The Neolithic Revolution & Early Agricultural Societies

AP World History Key Concept 1.2

Technological and Environmental Transformations, to c. 600 B.C.E.

Key Concepts

Each key concept is designed to allow learners to identify patterns that can be used in further studies of world history.

Begin to identify themes through which patterns can be identified.

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QuestionsPlease do not limit yourself to these questions. If they raise more questions, write those down and investigate.

ActivitiesThis presentation has a few articles as well as other opportunities to think more about the implications of the development of early societies.

Questions

● What were the long-term demographic, social, political, and economic effects of the Neolithic Revolution? [1.2.I]

● How did pastoralism and agriculture transform human societies? [1.2.II]

● How did pastoral societies resemble or differ from early agricultural societies? [1.2.II]

● What new forms social organization developed from the development of agricultural and pastoral societies? [1.2.II]

Neolithic Revolution In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers.

Settled agriculture appeared in several different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified, food supply.

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Worst Mistake?

Read the article by Jared Diamond

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Where? How? Why?

Fertile Crescent

Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural villages emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean.

Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea, Mesoamerica, and the Andes.

Agriculturalists?

1. Agricultural surplus and trade2. Labor specialization3. Urban centers4. Social stratification5. Gender inequality6. Organized religion7. Plow and irrigation technology8. Spoken and written language9. Bureaucracy and military organization

10. Epics, myths, monumental architecture

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● Like agriculturalists, pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified than hunter-foragers.

● Because pastoralists were mobile, they rarely accumulated large amounts of material

● possessions, which would have been a hindrance when they changed grazing areas.

● The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become an important conduit for technological change as they interacted with settled populations.

Developed in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia

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Pastoralism?

Crop and Animal Domestication

Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core regions, depending on available local flora and fauna.

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Labor Adjustments

Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create the water control systems needed for crop production.

Environmental Effects

• Use of water resources

• Clearing of land

• Use of building materials

• Roads

• Use of fuel materials

• Animals, disease

• Mining

Let’s put it together.

Food Supply and Society

● new classes of artisans and warriors

● development of elites

Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor

Technological Innovations

● Pottery● Plows● Woven textiles● Metallurgy● Wheels and wheeled vehicles

How did these technological innovations lead to improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation?

Social Organization Knowledge?Skills?Tools?Wealth?

Impacted by

Social Organization

What did all of this mean for women?Click or touch for article

Continuity and Change Over TimeAnalyzing what changes and what stays the same during and among historical periods is a required skill for APWH.

Foraging1.Food subsistence achieved through hunting / gathering.2. “Jacks of all Trades.”3.Nomadic.4.Limited social stratification.5.Gender division of labor, but gender equality.6.Animist beliefs.7.Tools: stone axes, flint arrow heads, bone needles.8.Spoken language.9.Kinship groups/tribal bands.10.Cave paintings, carved objects, Venus Figurines.

Civilization1.Agricultural Surplus & trade2.Labor Specialization3.Urban4.Social Stratification5.Gender inequality6.Organized Religion7.Technology including plow and irrigation8.Spoken & written language9.Bureaucracy & military organization10.Epics & myths, monumental architecture

What changed and what stayed the same?

Brought to you by ...

Special thanks to Bill Strickland, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Millhouse, and Jay Harmon

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