Farming

Can you give a definition of farming??

Can you think of another word that could be used that means the
same as farming?

Another word for farming is agriculture.

farming – Growing crops and

keeping animals for food and
materials.
X a modern farm
 When Did People Start Farming?
The Stone
first humans
Age wasto agrow crops and
prehistoric keepwhen
period animals for materials lived in a period in history
humans
calledstone
used the Stone Age.natural materials to make weapons
and other
and tools.

It was a time when early humans were living on Earth,

millions of years after the dinosaurs had become extinct
(died out).

The Stone Age lasted for millions of years so life at the

start of the Stone Age looked completely different to life
at the end of it.

Towards the end of the Stone Age, there was a big change in how people lived their lives
when they learnt about agriculture.

prehistoric – From a time in the past before there were

written records. X
 Different Parts of the Stone Age

When people talk about the Stone Age, they often talk about it in
three parts.

These parts are called:

The Old Stone The Middle The New Stone

Age or the Stone Age or the Age or the
Palaeolithic Age Mesolithic Age Neolithic Age

The vast majority of the Stone Age years were in the Old Stone Age.
 Different Parts of the Stone Age

This timeline gives an indication of how long each period in the Stone Age in
Britain lasted as a proportion of time within the Stone Age.

Old Stone Age New Stone Age

c. 800,000 BC c. 2400 BC
Middle Stone Age

The Middle and the New Stone Ages in Britain look like a short time
in comparison to the Old Stone Age. However, the Middle and New
Stone Ages lasted for around 8100 years combined.

8100 years is still a very long time. Since the end of the Stone Age until now is
under 4500 years!
 Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers

A big change happened at the end of the Stone

Age. People stopped living as hunter-gatherers
(moving from place to place in search of food)
and started to live in one place. This happened
towards the end of the Middle Stone Age.

Old Stone Age New Stone Age

c. 800,000 BC c. 2400 BC
Middle Stone Age

A hunter-gatherer is a person who moves from place to place, surviving by hunting

During the Old and Middle Stone Ages, humans lived as hunter-gatherers. .
for animals and gathering food from wild plants.
 Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers
People were able to live in one place by the New Stone Age because they had
learnt how to farm their own food, meaning they didn't have to move around in
search of food.

A reconstructed New Stone Age home at Butser Ancient Farm.

Stone Age enclosure at Butser Ancient Farm 2 by [Leimenide] is licensed under CC BY 2.0
 New Stone Age Farming

Rather than travelling from place to place, people lived in settlements.

Their homes were next to the land that they farmed.

Many areas of wooded land were cleared during the New Stone Age to make
space for new farming settlements to be set up.
 New Stone Age Farming
Neolithic
These farmfarmers
animalskept and fedthem
provided animals,
with such
meat as sheep, pigs, goats and cattle,
in enclosed
for areas.skins for clothing and milk
food, animal
from the sheep, goats and cattle to make
cheese.

Did You Know…?

Archaeologists believe that Stone Age people did not drink milk. At that time,
their bodies could not tolerate milk and they became ill if they drank any.
However, it is –thought
archaeologist thatwho
A person theystudies
could the
eat dairy products such as cheese without
past by
problems. historical places
excavating
and studying objects and remains. X
 New Stone Age Farming
New Stone Age farmers grew their own cereals, such as wheat and barley.

They regularly made porridge and baked bread

using the wheat they had grown.

New Stone Age farmers used a stone tool called a

quern. A quern was used to grind wheat into flour.
Early querns consisted of a large stone on the
bottom and a smaller stone on top. Grain would be
placed on the bottom stone and the smaller stone
would be used to push into the grain, grounding it
down.
 New Stone Age Farming
The New Stone Age people who became farmers also continued to get food
through hunting and gathering.

They would hunt, fish and gather foods such as seeds, nuts and berries, as well
as produce food through agriculture.

Did You Know…?

Many New Stone Age people continued to live as hunter-gatherers and did not
settle to live on farms. Some archaeologists argue that agriculture was not
widely adopted in Britain until very late in the New Stone Age or even into the
Bronze Age.
 New Stone Age Farming
Early
Duringtools in theStone
thesharp
New Stone Age people
were handheld
had stonehammerstones and handaxes. Throughout
They had sicklesAge,
for cutting down tools to help them with farming.
the Stone Age, these developed and more tools had wooden handles and were smaller
grass and crops, as well as hoes that were
with
used sharper points.the ground for planting.
for preparing

The introduction of farming in the New

Stone Age is thought to be a significant
event in history. This is because people
began to live their lives in a completely
different way to how they had lived before.