Lecture 4: Agricultural Revolution
As the last Ice Age ended man began the change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a greater reliance on cultivating crops in what we call the Agricultural Revolution. This was a major change to a less nomadic life that led to increases in population and to more communal living. We’ll take look a look at the nature of this change, at some of the effects of the change in lifestyle from that of hunter-gatherer to a life dependent on the cultivation of crops and of domestic animals, and explore some of the other significant developments that were to follow.
Lecture Outline
1. Introduction
2. Location and Timing
3. Domestication of plants
4. Domestication of animals
5. Communal living
6. Cooperative tasks
7. Shared beliefs
8. Leisure time
9. Land use
10. Other Consequences
Delayed rewards, Planning
Storage and property
Inequality
Wars
11. Summary
Concepts introduced in the fourth lecture:
Next week we’ll discuss the Scientific Revolution.
As the last Ice Age ended man began the change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a greater reliance on cultivating crops in what we call the Agricultural Revolution. This was a major change to a less nomadic life that led to increases in population and to more communal living. We’ll take look a look at the nature of this change, at some of the effects of the change in lifestyle from that of hunter-gatherer to a life dependent on the cultivation of crops and of domestic animals, and explore some of the other significant developments that were to follow.
Lecture Outline
1. Introduction
2. Location and Timing
3. Domestication of plants
4. Domestication of animals
5. Communal living
6. Cooperative tasks
7. Shared beliefs
8. Leisure time
9. Land use
10. Other Consequences
Delayed rewards, Planning
Storage and property
Inequality
Wars
11. Summary
Concepts introduced in the fourth lecture:
- The agricultural revolution was a major lifestyle change leading to many developments that play a major role in the ascent of man
- Domestication of plants and of animals has changed the course of evolution over the last 10,000 years
- The changes led to huge population increases, and ultimately to the current dominantly urban lifestyle
- Man’s role altered from that of a species that did not just inhabit the planet but actively began to alter the nature of the planetary surface and its inhabitants
- Major advances, such as those in science and in manufacturing have their ultimate roots in the agricultural revolution
- The agricultural revolution instigated changes in our concepts of property rights, politics, governance, and customs and beliefs.
Next week we’ll discuss the Scientific Revolution.