Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in the Ancient World

Introduction

Plant cultivation and controlled stock breeding increased human population density and resulted in the emergence of urbanism, occupational specialization, social stratification, writing, and long-distance trade. Agriculture also necessitated the development of metallurgy, engineering, astronomy, and mathematics and transformed both religious and political systems as humans altered the environment through deforestation, terracing, and irrigation.

Archaeological evidence that attends humankind’s great transformation from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist includes pollen samples, vegetal remains, and animal bones. Art, writing, agricultural artifacts, and topographical modifications provide information on early farming systems.

Although the precise mechanism that led to domestication remains unknown, models proposed to explain the transition from hunting and foraging to incipient agriculture emphasize climatic change, population growth, and accidental domestication. The domestication process began independently in the Near East, Mexico, sub-Saharan Africa, eastern North America, South America, and eastern Asia. From these regions, techniques, cultigens, and animals diffused throughout the world.

The Near East and Egypt

Domestication began in an environmentally diverse region, the Fertile Crescent, a rugged, naturally rich habitat. Distribution of wild cereals, such as emmer and einkorn wheat and barley, and wild legumes, such as peas and lentils, paralleled the areas of earliest cultivation. Farming began in the Jordan Valley and spread into adjacent lands. By the eighth millennium b.c.e., autonomous villages had been established in areas occupied by modern Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey.

By 8000 b.c.e., at Zawi Chemi Shanidar in modern Iraq, goats and sheep had been domesticated, and at Aswad in Syria and Cayonu in Turkey, wheat and barley had been cultivated. Peas and lentils may have been grown as early as the ninth millennium b.c.e. at Aswad. At Cayonu, pigs had been domesticated by 7000 b.c.e. Evidence of domesticated cattle has been secured from sites in Turkey and in southwestern Europe dating to 6500 b.c.e. Initially, cattle were used for meat and draft purposes. Agriculture was a powerful subsistence strategy within the Fertile Crescent by 7000 b.c.e. Gradually, knowledge and the artifacts of agriculture diffused into Crete, Thessaly, Egypt, and lowland Mesopotamia.

Early tools were simple. The digging stick, which has been used in hunting and foraging communities from time immemorial, was a primary tool. Sickles for harvesting cereals were constructed of chipped flint. Food-processing tools such as mortars and pestles were made of ground stone.

The Tigris and Euphrates floodplains were farmed after 6000 b.c.e. By 5500 b.c.e., irrigation canals had been constructed to move water from the rivers to field systems and to facilitate field drainage following spring inundations. Construction and maintenance of large irrigation works required a centralized political authority for effectively coordinating labor.

Intensive irrigation, along with the plow, allowed population to increase in the developing urban centers on the Mesopotamian plains. The plow, or ard, probably evolved from a digging stick into a wooden device harnessed to oxen and designed to scratch the surface of the soil. Such plows were in use by the late fourth millennium b.c.e. Figs, olives, and grapes were grown in the eastern Mediterranean lands during the fourth millennium b.c.e. The date palm was cultivated for fruit and wood on the Mesopotamian floodplains.

Farming variations emerged by 3000 b.c.e. in the Near East and eastern Mediterranean. One pattern emphasized dependence on rainfall for cereal cultivation and livestock raising. Another variant, centered in the river valleys, relied on irrigation. By the end of the first millennium b.c.e., canalization was accompanied by lifting devices such as the waterwheel. Such devices and practices persisted into the twentieth century c.e.

Egyptian food production practices were derived from the cereal and livestock economies of the Mesopotamian floodplains. Early farming communities were evident in Egypt by the sixth millennium b.c.e., and by 4000 b.c.e., agricultural practices had spread across the Nile Valley. In contrast with Mesopotamian irrigation techniques, Egyptian farmers employed a system of basins and sluices to regulate and divert floodwater to growing crops. The annual deposits of silt that remained after the floodwaters receded in the Nile and Mesopotamian floodplains enhanced the soil’s fertility. However, the Mesopotamian hydraulic system carried an overabundance of salts, ultimately retarding the soil’s fertility there. In contrast, in Egypt, the receding floodwaters cleansed the system, creating and maintaining high fertility levels for millennia.

