How did Agriculture Begin?
In what sequence and in what combinations were different species of plants first domesticated in different parts of the world? Where were certain plants and animals first domesticated, and how? Why did agriculture emerge in some regions and not others? In The Emergence of Agriculture, well-known archaeologist Bruce Smith explores the initial emergence and early expansion of agriculture, and the transformations in human society that it made possible. Archaeologists have come to recognize that agriculture didn’t just emerge in one or two places, from whence it spread to others, but was independently invented several times over in widely separated parts of the world. In his book, Bruce Smith charts the course of the agricultural revolution as it occurred in the Middle East, Europe, China, Africa, and the Americas, showing, too, how basic archaeological methods and modern technologies such as plant analysis, radiocarbon dating, and DNA sampling are used to investigate this pivotal event. A
Agriculture began about 10,000 years ago in an area called the Fertile Crescent, in modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. At the time, there were only about five million people in the world, total. Humanity had a substantial knowledge of hunter-gatherer techniques such as boatmaking, toolmaking, botany, and so forth, but anticipated changes were taking place — the Ice Age was ending, so ice was disappearing and regions like mountain ranges became traversable, while ocean levels were rising and inland seas drying up. Mass human migration was the result. Because everyone was moving around, people naturally congregated in the boundaries between continents. The Fertile Crescent was such an area, located between Europe, Asia, and Africa. This is where both civilization and agriculture began. Agriculture probably began in areas filled with animal dung, because there were a variety of seeds there and ample fertilizer for them to grow. The original crops were nothing like the crops we know toda
