Lecture 26: The First Agrarian Societies
based purely on human labor power using implements such as hoes or
digging sticks, mortars, and sickles. Many horticultural communities exist
even today in regions such as the Amazon basin or Papua New Guinea. In
forest regions, “swidden” (or “slash-and-
burn”) farmers used stone axes and ¿ re to
clear trees before planting crops in the rich,
ashy soil. As fertility declined within a few
years, the process had to be repeated in a slow,
Agrarian version of nomadism. So swidden
farming initiated global deforestation.Most early Agrarian communities can be
thought of as villages, but some were large
enough to be thought of as small towns.
Villages and small towns were the most
important and complex types of communities
throughout the early Agrarian era. Jericho
may be the oldest known Agrarian settlement.
Lying about 20 kilometers east of Jerusalem, it has been excavated since the
mid-19th century by archaeologists looking for its famous walls. Jericho’s
¿ rst occupants were Natu¿ ans. But by 11,000 years ago, about 1,000 people
lived in 70 mud-brick dwellings, supporting themselves by farming. Few
permanent communities this large had ever existed before.Even more densely settled was Catal Huyuk in Anatolia, which À ourished
9,000 years ago. Here, mud-brick houses were built with adjoining walls,
a bit like cells in a beehive, so houses were entered from the roof. Each
house contained a hearth, a storage area, and exotic bull-headed statues. The
inhabitants exported the tough volcanic glass known as obsidian, which was
used to make ¿ ne blades. Most early Agrarian villages were smaller. Modern
anthropological studies of regions such as the Papua New Guinea highlands
or the Amazon basin today may give an impression of how most people lived
in the early Agrarian era.How well did the ¿ rst farmers live? Did agriculture necessarily mean
“progress”? We saw in Lecture Twenty-Two that, by some criteria, PaleolithicJericho may be the
oldest known Agrarian
settlement. Lying about
20 kilometers east of
Jerusalem, it has been
excavated since the
mid-19th century by
archaeologists looking
for its famous walls.