Reminders of previous class

 Give and example of earliest agriculture on earth and how it was carried out?
 What does paleolithic mean?
 What is the first hominid name and how long ago did they live?
 Where were the first hominids found?
 How do first hominids feed themselves and how did they shelter themselves?
 What are the scientific names from first hominids to modern human in the order of history?
 What is one of the first clues about human being in Europe?
 How and why humans spread to world from their original regions?
 What did the economy depend on in Paleolithic age?
 How was the social life through the Paleolithic age?
 Describe the difference between modern human and the closest species who lived at the same time?
Neolithic Revolution
Dr. Mine ERDAL
Paleolithic  Neolithic  Ancient Age  Medieval Age  Modern Age  Contemporary Age

 Neo means new

 Lithic means what?
 Stone
 Neolithic Age was a time period AFTER the Paleolithic Age, also called the New Stone
Age
 Marked by a CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TXCJ0EV1y0
Paleolithic  Neolithic  Ancient Age  Medieval Age  Modern Age  Contemporary Age

Characteristics of the Neolithic Age

 People began to settle and live in Permanent
homes
 They domesticated animals
 BEGAN FARMING
 USED COMPLEX TOOLS
Paleolithic  Neolithic  Ancient Age  Medieval Age  Modern Age  Contemporary Age

Neolithic Art and Architecture

Skara Brae (Scotland) from above, a 5,000 year-old stone-built neolithic village on one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. The settlement was inhabited
between 3180-2500 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids in Egypt.
Paleolithic  Neolithic  Ancient Age  Medieval Age  Modern Age  Contemporary Age

Complex Tools

 Polished stones
 Pottery
Paleolithic  Neolithic  Ancient Age  Medieval Age  Modern Age  Contemporary Age

Biological trends in human evolution and cultural

evolution
Social Settled in small
communities/villages
Economic Agriculture also called
farming, domesticated
animals. INCREASE IN DIET
Type of homes Permanent houses and
buildings
Technology COMPLEX TOOLS –pottery,
polished axe, adze, sickles,
spears
 The Agricultural Revolutions

 The first stage of the long process of domestication of

plants was semi-cultivation
 The next stage was the use of fire
 The transition to agriculture took place first and is best
documented in the Middle East
 The environments in which agriculture developed
dictated the choice of crops
 Domestication
 Domestication of animals
proceeded at the same time as
domestication of plants
 As with plants, domestication of
animals occurred independently
in various parts of the world
Domestication

 Neolithic farmers selected for crops that harvested easily.

 Wild wheat species like Einkron for instance, falls to the ground and shatters when it is
ripe.
 Early humans bred for wheat that stayed on the stem for easier harvesting.
 Around the same time that farmers were beginning to sow wheat in the Fertile Crescent,
people in Asia started to grow rice and millet.
 Scientists have discovered archaeological remnants of Stone Age rice paddies in Chinese
swamps dating back at least 7 700 years.
 From hunting to pastoral life

 Holocene Period 9000 B.C.E. - when

most historians agree that a global
warming (end of ice age) made people
transition from hunter gathering lifestyles
to agricultural or pastoralist lifestyles.
 This change took place most likely due to
a reduction in the supply of game and
wild food plants
 The agricultural revolution increased
population from 10 million in 5000 B.C.E
to between 50 and 100 million in 1000
B.C.E.
Figure 1. The Early Neolithic sites (10,000 BCE to 3,800 BCE) used in our analysis.Sites shown with blue symbols have 14
C
dates available, and those in red are archaeologically dated. Modern national borders are shown dashed.
(Gangal, Kavita, Graeme R. Sarson, and Anvar Shukurov. "The near-eastern roots of the Neolithic in South Asia." PloS one 9.5 (2014): e95714.)
The fretile crescent
 Göbekli Tepe
“The beginning of village life”

 The discovery of Göbeklitepe region in Turkey changed all

the known understanding about the history of humanity, the
history of religions, and the settlement of people.
 Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between c. 9500 and 8000 BCE
 Earliest example of the transition from
hunting and gathering to agriculture
 a monumental complex built on the top of a rocky
mountaintop, far from known sources of water and to
date produced no clear evidence of agricultural
cultivation!
 the adoption of farming caused people to settle down,
or settling down caused people to adopt farming???
(not clear)
https://www.360tr.com/gobekli-tepe-5-panorama-sanal-tur_2ab7166d45_tr.html
 Neolithic Age (12000 ya- 5000 ya)

 From predation to agriculture

Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey is

one of the best-preserved
Neolithic settlements (8000- 9000
ya)

https://www.youvisit.com/tour/photos/group4/81119
Çatalhöyük

 Progressed in agriculture and the domestication of animals.

 Female figurines have been found within bins used for storage of cereals, such as
wheat and barley, and the figurines are presumed to be of a deity protecting the
grain.
 Peas were also grown, and almonds, pistachios and fruit were harvested from
trees in the surrounding hills.
 Sheep were domesticated and evidence suggests the beginning of cattle
domestication as well.
 However, hunting continued to be a major source of food for the community.
 Early settlements around the world

 Other sites occupied by such people are located in

southwestern Asia in what are now Iran, Iraq,
Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey ;
 in southeastern Asia, in what is now Thailand;
 in Africa, along the Nile River in Egypt; and
 in Europe, along the Danube River and in
Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly (historic regions
of southeastern Europe).
 Early centers of agriculture have also been
identified in the Huang He (Yellow River) area of
China;
 the Indus River valley of India and Pakistan; and
 the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico, northwest of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
 Agriculture and the Number
of Humans
 The population rises steadily until around 1800 C.E.
 At that time it shoots up dramatically. Really
dramatically. What happened?
Causes of the Neolithic Revolution

 There was no single factor that led humans to begin farming roughly 12,000
years ago.
 The causes of the Neolithic Revolution may have varied from region to region.
 The Earth entered a warming trend around 14,000 years ago at the end of the
last Ice Age.
 Some scientists theorize that climate changes drove the Agricultural Revolution.
 In the Fertile Crescent, bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on
the east by the Persian Gulf, wild wheat and barley began to grow as it got
warmer.
 Pre-Neolithic people called Natufians started building permanent houses in the
region.