WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE STATE OF SOCIETY,IF AGRICLUTURE HAD NOT BEEN DISCOVERED
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Answer:
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Explanation:
Based on current archeological evidence, anatomically modern humans have existed roughly 200,000-300,000 years. However, before roughly 15,000-20,000 years ago, we have no evidence that our ancestors had agriculture. Instead, we believe they strictly hunted or foraged for food. There were times when they had a big kill and had more food than they knew what to do with. There were other times when they overforaged or hunted and they didn’t know how many days it would be until their next meal. If they didn’t find food, they or their families would starve. Even when there was food, it might take miles of walking to find it. For many of these preagricultural societies, a good bit of their energy went into just getting more energy—in other words, food—to keep going and reproduce.
There also couldn’t be too many humans living in one area since there was only so much food to be found or killed. Because of this, a tribe of 100 hunter-foragers would have needed to be the only humans on 50 to 500 square kilometers to survive—places lush with life, like tropical rain forests, could support a higher density. With only hunting and foraging to support human populations, it is estimated that the Earth could only support about 10 million people. Historians estimate the world population was around six to ten million 10,000 years ago.
The birth of agriculture
About 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, humans began to mold nature to their needs and agriculture emerged in multiple places around the planet. We believe that it emerged independently and spread from places as varied as Mesopotamia, China, South America and sub-Saharan Africa. As we explore more, it is likely that scientists will find more places where agriculture may have emerged even earlier. The birth of agriculture is often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution since it seems to coincide with the Neolithic period—or new stone age. The Neolithic period’s name stems from the fact that stone artifacts were more smooth and refined than those of the Paleolithic period, or old stone age. Many of these tools facilitated early agriculture.^1
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Five agricultural tools found in the Iberian settlement Bastida of Alcusses, ca. late 5th century B.C.E. to the 4th century B.C.E. Tools are textured and brown. .
Five agricultural tools found in the Iberian settlement Bastida of Alcusses, ca. late 5th century B.C.E. to the 4th century B.C.E. Tools are textured and brown. .
Agricultural tools found in the Iberian settlement Bastida of Alcusses, ca. late 5th century B.C.E. to the 4th century B.C.E. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
The first agriculture was likely cultivation of wild species of plants and basic herding of livestock. As time went on, humans became more and more sophisticated at breeding the plants and livestock that best met our needs. The corn you see in the grocery store and the pigs, cows, and sheep you see at a farm did not evolve independently in the wild. They are the product of thousands of years of human selection and breeding from original, wild forms.
Why did agriculture emerge when and where it did?
The simple answer is that we’re not sure. We do, however, have several theories—can you think of more?
End of a glacial period: The last glacial period ended 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. This seems to coincide with the emergence of agriculture. After the glacial period ended, there was more moisture in the air, less frozen soil, and better conditions overall for more plant and animal life. These conditions would have also been more suitable for agriculture. This theory still has several open questions:
1) Why have we not found evidence of agriculture during the last interglacial—warmer—period over 100,000 years ago? Have we just not found it yet?
2) Even during the glacial period, weren’t there some places on Earth in the tropics that would have still been suitable for agriculture?
Continued human development: Even though anatomically modern humans have been around for roughly 200,000 years, our brains, language, and culture may have continued to develop and change—including through natural selection. It is possible that only 10,000 to 20,000 years ago did we first have the right mix of environmental, mental, and cultural development to implement agriculture. This theory is bolstered by the fact that the dawn of agriculture seems to coincide with humans being able to make the more sophisticated stone objects which define the Neolithic period.
Pastoralism: a branch of agriculture