SCHOOL COLLEGE PROJECTS-SEMINARS...

OBJECTIVES

The emergence of new social activities with new modes of production
played a crucial role in this process. Agriculture as a mode of production marks an
important phase in the evolution of human society. In this unit we shall try to learn about
the importance of agriculture. After studying this unit you will be able to know:the process of transition of mankind from food-gathering to settled agriculture through domestication of animals and cultivation of plants,the nature of the climatic and ecological factors which contributed to this development,the nature of archaeological and historical evidence which establishes the pattern of this evolution.the social consequences of settled agriculture, such as settled community life or sedentism, attachment to land, cooperative activities and growth of complex social forms etc., and how the origin of settled agriculture led to the sophistication of technology and
growth of a new political organisation.


INTRODUCTION

Human beings slowly evolved their economy from the stage of food-gathering to
cultivation of plants about 10,000 years ago. This development was achieved first in
Western Asia, in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Palestine. In the Indian subcontinent, rice
cultivation originated in Belan Valley in the Vindhya Plateau and wheat-barely
cultivation in the North-Western region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The wheat-barley
cultivation preceded the rice cultivation. The evidence for wheat-barley cultivation goes
as far back as 6500-5000 B.C., whereas the rice cultivation in the Ganga Valley started
around 2000 B.C.


MAN AS HUNTER/GATHERER



ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR DOMESTICATION

When it is said that human beings 'domesticated' plants and animals for their economic
and social needs, it means that they chose certain plant and animal species to produce
their food and controlled the growth and reproduction of these species. They sowed the
seeds of wild grass in prepared fields and grew plants and crops. They chose the breeds
of plants which they thought would grow best in their particular region. Similarly, they
captured the young of certain wild animals, kept them in captivity, and controlled their
mating. Here too, the human beings selected those species of animals which they thought
would be easier to tame or those which would give good milk and food. When breeding
of plants and animals is taken up deliberately, the species themselves undergo a
physiological change. After generations of breeding, the 'domesticated' plant or animal is
very different from its wild ancestor.



THE FIRST FARMERS OF WESTERN ASIA




Western Asia was one of the first regions in the world where domestication began. On
the , we can locate the modern countries in which the earliest farming villages
lie: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Palestine. We can see the Zagros mountains and trace
their sweep from west to east and then south-east. We can also locate the north-south hill
ranges of Lebanon. From the altitude key given in the map, one cam see that east of
Lebanon and south and west of the Zagros, lies the low country.


THE DEVELOPMENT OF FARMING AND HERDING IN INDIA




THE CONSEQUENCES OF AGRICULTURE AND HERDING

The shift from hunter and gatherer stage of human evolution to agriculture and farming
brought about certain changes in the social organisation of human beings. Here, we shall
discuss some of these changes.



i) Animals and Crops

We do not know when exactly specialised animal herding developed in some parts of the
world. It seems that in large tracts of land which could not support agriculture, or in areas
where the dry season was severe and fodder was not available for a large number of
animals, people gave up interest in agriculture and became full time animal herders. They
used to take their animals to pastures in different areas. Until today many communities in
western Asia and western India move around with their flocks of sheep and goat. But in
other parts of our subcontinent and in Europe, village communities have both tended
fields and kept animals.Even in areas where animal herding became specialised, cattle gradually became important for farmers. This was because as strong beasts, the cattle were capable of
drawing heavy ploughs to till the earth, aerate the clods, and draw nutrients into the root
zone of the crop from deeper levels. This kind of ploughing make for greater productivity
of the soil than the earlier manual digging of individual holes with hoes.


ii) Sedentism

Whatever the importance of animals, if a group depends on agriculture it tends to be
sedentary rather than mobile, unlike hunters and nomadic herdsmen. You must have
noticed that all the crops we have earlier described are annual grasses. They have to be
sown at one time of the year and are ready for harvest only three or four months later.
While they are growing they have to be protected, watered and weeded, Transplantation
and weeding in rice fields is especially laborious. When land becomes the object of
human being's labour in this way, they become attached to it. When there is only one
wheat or rice harvest every year, people have to store grain for eating during the rest of
the year and also to use as seeds in the next sowing. This also discourages nomadism.
Many prehistoric farming villages were equipped with immovable equipment like storage
bins and grinding stones. Many of these sites were occupied continuously for several
generations. And a site like Jericho, with its stone defences, must have been a permanent
site indeed!



iii) Attachment to Land

When people spend a lot of time as well as their skill and labour on certain plots of land,
they are determined not to easily give up this investment. There emerges not only
physical but also emotional attachment to land. That is why they are even ready to fight
for retaining it.


iv) Ecology

We have also seen that human beings began to introduce certain plants and animals into
areas where they were not originally found. Thus, they became conscious agents in the
transformation of the ecological balance of earth.


SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF HUNTING AND FARMING SOCIETIES

Ancient farmers did not necessarily eat better than hunters and gatherers. Neither can we
say that farming was the more reliable subsistence, because early farmers would always
have to contend with crop diseases, soil depletion, floods or droughts. Nevertheless,
agriculture brought about social changes which are more complex.


DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL COMPLEXITY

Once agricultural tribes were established certain further changes started taking place. The
first villages were often established in zones where subsoil water made 'wet patch'
cultivation easy. Jericho depended on the water brought to its vicinity by underground
spring. Other villages may have depended on neighbourhood streams. In such situations
fields located close to the source of water would be better than fields further away. As
population increased or reliance on agriculture grew, some tribesmen would have no
choice but to till marginal, less fertile lands. Those members who had the best lands
would be able to produce the biggest harvests and give feasts to others, thereby, acquiring
high status and putting others under their obligation. In the mind of primitive man,
wealth was due to the favour of the ancestor or gods.

CONCLUSION

The transition from food-gathering and hunting to settled agriculture started with
domestication of plants and animals. The first farmers who undertook this innovation
were from western Asia, where the ecology and climate were conductive to cultivation of
wheat and barley on the mountain slopes and river valleys. Sheep and goat were
domesticated. The archaeological sights of farming villages in Turkey, Iraq, Palestine,
Iran, Pakistan and India illustrate this process. In India the cultivation of plants took a
varied form because of the differences of ecology and climate. The growth of agriculture
contributed to settled or sedentary life-style, attachment of man to land and property,
replacement of the ad hoc type of cooperation existent among the hunting societies by a
more sustained form of cooperation. New kinship solidarity emerged among settled
agriculturists and political institutions such as chiefdom and kinship came into existence.
The interaction between man and his environment thus brought about changes in both.
There is evidence that domesticated plants and animals undergo changes as also changes
occur in man's habitat, social relationships and thinking. These changes brought about a
complex social organisation, and in course of time it led to the growth of civilisation.