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  • Essay / The Development of Agriculture - 1313

    In order to reach a conclusion as to which processes were most important in leading to the development of agriculture, it is necessary to compare and contrast the examples from various regions of the world. I chose to focus on Southwest Asia (specifically the Levant region), North America, and East Asia. Processes discussed include the influence of climate change and the trend toward a sedentary lifestyle among hunter-gatherer groups. Also the settlement of small communities for longer periods in areas suitable for agriculture, the development of permanent settlements in villages and the construction of ritual or communal sites which indicate advanced organization of people. The beginnings of symbolism and cognitive behavior may also contribute to the development of agriculture. Climate change must have played a significant role in creating the environment in which agriculture could thrive. In Southwest Asia, the end of the Ice Age brought warmer and wetter conditions at the end of the Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the Epipaleolithic. The cooler and drier Younger Dryas period heightened the need for groups to supplement their collection of wild plants and when the climate became warmer and wetter around 9,500 BC it produced fertile soils ready to be cultivated, particularly for wheat. In North America, the fertile floodplains of areas such as Illinois were not suitable for settlement and cultivation until the mid-Holocene, around 7,000 BC. At this time, the southward movement of plant species meant a change in diet for hunter-gatherer groups. A climate similar to today was not established until after 2500 BC. In East Asia, two different regions developed at the same time, but climatic and environmental factors dictated that only when the formation...... middle of paper...... food as a political weapon to impose control is a practice that continues to this day, indicating the importance of these processes. Works CitedBrowman, DL Fritz, GJ Watson. PJ (2009) “Origins of food-producing economies in the Americas”, in Scarre, C. (ed.) The Human Past, London, Thames and Hudson, pp. 306-330. Higham, C. (2009) 'East Asian agriculture and its impact' in Scarre, C. (ed.) The Human Past, London, Thames and Hudson, p. 234-244.The Open University (2007) 'Audio CD, Track 2' [CD], A251 World Archaeology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.Perkins, P. (2009) A251 World Archaeology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Scarre, C. (ed.) (2009) The Human Past, London, Thames and HudsonWatkins, T. (2009) “From Foragers to Complex Societies in South-West Asia”, in Scarre, C. (ed.) The Human Past, London, Thames and Hudson, p. 200–225.