The Transition to Food Production: Neolithic, Neolithic–Chalcolithic, and Chalcolithic Villages, c. 7000–2000 BCE
Chapter – 3
Table of Contents
- The Kachi plain in Baluchistan, Pakistan, may seem inhospitable due to its arid and mountainous terrain with limited rainfall.
- Despite its challenging environment, the region supports prosperous villages and a trade route connecting the Indus valley with central Asia.
- The population includes pastoral nomads and agriculturalists who benefit from the abundance of wild cereals and game.
- Farmers utilize dammed non-perennial streams to irrigate their fields, primarily cultivating wheat, making the area the “bread basket” of Baluchistan.
- The Kachi plain is rich in ancient archaeological sites, with Mehrgarh being one of the most significant.
- Mehrgarh, excavated starting in 1974, provided groundbreaking insights into the early history of agriculture in the subcontinent.
- Early agricultural villages appeared worldwide, with key sites in West Asia (wheat and barley farming, sheep and goats domestication), Southeast Asia (diverse plant species), Baluchistan (barley and wheat cultivation, cattle, sheep, and goat domestication), Uttar Pradesh (possible early rice cultivation), China (rice cultivation, water buffalo, dog, and pig domestication), Mexico (corn, beans, squash, and more), Peruvian highlands (cultivation and possibly llama and alpaca domestication), and sub-Saharan Africa (millets, sorghum, yams, and livestock domestication).
- Primary domestication of plants and animals occurred where species were native, spreading to secondary areas of domestication worldwide.
The Neolithic Age and the Beginnings of Food Production
- Domestication of animals and plants was a lengthy process involving generations of people and marked a significant achievement in human history.
- It entailed selective breeding and rearing of plants and animals under human control for human benefit, removing them from their natural habitat.
- Distinctions exist between plant collection, plant domestication, animal keeping, and animal domestication.
- The transition from simple food collection to complex foraging marked the beginnings of plant domestication.
- Over time, this transition led to the stages of incipient (early) agriculture and developed agriculture, accompanied by technological advancements, increased food availability, population growth, settlement expansion, and complex social and political organization.
- Societies that significantly relied on domesticated animals and plants for food can be described as food-producing societies.
- Neolithic age is associated with innovations in stone tool technology, pottery, sedentary living, small village communities, and a division of labor based on gender.
- V. Gordon Childe termed this transition the “neolithic revolution,” which was a gradual process that occurred in different regions with diverse features and outcomes.