At different times in different parts of the world, Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups around the world shifted to an agricultural lifestyle in what is called the Neolithic (New Stone Age) Revolution. As populations grew and climates changed, wild animal populations and vegetation density fluctuated. People began to raise crops and domesticate animals in order to supplement their diet. Societies gradually transitioned from following herds of animals and finding wild vegetation to living in homes and taking care of domesticated plants and animals.
The Neolithic officially began 12,000 years ago; however, there is earlier evidence of agriculture. When the level of Lake Galilee fell by 10 ft during a recent drought, it revealed the remains of the Ohalo II village and the stone foundations of little brush huts. Scientists found thousands of agricultural and other seeds in one of the huts of this 23,000-year-old village at the northern end of the Jordan Valley.
The Natufians were an ancient community of hunter-gatherers from the same region as Ohalo II. The climate warmed 15,000 years ago (Figure 13-7), and the Natufians spread across the western part of the Fertile Crescent (Figure 14‑2), from the Levant in the west to the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in the north and into Turkey (Figure 14‑4). Similar hunter-gatherers were in the Zagros Mountains in Iran.
The Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) and specifically the Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (before there was pottery) period, began near the end of the Younger Dryas Ice Age. Life had been difficult during this ice age and drought. The surviving Natufian hunter-gatherers of the Younger Dryas had small settlements near springs at the edges of the Jordan Valley. Farming began anew in these villages.
In our insulated modern lives, it is difficult to appreciate the degree to which animal domestication transformed human life. Dogs worked as hunters and sentries and provided companionship. Cats reduced vermin populations and provided companionship. Somewhere between PPNA and and the end of PPNB, animal domestication made humans comparatively rich. Cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats converted grassland and domestically produced grain into food for humans. Next, horses and camels provided transportation and transport and oxen plowed fields. Sheep and cattle provided clothing. Birds became pets but also provided food, messaging, and hunting.
The PPNB followed the PPNA in the Middle East. In the PPNB, towns were established with both farms and domesticated animals, and the synergy between domesticated crop and animal production led to a dramatic increase in wealth. Technology also led to improved living standards. House construction incorporated plaster and rectilinear construction methods (Figure 14‑26). The villages were able to provide for their population without needing everyone to be involved in agriculture. This enabled people to devote more time to arts, crafts, and technologies.
The Ubaid culture appeared in the valley of southern Mesopotamia the Late Neolithic in 5800 BC (7,800 BP). This was 200 years after the great drought between 6200 and 6000 BC decimated the agricultural communities in the foothills of the Fertile Crescent. The Ubaid were a peaceful culture that spread throughout the Middle East over the next 1,800 years. After the 3900 BC shift in climate in the Middle East, they gave way to the urban Uruk culture. The region was decimated by the Great Ur Flood in 3500 BC.
The Yellow River and Yangtze River basins were the home of several Neolithic cultures in China. As with other parts of the world, the Neolithic cultures in China were peaceful and egalitarian and produced functional tools, containers, and housing to benefit their community. Crops in the Chinese Neolithic included millet and rice. There was extensive production of beautiful pottery in Chinese Neolithic cultures. In fact, the Neolithic Chinese were the first to produce pottery.
At the time of the PrePottery Neolithic B in the Middle East, people in the Americas began to domesticate corn and potatoes. Teosinte is a bushy plant with only a handful of kernels that cannot be eaten without cracking human teeth. The path to corn domestication began with popcorn in Mesoamerica. Potato domestication began in the Andes between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago, and potatoes eventually became the primary food of the Incan Empire and other Andean civilizations.
In the last part of the sixth day, Moses described the supernatural creation of a male and female human. They lived in a special garden where humans and animals exclusively ate plants. According to archaeologists, the Ubaid first appeared in the archaeological record in 5800 BC in southern Mesopotamia, and the Great Ur Flood destroyed the descendants of the Ubaid in 3500 BC. Likewise, the Biblical chronology and description of the location of the Garden of Eden places the creation of Adam and Eve in southern Mesopotamia in 5800 BC and Noah’s Flood in 3500 BC.
Wheat. Credit: Bluenoose. Used here per CC BY-SA 3.0