From foragers to farmers
For most of human history, people lived as hunter-gatherers. The shift to farming was one of the most important changes our species ever made.
Human origins
Anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago, according to fossils from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. Groups spread out of Africa beginning roughly 70,000-60,000 years ago, reaching Australia by about 50,000 years ago and the Americas by at least 15,000 years ago, possibly earlier.
The Palaeolithic
During the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), people lived in small mobile bands of hunter-gatherers, using stone tools, fire, and eventually language, art, and burial rituals. Cave paintings at Chauvet and Lascaux in France, some over 30,000 years old, show sophisticated symbolic thinking.
The Neolithic Revolution
Beginning around 10,000 BCE, people in several regions independently began farming and domesticating animals. The earliest known centre was the Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia (wheat, barley, sheep, goats). Others followed in China (rice, millet), Mesoamerica (maize, squash, beans), the Andes (potatoes), New Guinea, and sub-Saharan Africa (sorghum, yams).
Why farming spread
Farming supported far more people per square kilometre than foraging, so farming populations grew and spread. But early farmers often had poorer health than foragers: more disease from crowding and animals, more tooth decay, and less varied diets. Farming was a trade-off, not simply an improvement.
Settled villages
Farming allowed permanent villages. Çatalhöyük in modern Turkey, occupied from about 7100 BCE, housed several thousand people in packed mud-brick houses entered through the roof. Jericho had walls by about 8000 BCE. Göbekli Tepe, a monumental site in Turkey built around 9500 BCE, before farming was fully established, suggests religion may have helped bring people together.
Social change
Food surpluses allowed some people to specialise as craftspeople, priests, or leaders. Property, inheritance, and social inequality grew. Many historians argue that gender roles became more rigid in some farming societies, and that warfare over land and stored food became more common.
Technology
Neolithic people developed pottery for storage and cooking, weaving, polished stone tools, and later metalworking. The Bronze Age began around 3300 BCE in Southwest Asia, when people learned to alloy copper and tin. Ironworking spread from around 1200 BCE.
Worked example
Compare a forager band and an early farming village. The band of 30 people moved seasonally, ate dozens of plant and animal species, and had little property. The village of 500 stayed put, relied on a few crops, stored grain, and had more children; but if the harvest failed, everyone suffered, and stored wealth invited raids. Both ways of life had advantages and risks.
Key takeaways
Homo sapiens evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago and spread worldwide. Palaeolithic people were mobile foragers with art and language. The Neolithic Revolution (from about 10,000 BCE) began independently in several regions, starting in the Fertile Crescent. Farming supported larger populations but brought new health problems. Villages such as Çatalhöyük emerged. Surpluses led to specialisation and inequality. Bronze and later iron technologies followed.
Flashcard
Africa, about 300,000 years ago
Check your understanding
Why did farming spread even though early farmers were often less healthy than foragers?