Transcript III. The Agricultural Revolution

Chapter 1 Section 2:
The Beginning of Agriculture
Main Idea
The development of agriculture was a major
turning point in human history and significantly
changed the way in which many people lived.
Reading Focus
• What new tools and technologies did early
humans develop during the New Stone Age?
• How did early agriculture develop and spread?
• In what ways did the development of agriculture
change Stone Age society?
I. The New Stone Age
The Neolithic Era - about 8000 BC to 3000 BC
I. The New Stone Age
Advances in tool making define Neolithic Era
I. The New Stone Age
Old - Stones chipped to make points
New - Polished stones to make points
- Specialized tools
Flint Knapping
II. Development of Agriculture
Last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago;
new animals and plants appeared
II. Development of Agriculture
People learned to farm and became food
producers - the Neolithic Revolution
II. Development of Agriculture
They gathered wild grains, learned
connection between seeds and plants
II. Development of Agriculture
Domestication – selective growing/breeding of
plants/animals; best traits were kept
II. Development of Agriculture
First domesticated animals probably dogs;
followed by cattle, sheep, etc.
II. Development of Agriculture
Domesticated plants and animals = reliable
food source; large animals were put to work
III. Agriculture Changes Society
Reliable food supply resulted in world
population increase
III. Agriculture Changes Society
Some people became nomadic pastoralists;
others formed farming settlements
Nomadic Mongol’s Camp
A. Early Farming Societies
Settlements grew into villages and towns
5,000 year-old
Neolithic village of
Skara Brae, occupied
from about 3180 BC
to 2500 BC
A. Early Farming Societies
Improved agriculture needed fewer workers;
artisans/craftsmen appeared; trade increased
Funerary pottery
Beads and Pendants
A. Early Farming Societies
Social status based on wealth, influence, and
authority; men gained dominance over women
A. Early Farming Societies
Other changes: formalized religion; warfare
over land/resources; crop failure meant famine;
increased disease
Stonehenge
Maikop Gold Bull
Russia, 2500 BC
B. New Technologies
Cattle pulled improved plows
B. New Technologies
New tools to prepare grains; clay pottery; wool
spun into yarn; c. 3000 BC - the Bronze Age
C. Catal Huyuk
c. 6000 BC - largest Neolithic village: covered
30 acres, 5000 to 6000 people
C. Catal Huyuk
Farmed, raised animals; conducted wideranging trade
D. Otzi the Iceman
1991 – hikers found a frozen 5300 year-old
Neolithic man in Italy’s Alps
D. Otzi the Iceman
Otzi added great deal to information about
Neolithic life
Otzi the Iceman
(also spelled Oetzi
and known also as
Frozen Fritz)