early agriculture
Neolithic crop growing
Early agriculture refers to the initial development of farming practices, when humans first domesticated plants and animals rather than relying solely on hunting and gathering.
This transition, beginning roughly 10,000 years ago in multiple regions independently, fundamentally changed human settlement patterns, population growth, and social organization.
Early agriculture in the Fertile Crescent centered on wheat and barley.
- sickleCurved hand-held harvesting blade
- barleyGrain for malt
- grinding stonesStone tools for milling
- terracingCutting slopes into steps
- plowTool for turning soil
dry farming · chickens · cattle · irrigation canals · Çatalhöyük · river valleys · wheat · Neolithic · emmer · trade networks · sorghum · legumes · social stratification · domestication · animal husbandry · tubers · seed saving · slash-and-burn
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- Neolithicdomestication, stone axes, Fertile Crescent, grinding stones, farming tools
- archaeologyexcavation, dig site, archaeologist, dig, archaeological digs
- African prehistoryAustralopithecus, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, hominids, hominins
- Natufian cultureLevant, bone tools, grinding stones, mortars, pestles
early agricultureindustrial agriculture
Large-scale mechanized farming
mechanized farming · agribusiness · factory farming · commercial agriculture · hydroponics
early agriculturewilderness
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
untouched land · pristine ecosystem · wild landscape · natural habitat · rewilding