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Triad Work – SS7

Next Steps after Early Beginnings

Farming to Cities

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Farming: A Giant Step• most of time humans fed themselves

gathering wild plants / hunting wild animals• by 5000 years ago, people had begun

farming in almost every part of world

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• Farming marks time when people began to grow plants and raise animals for food

• Humans began training animals to be of use to them

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• Switch to farming marks a gigantic change in how people related to the earth and their environment

• Instead of simply finding and taking what nature provided, people started to help nature along

• As farmers, humans started to take control of the production of food

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A Shift

• Shift from food gathering to food producing meant people could now be sure of getting enough to eat

• Dependable source of food allowed people to settle in one place

• As food became abundant, communities began to flourish

• Farming was a giant step towards the development of civilization

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How Farming Got Started

We can only speculate. We weren’t there.

Some Theories:• Spilled-Grain Hypothesis• Watching-the-Animals Hypothesis• Moov’en-and-Groov’en Hypothesis

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Spilled-Grain Hypothesis

Neolithic women, noticed new grain plants grew when they accidentally spilled grain seeds. They tried scattering seeds on purpose – it worked!

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Watching-the-Animals Hypothesis

• Animals often find plants in places with water / good soil - Hunters saw pattern

• People stayed at sites, animals became tamer

• People started weeding / irrigating so plants would grow better

• Started saving seeds of better plants to plant

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Moov’en-and-Groov’en Hypothesis

• One season, nomads liked a site so much they stuck around

• Stayed so long they harvested a crop and then saw it grow to harvest stage again

• Groups learned to grow a crop from seed to harvest and then move on

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Remember

A hypothesis is a theory or opinion that has not been proven – a kind of educated guess about what the evidence means

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On your own, explain why you agree with one of the hypotheses described or propose one of your own.

Write down two facts or reasons to justify your hypothesis

• Spilled-Grain Hypothesis• Watching-the-Animals Hypothesis• Moov’en-and-Groov’en

Hypothesis

Activity:

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PAIR/SHARE ACTIVITY “Why Farming Began”

• Using Ancient Worlds pages 56-57, meet with a partner to discuss how the historian argued a hypothesis in the article “Why Farming Began”. Use the questions in the article to guide your discussion. Take turns reading the questions, and responding.

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Think for Yourself

• State your own hypothesis about how farming started.

• How is your hypothesis similar to and different from the one given in the article?

• Do you think the historian did a good job of supporting a hypothesis? Explain.

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Cities: Another Giant Step

Looking at how cities developed is like seeing civilization develop

• development of farming brought people together in communities

• people stopped farming when farmlands produced more food than was needed some

• some people developed others skill; moved closer together forming villages

• sometimes these villages grew into towns, and then cities

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Ancient Cities of the World

• In ancient times, cities homes of royalty and officials who held power

• Officials controlled surrounding land; decided who could farm

• Some cities grew around temple or place of worship

• Communities flourished because people could make a living (e.g, shopkeepers, craftspeople, artists, teachers, priests, and officials)

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Scientists Love to Discover Ruins of Ancient Cities

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Scientists want to know more about how ancient people lived and met

individual/common needs

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Seeing PatternsNote the development (changes) of different early civilizations

Nomadic groups travelling

People formed settled, organized communities

Communities grew into cities

Met other groups through trade or warfare

Cities developed unique characteristics; solve problems in different ways

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Charting Change

Using picture series on pages 62-63, Ancient Worlds:

• Make a 2-column chart. List stages (or

changes) you see in column one. • In column two, speculate on how each

change must have affected people’s lives

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Pair/Share Your Chart

With a partner, discuss how the events described in the chart did or did not contribute to a more civilized life for people

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In Conclusion

• You have examined the big steps that led towards civilization.

• You have seen that tools played a crucial role at every step.

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Archaeologists found evidence showing at least 6 different species of humans have walked the earth

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Tools were important and teach us about daily life or early humans

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Scientists divided time early humans lived into three eras (periods of time) based on tools - Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age

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Hunting was a way of life for early humans.

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Farming marks time when people began to grow plants and raise animals for food

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Looking at how cities developed is like seeing civilization develop ; see a pattern to the changes

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In Your Opinion

Which was the most important step in getting civilization started:

» Invention of fire» Tools for hunting» The beginning of farming» Technology for travel or» The beginning of cities

Remember to support your opinion

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THE END