© cscope 2008 neolithic revolution (agricultural revolution)
TRANSCRIPT
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Key Understanding
Geographic factors that allow advances in agriculture create a stable food supply which permits the development of a society.
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Life Before Agriculture
Life After Agriculture
Food Supply
Shelter
Social Structure (government & religion
included)
Art & Innovation
Specialization
Language
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Life Before AgricultureFood Supply
• Food gatherers as opposed to food producers
• Nomadic – roaming existence–As the food in an area was
consumed, man moved on, looking for another food supply
–Followed the migration patterns of the herds.
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A family of hunters and gatherers in south Texas gathering tuna and making baskets in their camp. Painting by Frank Wier.
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Life Before AgricultureShelter
• Nomadic people lived on what the environment could provide, such as caves
or temporary shelters
made of wood
and hides.
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Life Before AgricultureSocial Structure
• Social Structure was based on the family.
• A group of families is called a clan.
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Life Before AgricultureArt & Innovation
• Limited Art & Innovation
• Some drawings and art work have been found. – Lascaux Cave Painting in France
• Primitive weapons and tools –Sewing needles
–Use of fire
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Life Before AgricultureSpecialization
• Subsistence lifestyle dictated that the number one priority for all family members was to find food.
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Life Before AgricultureLanguage
• Only verbal communication was used. Symbols were used to mark places of importance.
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As man learns to farm, he is able to settle in one place and able to acquire more things.
Although known as a revolution,
these changes occurred
independently throughout the
world over the course of
several thousand years.
Development of Agriculture
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Life After AgricultureFood Supply
• Food Producing: planted, tended, harvested, and stored crops.
• Domesticated animals are used for food and as beasts of burden.
• Hunting supplemented the food supply.
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• Use of mud bricks as building material
• Eventually stones were used, leading to rock being quarried and cut for building.
• Villages located near fields and other reliable food sources. (rivers/sea)
Life After AgricultureShelter
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Image 1: Skara Brae, looking south. Skara Brae is a neolithic village in Scotland that was inhabited from about 3100 B.C. to about 2500 B.C. The village was uncovered
due to a storm in 1850. This view is to the south. The half-visible building beside the flag is the tourist information
building.
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Image 2: Skara Brae, looking north. This picture was taken from the opposite
direction of the first picture. You get a better view of one of the houses in this shot.
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Image 3: A Neolithic Home. The buildings would have been covered when they were used, but the covering deteriorated or was destroyed, and the houses were filled with sand over
time. Eventually the entire village was buried. The walls were made of stone, but compost and refuse was piled up on the
outside of the walls. Eventually this midden formed an insulating material that kept out the cold.
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Image 4: Corridor. While the houses had their own doors and the families had privacy, most of the buildings were linked together by way of corridors. This picture shows a close up of a corridor. The corridors were designed to cut down on drafts. They would have been covered, allowing people to stay within the village
structure rather than brave the elements.
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Life After AgricultureSocial Structure
• Complex social structures developed which involved when many clans began living in close proximity.
• Gender separation: – Men farmed, herded, and hunted.– Women did jobs near the home: child-rearing,
food preparation, etc.• Religion is believed to have been developed
to explain the forces of nature.• Governments developed to organize
activities.
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Life After AgricultureArt & Innovation
• Carving and statuary, complex tools such as advances in weapons, plows pulled by animals, building techniques, cloth making and weaving
• Architecture and building for religious or common use
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Life After AgricultureSpecialization
• People begin to specialize in various tasks: (tool maker), stone cutter, potter, basket weaving, early metallurgy.
• Regional resources are gathered and traded.
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Life After AgricultureLanguage
• Development of pictographic languages (Egyptian Hieroglyphic) or written language.
• Developed to keep records concerning food storage & trade.
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Catal Huyuk
• In modern-day Turkey
• The largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date