Neolithic Agriculture

Agriculture can be considered one of the most important advancements humans have experienced behind the discovery of fire and the inventions of tools. Approximately nine thousand years ago agriculture took root and changed the lives of humans. Beginning in the Near East, early agriculture rapidly developed in an area called the Fertile Crescent, a crescent-shaped region which surrounded the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers. Also known as the cradle of civilization, the quarter-moon shape of the Fertile Crescent runs from modern-day Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan to the north to Turkey and finally down south to Iran and Iraq. Due to the regular inundations of these rivers, the Nile being the most predictable of the three, the soil was nutrient rich and perfect for agriculture. Agriculture spurred population growth, provided the conditions for building civilizations, which consecutively lead to

To understand how agriculture has impacted the Neolithic societies of the Near East and in turn the rest of the world, one must first look at what life was like before agriculture took root. People of the Paleolithic era were stuck in the hunter/gatherer lifestyle. They progressed in small groups scouring for food, foraging local plants and hunting for meat. Paleolithic people could not carry much with them beyond the necessary items for their survival.

It is likely that people of the Stone Age discovered naturally occurring crops in the Fertile Crescent area and settled near the food source, they may or may not have been supplementing their diet with wild game. Soon after seeds were collected, stored and planted. From that point, the chain of events happened like a domino effect. It was during this agricultural revolution that horticulture was developed. Alongside, the development of horticulture was the domestication of first sheep and goats followed by