HIST 10800 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Nomadic Pastoralism, Zagros Mountains, Neolithic Revolution
Document Summary
Nomads were highly mobile people who moved from place to place foraging, or searching, for new sources of foods. Nomads who collected plant foods and hunting animals mainly are known as hunter- gatherers. Hunter-gatherers used tools to aid their chances of survival. About 10,000 years ago, some hunter-gatherers discovered farming by spreading seeds around a campsite, and witnessing their growth. (it is speculated they were women, as they handled the plants. ) This discovery caused the neolithic revolution, or the agricultural revolution, resulting in a shift from food-gathering to food-producing societies. Early farming methods included slash-and-burn farming, which involved setting whole fields on fire to clear them. However, this method made it impossible to use the land after a couple of years, requiring some time to be waited before starting farming again. Knowledge carried over from hunting played a key role in domestication, or taming of animals. Horses, dogs, goats, and pigs, as well as other animals were tamed.
