Book contents
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 What Is the Agricultural Revolution?
- 2 From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Near East
- 3 Models That Describe and Explain the Agricultural Revolution, Including Plant Domestication
- 4 The Plant Formations of the Fertile Crescent and the Wild Progenitors of the Domesticated Founder Crops
- 5 The Difference between Wild and Domesticated Plants
- 6 Traditional versus Modern Agriculture – Stability vs Maximization
- 7 The Differences between Plant Domestication and Crop Evolution under Traditional and Modern Farming Systems
- 8 The Differences between Cereal and Legume Crops in the Near East
- 9 The Choice of Plant Species for Domestication
- 10 Where, When and How Did Near Eastern Plant Domestication Occur?
- 11 Domestication of Fruit Trees in the Near East
- 12 Plant Evolution under Domestication
- 13 A Global View of Plant Domestication in Other World Regions
- 14 Animal Domestication in the Near East
- 15 Plant Domestication and Early Near Eastern Agriculture
- Notes
- Further Reading
- References, Chapter 14
- Glossary: Basic Concepts in Genetics, Botany, Ecology, Agronomy and Zoology
- Index
1 - What Is the Agricultural Revolution?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2022
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Plant Domestication and the Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient Near East
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 What Is the Agricultural Revolution?
- 2 From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers in the Near East
- 3 Models That Describe and Explain the Agricultural Revolution, Including Plant Domestication
- 4 The Plant Formations of the Fertile Crescent and the Wild Progenitors of the Domesticated Founder Crops
- 5 The Difference between Wild and Domesticated Plants
- 6 Traditional versus Modern Agriculture – Stability vs Maximization
- 7 The Differences between Plant Domestication and Crop Evolution under Traditional and Modern Farming Systems
- 8 The Differences between Cereal and Legume Crops in the Near East
- 9 The Choice of Plant Species for Domestication
- 10 Where, When and How Did Near Eastern Plant Domestication Occur?
- 11 Domestication of Fruit Trees in the Near East
- 12 Plant Evolution under Domestication
- 13 A Global View of Plant Domestication in Other World Regions
- 14 Animal Domestication in the Near East
- 15 Plant Domestication and Early Near Eastern Agriculture
- Notes
- Further Reading
- References, Chapter 14
- Glossary: Basic Concepts in Genetics, Botany, Ecology, Agronomy and Zoology
- Index
Summary
The Agricultural Revolution (which made us all – humans – food-producers) is a major landmark in human history. It reflects a significant transformation in the general organization of human society and its components (see Glossary, General Terms, Agricultural Revolution). Since the advent of humans as tool-makers, some three million years ago, that is, since the moment we began producing tools and using them as a key vehicle in our daily activities, no transformation was as significant as the Agricultural Revolution. After three million years of living in small, mobile communities while subsisting by hunting animals and gathering plant foods, the Agricultural Revolution, which took place post-Pleistocene, during the Neolithic period, just over 10,000 years ago, brought about a prominent transformation in human life-ways. Mostly, it allowed humans to become food-producers, rendering them a unique and singular being on Earth. Small or large sedentary farming villages, characterizing the new way of life in the Near East, soon grew in size to very large villages, also known in Neolithic research as towns,1 which later became cities (Figure 1.1).
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022