Á

40,000sc T
5,000
25,000 ac

The First Farmer§

' Hiiviik ilr Trrrkel..
c. 6000 sc Beer is tnarlc itt the
.' Near East.
. c. 5000 sc Farrttirlg is acloptcd 1'
irr (,hina anrl Ee\pt aníl
,plcatls lo Ettrrlpc. Farnting i
' alstl begirrs irr India, along '.li
t}re Inclus arrrl Gat Iges rlver
r-al]el,s.
'
c. {-t00 Bc Horsc\ arc
;,;..,.."
a,,,,,.rii;;;;;i
ErLrope atrcl usecl for riding
lrlr- the first tirrre.
:
For the great majority of human historyo
people have found their food by hrrnting
and gathering. They hunted wild animals,
such as mammoths, bison and deer, and
gathered berrieso nuts and roots to eat.
_ Meat made up about a third of prehistoric people's diet and
because they had to follow the herds of animáls tírey hunted, they
] ' were not based in one place, but lived as nomads, moving from
"§
camp to camp with the changing seasons. Then, about 10,000
i,
years ago, a massive change occurred in the way people lived.
: people learned how to grow their own crops and to iear animals
for their meat, milk and skins. Instead of having to roam farther
: and farther afield to find enough food to eat, people found they
j could grow enough food on a small patch of lánd io feed their
i families. This meant, in turn, that they had to settle in one place
allyear round and build permanent homes. These people were

i the first farmers. Their farming settlements became the first

c. {000sc The first plouehs zrre i
il5ecl ill t]re Near East. They j
.1rr 1]lacle of'sharph. pointed, _!
,, : k, ,l .ri, k., tlle ealliesl
.' :] l] ]i. tllacle bl. a plorrgh
l,r( ll ll:.Cí)\rl(.d
in
\|tri.,1], )talllia.
villages, which grew to become the first towns.
Plants and animals that are grown
or raised by people are known as
i domesticated, or tamed. The
first
-,:,l domesticated plants and animals
were developed from plants and
animals found in the wild.
Y Life on afarm in EuroPe
arottnd 3()00 ac ruas uery harrl
ttllrk. 1lun1.,1u mttrll lnts.[rutn t.l,tl
antl .firetl thcm itt tt kiln lu -:luti
ptrtin rtnd ulutct They tlsecl stotte
ctxes to ,fbll Lrec,s rntd. clear lhe
groun.d, rnttl .slone .siclt/es ttl hari,t,sl

\ lhei,r tro|ls. 'l'hey .sPun uool illío

Lluerld rtntl uloue i!. intrl cloth,
 ü
000 Bc
ü
l0, 000 5ool
5000 sc

4 This maP shouls some

imPorLanl lowns in lhe ancient
world. Many of these greu uP as
farming settlements. The first

I farms darloPed in the Near East

and EuroPe in a region knoun as
the Fntilp Crescent (shaded on the
maP). CroPs, such as wheat and
barlq, uere grown and, ani,mak,
such as goats and sheeP, ra,ised.
Farm,ing sPread throughout EuroPe
and western Asia. It dneloPed
indePendently in the rest of Asia
and, in the Amnicas.

DESERT ROCKART
Some l0,000 years ago,the Sahara
Desert was much lusher and greener
than it is today. Cave paintings from

rc Tassili, in Algeria, which date from that

time, show people hunting giraffe,
hippopotamuses, rhinoceros and
Wheat and barley were two of the first crops to be domesticated. elephants. Later paintings show farmers
They had grown wild in parts of the Near East for thousands of tending herds of cattle,After about
3000 ec, the Sahara's climate became
years. The first farmers collected seeds from these wild plants and
much drier. Many of these animals
sowed them in ground dug over with deer antlers. (Ploughs were disappeared from the rock art, to be
not invented until about 6000 years ago.) The following year, the replaced by more traditional desert
animals, such as camels.
crop was harvested and the grain used for grinding into flour. It
was used to make bread, which was baked on hot stones. Grain
was also made into beer. Farmers also learned how to tame wild
animals and breed them in captivity. The first domesticated
animals were sheep, goats and pigs. These animals are still
among the most common domesticated animals in the world,

.*, JP *: ., *,;l S