Transcript Unit 4 – Agricultural and Urban Revolution Review

REVIEW
Unit 4
Agricultural and Urban Revolutions
(objective exam over Units 3 and 4
will be on Friday, essay – extended
response portion will be tomorrow
(Tuesday).
Unit 4 – Agricultural and Urban
Revolutions
Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution:
 Definition: when humans began to settle down
to raise their own domesticated crops and
animals
 Began perhaps as long as 20,000 years ago but
at least by 13,000 years ago
 Permanent living sites (settlements) began to
appear in various parts of the world about
13,000 years ago
Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution,
con’t
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Pastoralism: the process of raising domesticated
animals (herding, raising goats, sheep, etc.)
Crops raised by people and the regions associated with
them:
Africa: Yams and teff
North America: sunflowers
South America: bean and potatoes
Mesoamerica: maise
Southeast Asia: rice
Middle East and South Asia: barley and wheat
Neolithic Revolution, con’t
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The environment and terrain influenced what
crops were cultivated (some crops needed more
water, a particular type of soil, temperature
mattered)
Question to consider (using reason and an
example): Was the Agricultural Revolution a
strategy (plan) that allowed the
development of larger communities OR did
the develop-ment of larger communities
demand the security of a more predictable
food source?
Agricultural Revolution, con’t
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Why did humans turn to agriculture (as opposed to continuing as
hunters and gatherers)?
Disadvantages: practicing agriculture and pastoralism was harder
and more time consuming than foraging; early on, they had a more
limited diet than what they had as foragers
Advantages: practicing agriculture made it possible to produce a
greater quantity of food in a smaller area; these crops could be
manipulated to become more productive; they were capable of
supporting an increasing population
* This process was more than likely unintentional (in the beginning)
but the overall result was an increased ability of societies to thrive
and expand.
Agricultural Revolution, con’t
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The domestication of maize:
Because humans kept selecting kernels that stayed on
the husks to replant– corn eventually lost its ability to
reproduce on its own without the help of man.
Tehuacán valley: archaeologists believe that humans
living here over time accidentally domesticated maize—
moving from the riverbanks to the foothills to the
mountains because of environmental factors (climate,
seasons, etc.) and continually “experimenting” with the
wild maize eventually led to its domestication once the
environment changed drastically because of extended
droughts.
Urban Revolutions
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Urban = “city” life
How and why did they get started? There is no distinct,
definitive way in which early settlements became urban centers
(they all followed their own paths). But… they all shared the
following characteristics:
(1) their existence relied on the intensive manipulation of the
environment and they resulted in greater complexity;
(2) as communities grew larger, they needed access to more distant
resources (via trade) which united city dwellers with those who lived
outside the city walls (those they traded with).
Urban Revolutions
Disadvantages of living in an urban
center:
1. they could become overcrowded
and over populated
2. they often developed food shortages
3. diseases often broke out in crowded
cities
Advantages: security AND ????
Urban Revolutions, con’t
Complex societies evolved at different times in widely separated
areas like Africa, the Americas, and Eurasia (on the road from
settlements to cities).
 While urban growth occurred independently in each region, all of
these areas shared some similar patterns:
 (1) distinctions in wealth,
 (2) status and gender became more important,
 (3) new kinds of culture with new forms of expression.
See your chart for details
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Pottery: archaeologists see pottery as a sign of a settled society
(people need storage vessels for water, grain, etc. in order to
survive).
Mehrgarh: Lessons Learned
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Archaeologists’ mistaken ideas: that the people of Mehrgarh (in
present day Pakistan) developed ideas about pottery, metals, and
agriculture from migrants from the west via the process of cultural
diffusion (by 6000 BCE)
When in fact, Mehrgarh appears to have developed some
rudimentary knowledge of making clay objects and had harvested
primitive local barleys
Most archaeologists today believe that 8,000 years ago (or so)
Mehrgarh was an unsophisticated settlement (that had developed
independent of others) but by about 6000 BCE, migrants had moved
into the area and had spread their ideas about making pottery
(storage vessels, etc.) and raising more sophisticated varieties of
barley and other grains.