in the beginning…
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Early Humans and the Neolithic Revolution. In the beginning…. 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) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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…