Geographic location affects agriculture because each specific crop has needs, if you can’t meet those needs, then you can’t grow the crops. Some plants need super wet land and some need super dry land ,let’s say you live in Papua New Guinea they live closer the the equator so they have the same weather year round. So if you’re constantly getting the same amount of sunlight all year then you’ll only be able to grow the same crops over and over again. Papua New Guinea had sago, to get sago people there would have to cut down the sago tree, cut the sago tree in half and collect the sago inside. With sago you have to have a wet climate, the sago tree takes three or four days to prepare. Sago does not last long after it is prepared, sago is low in protein and uses more calories then it gives. But Fertile Crescent on the other hand live farther from the equator, so they end up getting four seasons while rotating around the sun.Which leads to an advantage in almost everything. A change in weather four times a year gives them a chance to plant and grow

The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications. There is much controversy over whether or not the introduction of

Agriculture has long been the foundation of economy and society, especially during the time as early as in the Middle Ages. As the foundation of agriculture, corn production was the most important agricultural activity at the time.

The development of agriculture by Native Americans more than five thousand years ago sparked new cultures and innovations. Hunters who previously roamed the land like nomads established permanent villages. Corn, sun, and water became focal points for many societies and played

The start of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution led directly to the beginning of civilization. The Neolithic Revolution, which happened 10,000 years ago, was the shift from hunter-gathers to a food-producing culture meaning humans started to farm and domesticate animals. This was the catalyst to help create civilizations. We know now how to distinguish groups of humans from actual civilization if those groups have certain characteristics. Those characteristics are complex institutions, record keeping, advanced cities, specialized workers, and advanced technology. A result of the Neolithic Revolution is that more people were able to thrive since there was a surplus of food. These early civilizations were able to take advantage of the rivers and create irrigation systems to water their crops.

Agriculture was such a prominent part in every civilization since the beginning of time. It was a way for humans to be one with their land for it gave them means to survive. As agriculture became much more recognized in Africa, “cultivators and herders displaced many of the hunting, gathering and fishing peoples who previously inhabited Saharan Africa.” (Bentley,384) With the progression of new technology; iron axes, adzes, and hoes were created, and revolutionized agriculture on their land. The introduction of bananas from sea lanes became popular in Africa and increased the supply of food that was available. Likewise for Medieval Europe, cultivation on Europe grounds allowed more room for agricultural techniques, the utilization of developed tools and technologies, and the institution of new crops. Similar to Africa, population pressure rose and space for more agriculture became necessary. Beans were important to the diets of Europeans as were the bananas to African diets. They also dug ponds to raise fish which in turn led to new

Journal #1. Page 32-“The era of human history when agriculture was the most important of all productive technologies and the foundation for most human societies.”

Anna Belfer Cohen and A. Nigel Gorring-Morris. 釘ecoming Farmers: the Inside Story.Current Anthropology, Vol 52, No. S4 (October, 2011): n pag. The Origin of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

The Neolithic Revolution began in Southwest Asia and other areas during 10,000 B.C.E to 3, 000 B.C.E (Council for Economic Education, 2012). The Neolithic Revolution also known as the Agricultural Revolution was a new way of life. Our society is constantly changing and moving forward. As a part of human culture, humans strive to learn, discover, create and evolve (Barber, n.d.). As a society, we have made many technological and social advancements, but have we ever taken the time to appreciate the past? The Neolithic Revolution is where it all began. Prior to the Neolithic Revolution, the early humans lived in the Paleolithic Age. This presentation will display life before the Neolithic Revolution and the shift that lead to some of the first social and technological advancements in history.

began to cultivate edible plants and to breed animals. " This change from food-gathering to food-producing initiated the Neolithic Age. Instead of living in scattered hunting communities, farmers lived in villages. Because food was available where they lived they were able to live in a certain place for a long time instead of having to move from place to place. Near these villages, small towns grew up and later cities did too, this made civilization possible.

Humans have always had to find a way to survive in the changing environment of our world. Humans have had to find many ways to adapt and find different practices to feed their communities. Humans were able to keep their communities alive due to their ways of hunting and gathering. Gender played a role in this way of finding food source. Men were set to be the hunters and the women were responsible for gathering any crops they could find. There was a transition that occurred and a new way of cultivating food emerged. Agriculture became a way of survival for human beings. Agriculture played an intricate role in providing a food source and it had a major impact on the Neolithic societies in the Near East. It provided a new way for society to be permanently transformed from what they once were, hunter gatherers to becoming something more stable and stronger.

All the mass agricultural “advancements” were only solutions to the problems agriculture rose in the first place, such as: equality and social classes, human health, and disease. Human health is one of the reasons why agriculture hurt early humans.

A major driving force towards agriculture was the rapidly increasing population size dilemma that humans faced. Increasing population size was a critical reason why agriculture soon would replace hunting and gathering since that alone would not be able to sustain the growing population size. Thus, agriculture allowed for massive productions of food, resulting in an abundance of food. This abundance of food was stored meaning if one year the cultivation season didn’t produce sufficient nutriment due to any casual factors, the masses would still be able to survive on the food that was produced the year before. Unlike agriculture, hunting and gathering didn’t allow for this to happen since, they only hunted and gathered, as they needed in that specific moment. Additionally, another reason for the beginning of farming is politics. The distribution of food was

How did early civilizations effectively develop and utilize early plants and vegetables to move from hunter-gatherers to agriculturists, and what were the impacts socially, politically, and technically? “Agriculture did not emerge from an untapped resource base or randomly distributed family or tribal units of Homo sapiens sapiens. It emerged as the result of efforts by highly organized ecologically canny communities composed of skilled hunter-gatherers.” In the beginning of what is considered burgeoning civilization, humanities ancestors were what were called hunter-gatherers. They moved from place to place, following the source of their food in order to survive the brutal aspects of early life. If they could not find food, or not find it in sufficient amount, they would starve and eventually die off. Thus, the only decision facing them was to relocate their tribes in order to better take advantage of the available game. As the second portion of their name implied, they were also considered gatherers, in which they subsisted on whatever grains and green vegetables or fruits they could find to eat. It was this kind of lifestyle which led to a smaller, tribal mindset in which you ate what you could, when you could. Over time this began to change, with the establishment of agricultural practices which allowed for availability of much needed crops and the decision of tribes to establish permanent communities, as well as the increase in both number of members and life terms.