Neolithic Age / Agricultural revolution

Because an abundant amount of food was produced, fewer people were needed in the fields. Neolithic people began to take part in economic activities other than farming. Examples are...

Artisans, or skilled workers. They made weapons and jewelry that they traded with neighboring communities. People made pottery from clay to store grain and food. They made baskets from plant fibers. They also used plant fibers to weave cloth. These craftspeople, like farmers, also exchanged the goods they produced for other things they did not have.

By 6000 b.c., people in northern China were domesticating what type of animal?

Dogs!

The End of the Neolithic Age

During the late Neolithic Age, people made more technological advances. Toolmakers created better farming tools as the need for them arose. These included hoes for digging soil, sickles for cutting grain, and millstones for grinding flour. In some regions, people began to work with metals, including copper. Workers heated rocks and discovered melted copper inside them. They then experimented with making the copper into tools and weapons. These proved to be easier to make and use than those made of stone. Craftspeople in western Asia discovered that mixing copper and tin formed bronze. This was a technological breakthrough because bronze was stronger than copper. Bronze became widely used between 3000 and 1200 b.c. This period is known as the Bronze Age. Few people, however, could afford bronze and continued to use tools and weapons made of stone.

What is systematic agriculture?

Growing food on a regular basis.

The roles of men and women changed when people moved into settlements. How?

Men worked in the fields to farm and herd animals. They gradually became more responsible for growing food and protecting the village. Men emerged as family and community leaders. Women bore the children and stayed in the villages. They wove cloth, using the wool from their sheep. They also used bone needles to make clothing from cloth and animal skins. In addition, women managed food supplies and performed other tasks.

Where did people look to settle?

Near their plants and near rivers. Needed to stay close to a water source.

What Were the Benefits of a Settled Life?

Neolithic people needed protection from the weather and wild animals. A settled life provided greater security. Steady food supplies created healthier, growing populations. As the population increased, more workers became available. Those individuals could grow more crops. Villagers produced more than they could eat, so they began to trade their food for supplies they could not produce themselves.

Besides farming, what other advancements did humans make during this time?

They also domesticated pigs, cows, goats, and sheep.

How did different regions begin growing food that is not found where they lived?

Through trade with people from other regions of the world.

Eygpt and Central Africa?

Yams! They also grew fruit crops, such as bananas

Neolithic Age

began about 8000 b.c. and lasted until around 4000 b.c.—about 4,000 years. The word neolithic is Greek for "new stone." It was the time when people began to stay and live in one place and grow their food.

What were they growing in Southwest Asia?

wheat and barley