Lecture 2: What Early Agriculturalists Ate

What Early Agriculturalists Ate..........................................................

Lecture 2

T

he agricultural revolution is probably the single most important event

in human history. In fact, there were several agricultural revolutions

at different times around the globe, and it was not one event, but a

long and gradual process wherein people made the shift from the nomadic

hunting-gathering way of life to the sedentary agricultural—and civilized—

way of life. In this lecture, you will learn how ancient peoples fi gured out a

way to support their growing population by moving toward an agricultural-

based society.

The Beginning of the Agricultural Revolution

 Late-18th-century philosopher and economist Thomas Malthus

believed that like all animals, human populations are subject to the

availability of resources. A population can only grow as fast as the

resources can feed the new mouths. If it gets too large, many will

naturally die off, and if resources are abundant, then the population

will naturally grow faster.

 In prehistoric times, even if a new technology like agriculture is

invented, the population will rise dramatically but still be limited

by whatever that new technology can produce. Malthus noted that

agriculture can only be increased arithmetically while population

increases exponentially.

 Even if population pressure forced some people to fi nd new ways

of getting food, it did not free them from the recurrent crises,

food shortages, and famines. In fact, in certain respects, it made

those worse because they were now depending on far fewer

plants: If a crop failure ruined one single species, there could be

a major devastating famine whereas before, no one species was

depended on, so if one thing was missing, they gathered or hunted

something else.