Transition to Agriculture
Transition to Agriculture: Human Improvement or Not?
History 103 World Civilizations I
Instructor: Paul Toro
February 13, 2012
The transition that humans made from hunting and gathering to foraging was quite a transformation around 13,000 years ago. Man had man a big change when deciding to domesticate animals and plants. Man had discovered that the wild animals that they once hunted could be tamed and could be domesticated livestock for reproduction. With plants, they found the ones that would survive and reproduce. This is when humans, animals, and plants started the transition into agriculture and the population of all began to rise. What once thought of a good thing is now being questioned. Was agriculture beneficial to society or has it damaged humankind?
Homo sapiens made the extraordinary transition from foraging, hunting and gathering, to agriculture around 1300 years ago in southwest Asia. Agriculture is simply the domestication of plants and animals or farming. Human communities underwent profound economic, social, and political changes when they began to experiment with the domestication of plants and animals. Scientists refer to this era as the new Stone Age or the Neolithic era. (Bentley, Zeigler, and Streets, 2008, p. 7). With the discovery that humans made with being able to domesticate the animals and plants, life as they knew would never be the same. They did not need to follow their food around and were now able to stay in one spot. Until recently, about 1960, many thought that agriculture was a positive thing that happened to the world, but it may have had some negative effects and humans. There have been studies done on the human skeleton remains that examine the biological changes and how it affected the health and behavior of the humans at that time. Homo sapiens making the transition to agriculture sure did help people evolve into a much more developed society but there were consequences and different outcomes that came from
History 103 World Civilizations I
Instructor: Paul Toro
February 13, 2012
The transition that humans made from hunting and gathering to foraging was quite a transformation around 13,000 years ago. Man had man a big change when deciding to domesticate animals and plants. Man had discovered that the wild animals that they once hunted could be tamed and could be domesticated livestock for reproduction. With plants, they found the ones that would survive and reproduce. This is when humans, animals, and plants started the transition into agriculture and the population of all began to rise. What once thought of a good thing is now being questioned. Was agriculture beneficial to society or has it damaged humankind?
Homo sapiens made the extraordinary transition from foraging, hunting and gathering, to agriculture around 1300 years ago in southwest Asia. Agriculture is simply the domestication of plants and animals or farming. Human communities underwent profound economic, social, and political changes when they began to experiment with the domestication of plants and animals. Scientists refer to this era as the new Stone Age or the Neolithic era. (Bentley, Zeigler, and Streets, 2008, p. 7). With the discovery that humans made with being able to domesticate the animals and plants, life as they knew would never be the same. They did not need to follow their food around and were now able to stay in one spot. Until recently, about 1960, many thought that agriculture was a positive thing that happened to the world, but it may have had some negative effects and humans. There have been studies done on the human skeleton remains that examine the biological changes and how it affected the health and behavior of the humans at that time. Homo sapiens making the transition to agriculture sure did help people evolve into a much more developed society but there were consequences and different outcomes that came from
References: Bellwood, P. (2001). Early Agriculturalist Population Diasporas? Farming, Languages, and Genes. Annual Review of Anthropology. 30. Pp. 181-207. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3069214 Larsen, S, C. (1995). Biological Changes in Human Populations with Agriculture. Annual Review of Anthropology. 24. Pp.185-213. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2155935 Locay, L. (1989). From Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 37. (4), 737-756. Retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/1154126 Marceau, N., Myers, G. (2006). On The Early Holocene: Foraging to Early Agriculture. The Economic Journal. 116(513), 751-772. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3876404 The Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago. (n.d.). The First Farmers. Retrieved from http://www.mesopotamis.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamia Rhoades, R. (2012). Agriculture. World Book Advanced. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar007880&st=transition+to+agriculture&sc=-1#cite Zvelebil, M. (2009). Hunters in Transition Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and Their Transition to Farming. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=c_48AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false