Technology & Medicine › Prehistory
Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution)
c. 9500 BC onward (Fertile Crescent; later China, the Americas, Africa)· Event· Tools, energy & materials
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Humans began growing crops and herding animals, a shift that arose independently in several parts of the world.
See it on the Technology & Medicine map →How it works
Around 9500 BC people in the Fertile Crescent, an arc from Israel to Iraq, began cultivating wheat, barley and lentils, and soon herded sheep, goats and cattle. Farming arose separately in China (rice, millet), New Guinea, Mesoamerica (maize), the Andes (potatoes) and Africa (sorghum). Over generations wild plants were bred into crops that held their seeds for harvest. Farms fed far more people per acre than foraging, making villages, then cities, specialists and states possible.
Why it mattered
Farming created food surpluses, permanent towns, property, taxes and cities, though early farmers were often shorter and less healthy than foragers.
Think of it like
Like developing raw land: heavy labor up front, but the parcel then yields steadily and supports far more people per acre.
How we know
Charred seeds and animal bones from Near Eastern sites such as Abu Hureyra and Çayönü, plus DNA showing how crops and livestock changed from their wild ancestors.
Still unknown or debated
Why farming began at nearly the same time in unconnected regions after the Ice Age is debated: climate change, population pressure and feasting are all proposed.
Inside this (2)
Connections (5)
▸Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution) spread the use of PotteryWell documented
The connection
Pottery existed before farming in East Asia, but farming made it common everywhere. Settled farmers needed jars for grain, oil and beer, and pots for boiling cereals and beans. Heavy pots suit people who stay put. In the Near East, though, farming began about 2,500 years before pottery appeared there.
When and how
The Near East from about 7000 BC, after the 'Pre-Pottery Neolithic'; then Europe, Africa and South Asia with farming villages.
How we know
Excavated village layers show pottery becoming abundant as farming settled in, and residues show cereals, milk and meat cooked inside.
Debates and open questions
Why some early farmers did without pottery for many centuries, while some hunters made it, is debated.
▸Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution) led to Irrigation canalsWell documented
The connection
As farming spread from rain-watered hill country into dry lowlands, farmers had to bring water to their fields. They dug ditches and canals from rivers, first in Mesopotamia, later along the Nile, the Indus, in China and in Peru. Irrigation opened rich river soils that rain alone could not farm.
When and how
Central and southern Mesopotamia from about 6000 BC, by Samarra and Ubaid farmers; later, independently, in other river valleys.
How we know
Canal remains at Choga Mami and settlements strung along ancient watercourses show farming that depended on irrigation.
Debates and open questions
Who organized the earliest canals, families, villages or temples, is uncertain.
▸Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution) created surpluses recorded in Writing (cuneiform and hieroglyphs)Mostly agreed
The connection
Farming produced storable surpluses of grain and herds that could be taxed, traded and lent. Before writing, Near Eastern people may have tracked goods with small clay tokens for thousands of years. Around 3300 BC these accounts moved onto clay tablets, the first writing, which recorded farm products above all.
When and how
The Near East: tokens from about 8000 BC; Uruk tablets about 3300 BC, the work of temple and palace accountants.
How sure are we?
Early tablets list barley, sheep and beer; archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat linked some early signs to the shapes of older clay tokens.
Debates and open questions
Schmandt-Besserat's token theory is influential but disputed; critics say many tokens were game pieces or had other uses.
▸Columbian Exchange (crops, animals, diseases) spread potatoes and maize, reshaping Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution)Well documented
The connection
After 1492 crops crossed the Atlantic both ways. American potatoes, maize, cassava and sweet potatoes spread across Europe, Africa and Asia, while wheat, rice, cattle and horses went to the Americas. Chili peppers reached Korea, later central to kimchi. Potatoes may explain about a quarter of Old World population growth from 1700 to 1900.
When and how
Worldwide from 1492; maize and sweet potatoes reached China in the 1500s, and chili peppers reached Korea by about 1600.
How we know
Trade records, botanical history and a 2011 economic study by Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian on the potato and population growth.
Debates and open questions
Population effects are estimates, and the same exchange spread devastating diseases and plantation slavery, complicating any reckoning.
▸Haber–Bosch nitrogen fertilizer transformed Agriculture (the Neolithic Revolution)Well documented
The connection
Crops need nitrogen, and natural sources such as manure, guano and mined nitrates were limited. Fritz Haber showed in 1909 how to make ammonia from nitrogen in the air plus hydrogen; Carl Bosch scaled it up at BASF by 1913. Synthetic fertilizer greatly raised crop yields and now feeds, by common estimates, about half of humanity.
When and how
Germany: Haber at Karlsruhe, 1909; Bosch's industrial plant at Oppau, 1913; worldwide spread after 1950.
How we know
Fertilizer use and crop yields rose together after 1950; Jan Willem Erisman and colleagues (2008) estimated about 48 percent of people depend on it.
Debates and open questions
The exact dependence is an estimate; nitrogen runoff causes water pollution and dead zones, and how to grow enough food with less is debated.