The development of socio-economic relations during the existence of the tribal community marked a slow transition from an appropriating model of the economy to a reproducing one. In what millennium agriculture appeared, which regions of the Earth were the first to cultivate the soil - is described in this article.
The Neolithic Offensive
In the Stone Age, the main occupation of people was gathering and hunting. The rapid depletion of natural resources forced them to constantly move from place to place in search of new lands. The reasons for the transition to a settled lifestyle are not fully understood. Some scholars explain the emergence of agriculture by the retreat of glaciers, while others - with an increase in population. There is a theory that a settled lifestyle is closely related to the emergence of religion - primitive people did not want to leave the graves of loved ones, so they tried to settle not far from the temples and burial grounds.
Domestication of plants
The millennium in which agriculture appeared can be judged by the findings of archaeologists and cryptobotanists. Scientists studying the ancient world of plants find traces of the massive crops of legumes and grains. These findings can tell quite accurately when agriculture appeared. Carbon analysis shows that the first attempts to cultivate wild plants appeared ten thousand years ago. At that time, primitive people began experimenting with certain types of plants — not just collecting them, but also trying to grow them.
Agriculture Regions
The Middle East was the first place on Earth where people first tried to cultivate the soil. According to scientists, in these territories, wheat, barley and legumes became the first cultivated plants. In southeast Asia, rice became the first domesticated culture.
About in which millennium agriculture appeared on the American continent, the remains of maize crops speak. The very first maize plantations in these territories date back to the fifth millennium BC.
Agriculture and cattle breeding. What before?
Archeology helps to find the answer to the question of how agriculture and cattle breeding came about. People already had experience of domestication of wild animals - a dog began to live near a person in the era of hunters and nomads. According to most researchers, people domesticated cattle in order to use them as draft animals, and small animals were considered as a source of milk and meat food. The first domestic sheep and goats appeared about 10 thousand years ago in the mountains of Zagros. After that, pigs and poultry became gradually domesticated animals . The inhabitants of the Indian Peninsula tamed buffaloes, and in Asia cattle, camels and horses became domesticated.
So the answer to the question “in what millennium did agriculture appear” depends on the region in question. The difference in the richness of natural resources led to unequal development of relations in primitive society, which means that the process of settling on the ground and domestication of wild animals in different territories took place at different times.