How were plants modified through domestication and cultivation?
Hunter-gatherers knew a great deal about the ‘biology’ of the plants and animals on which they depended, and many planted seeds of wild species. They knew how to detoxify poisonous plants, and how to use plants for medicinal purposes. Religious rituals often served to promote the productivity of important food sources. It was common for women to do most of the gathering and for men to do the hunting. Although this must have been a difficult way of life in many respects, hunter-gatherers enjoyed considerable leisure time in comparison to modern societies. About 10,000 years ago, in the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia (today Iraq), people began to grow crops and to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. The change from subsistence patterns (hunting and gathering) to agriculture was the first ‘cultural revolution’ that impacted human behavior and societies.
