Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity

Another way of putting this is to say that agriculture implies “intensi¿ cation.” While the extensive technologies of the Paleol ...

Lecture 24: Threshold 7—Agriculture Bellwood, First Farmers. Mithen, After the Ice. What is agriculture? Why does the appearanc ...

The Origins of Agriculture LECTURE Normally, tributary rulers, tribute-taking rulers, the kings and emperors of this world, were ...

Lecture 25: The Origins of Agriculture In Lecture Twenty-Four, we saw that agriculture appeared within a few thousand years in m ...

suddenly started using such techniques more intensively. Second, the geographical distribution of easily domesticated species ma ...

Lecture 25: The Origins of Agriculture may also explain why some foragers settled down, for improved climates would have stimula ...

Christian, Maps of Time, chap. 8. Fagan, People of the Earth, chap. 8. Ristvet, In the Beginning, chap. 2. Bellwood, First Farme ...

Lecture 26: The First Agrarian Societies The First Agrarian Societies LECTURE The encounter between newly arrived humans and ind ...

x About 5,000 years ago, it could be found in West Africa, Mesoamerica, the Andes, Central Asia, and parts of Europe. By then, ...

Lecture 26: The First Agrarian Societies based purely on human labor power using implements such as hoes or digging sticks, mort ...

foragers lived quite well. The evidence on early farmers is mixed. The ¿ rst generation or two probably lived well, enjoying imp ...

Lecture 26: The First Agrarian Societies What were the most revolutionary developments during the “early Agrarian” era of human ...

Power and Its Origins ..................................................................... LECTURE Power from below can exist w ...

Lecture 27: Power and Its Origins The appearance of the ¿ rst tribute-taking states marks a new level of social complexity. Inde ...

in order to achieve group goals, such as the building of irrigation systems or defense in war. Familiar modern examples of power ...

Lecture 27: Power and Its Origins Harris, “The Origin of Pristine States” (in Cannibals and Kings). Johnson and Earle, The Evolu ...

Early Power Structures ................................................................... LECTURE If you ¿ nd infants that are ...

Lecture 28: Early Power Structures wealth, which created new opportunities and temptations for would-be leaders. Whenever comple ...

mythical) through senior ancestral lines claimed the deference due to seniors in all kin-based systems. High birth provided a se ...

Lecture 28: Early Power Structures ¿ erce and relentless war leaders. They laid waste to the countryside and their clubhouses we ...