Neolithic revolution

2. During most of history, most humans made
their living by hunting and gathering
By the end of this time period, Cro-Magnon
man had developed art and complex tools.
knives, throwing spears, fish hooks
harpoons and sewing needle.
Improved tools = improved health and
increased food supply = increased
population.

4. The Neolithic Revolution
(8000BCE-3500BCE)
•Sometimes termed the
Agricultural Revolution.
•Humans begin to slowly domesticate plant
and animal stocks in Southwest Asia.
•Agriculture requires nomadic peoples to
become sedentary.
•Populations begin to rise in areas where
plant and animal domestication occurred.

5. Causes of the Neolithic
Revolution?
•Warmer climate
•Longer growing season
•Leads to permanent settlements

6. Costs & Advantages of Agriculture
Advantages Costs
•Steady food supplies
•Greater populations
•Leads to organized
societies capable of
supporting additional
vocations (soldiers,
managers, etc.)
•Heavily dependant on
certain food crops
(failure = starvation)
•Disease from close
contact with animals,
humans, & waste
•Can’t easily leave sites

7. Agriculture Slowly Spreads: What do
you notice about the core areas?

8. Agriculture and irrigation began in an
area of the Middle East called the
Fertile Crescent that stretched from
Iraq to Egypt.
Agriculture is believed to have been
started 9000 years ago in Jarmo, an
archeological site in the Zargros
mountains in North East Iraq

9. Independent Development vs.
Cultural Diffusion
•Areas of Independent Development:
2.SW Asia (wheat, pea, olive, sheep, goat)
3.China & SE Asia (rice, millet, pig)
4.Americas (corn, beans, potato, llama)
•Areas of Agriculture Through Diffusion:
7.Europe
8.West & Sub-Saharan Africa (?)
9.Indus River Valley (rice cultivation)

10. Interactions Between Nomadic Peoples
and Sedentary Agricultural Peoples
•Some nomadic peoples
engaged in pastoralism.
•Some practiced slash & burn agriculture.

•The violent and peaceful interaction
between nomads and agriculturalists endures
throughout history. (Trade & raids)

11. •High starch diets slowly allow
Sedentary populations to grow.
•First plow invented c.6000BCE;
crop yields grow exponentially by 4000BCE.
Pop. grows from 5-8 million to 60-70 million.

•Eventually agricultural populations begin to
spread out, displacing or assimilating
nomadic groups; farming groups grow large
enough for advanced social organization.
Sedentary Agriculturalists Dominate

12. First Towns Develop
Catal Huyuk
Modern Turkey
First settled:
c. 7000BCE
Jericho
Modern Israel
First settled:
c. 7000BCE

13. Catal Huyuk
•Catal Huyuk = located in Turkey
• evidence of crops (wheat, barley
and peas) and animals (sheep and
cattle).
• believed in a Mother Goddess who
controlled crop yields.
• permanent homes= collect more
possessions = invention of new
technologies (pottery and looms for
weaving cloth.

14. Weaving
looms at
Catal Huyuk

15. Catal Huyuk Excavations

16. Agricultural Surplus
Agriculture= increased food production
(invention of irrigation)
Increased food = surplus =
increased population
(from 2 million to 60 million)
Surplus = specialization of labor

17. Specialization leads to Technology
Any improvement in farming technology
will always lead to:
1.Improved health
2.Increased population
3.Increased food surplus
4.Increased trade

19. First Towns Develop
•Towns require social differentiation:
metal workers, pottery workers, farmers,
soldiers, religious and political leaders.
(POSSIBLE B/C FOOD SURPLUSES!)
•Served as trade centers for the area;
specialized in the production of certain
unique crafts
•Beginnings of social stratification (class)

20. Towns Present Evidence of:
•Religious structures
(burial rites, art)
•Political & Religious leaders
were the same
•Still relied on limited
hunting & gathering for food

21. Jericho (JAIR-uh-koe)
The world’s first known city developed at
Jericho in Palestine around 8,000 BC.
Walls were built around Jericho to
protect its agricultural surplus from
nomadic raiders.
•Warfare, too, might have begun at
Jericho.

22. Roles of Women
•Women generally lost status under male-
dominated, patriarchal systems.
•Women were limited in vocation,
worked in food production, etc.
•Women may have lacked the
same social rights as men.

23. Metal Working: From Copper to Bronze
•The working of metals became
very important to early human
settlements for tools & weapons.
•Early settlements gradually shifted from
copper to the stronger alloy bronze by
3,000BCE—ushers in the Bronze Age!
•Metal working spread throughout human
communities slowly as agriculture had.

24. Wheeled Vehicles
•Saves labor, allows transport of
large loads and enhances trade
Potters Wheel (c.6000BCE)
•Allows the construction of more
durable clay vessels and artwork
Irrigation & Driven Plows
•Allows further increase of food
production, encourages pop. growth
Further Technological Advancements

25. Early Human Impact on the
Environment
•Deforestation in places where copper,
bronze, and salt were produced.
•Erosion and flooding where agriculture
disturbed soil and natural vegetation.
•Selective extinction of large land animals
and weed plants due to hunting &
agriculture.

26. Advanced Civilization: The Next Step?
•By 3500BCE, relatively large, advanced
preliterate societies had developed along
the Indus, Huang He, Nile, and Tigris &
Euphrates Rivers.
•As societies grew in size and need,
sedentary human beings were once again
faced with pressures to adapt to changing
natural and human environments.

27. Characteristics of Civilizations

1.Advanced cities (centers for trade),
2.Specialized workers (artisans),
3.Complex institutions (government,
religion and economy),
4.Record keeping, and
5.Advanced technology
6.System of government
7.Written Language