Europe

The crops, animals, and culture of early farming diffused from the Near East into Anatolia and the Aegean region. By the mid-seventh millennium b.c.e., cattle had been domesticated in Greece. Between 6000 and 4500 b.c.e., permanent farming villages were located over wide areas in the Balkans. By 6000 b.c.e., the cereal and livestock complex of southeastern Europe had spread up the Danube and into central Europe.

Agricultural technology changed and adapted as it spread and moved into the European forests. The diffusion of agriculture along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, as well as the penetration of northern Europe, required varied subsistence and technological strategies. Climate and altitude were crucial considerations. In some locales, hunting, fishing, and shellfish collecting remained important.

Cultivation within the forest zones required fire and stone adzes to clear dense wooded tracts. After an area was burned, seeds were sown in the nutrient-rich ash using simple tools. Slash-and-burn farming was a key technique in the evolution of European agriculture. By the fourth millennium b.c.e., people had harnessed the power of oxen, which combined with the simple ard (plow) to enhance efficiency. Early European farmers planted barley, wheat, vetch, flax, peas, beans, and lentils. Oats and rye were probably domesticated in Europe.

By 4500 b.c.e., the rising productivity of agriculture, coupled with the evolving social organization of populations, had resulted in the construction of elaborate tombs in Western Europe. The most enduring achievement of these agrarian societies, however, was their megalithic edifices, the greatest of which was Stonehenge (3100-1550 b.c.e.), located on Salisbury Plain, England.

Agriculture shaped economic foundations long before the appearance of the classical world. In Greece, implements remained simple and the general complex of cereals, fruits, and vine crops were cultivated. By the late fifth century b.c.e., mills had been constructed for pressing olives, and animals treaded stone floors to thresh grain. The Greeks wrote little on agriculture, but the Romans produced a broad literature on agricultural topics, covering topics such as soil fertility, farm management, and field procedures. To feed its great urban centers, Rome used slave power in tandem with numerous simple and mechanical wooden and iron tools. Cereals, olives, grapes, fruits, and vegetables moved from diverse environments along Roman roads and seaways.

European society in the early Middle Ages rested on an agrarian base. Manorialism evolved following the collapse of Roman administration in the Western Empire (476 c.e.). Feudalism, the larger political and military framework that included manorialism, was based on a system of personal loyalties and territorial arrangements. Local landlords allowed peasants, or serfs, to reside in manorial villages and perform agricultural and other tasks in exchange for various services. Peasant agriculture in the post-Roman world was labor intensive, and physical mobility was circumscribed. Peasant life and work revolved around a religious and agricultural calendar.

Plowing and general hauling was accomplished with oxen. Northern European soils demanded a plow that would cut through the heavy soil and turn it over to facilitate drying. During the sixth century c.e., German and Slavic populations developed such a plow. Conservation concerns were manifested in the two-field system, which allowed one of a pair of fields to lie fallow and replenish its fertility. The two-field system, which by the mid-eighth century c.e. had become the three-field system, was based on growing winter cereals while allotting equal fallow ground. It was used in southern Mediterranean Europe, where inadequate moisture meant poor spring seedings.

In contrast to the market-oriented large Roman estates, the manors during the early Middle Ages strived for self-sufficiency. Perhaps 90 percent of the European population was directly involved with agriculture and manorial labor.

Africa

In contrast to other regions of the Old World, the evidence for the development and spread of agricultural practices in Africa is poor. Before the Saharan region was largely abandoned because of desiccation (c. 2500-1000 b.c.e.), millet and sorghum may have been domesticated between 4000 and 2000 b.c.e.

Vegeculture (the cultivation of multiple species within a single field) may have been practiced in West Africa by the fifth millennium b.c.e. Coffee was domesticated in Ethiopia, and millet, yams, sorghum, okra, African rice, and groundnuts were all cultivated in West Africa with stone tool technology. Plow agriculture was unknown until the nineteenth century c.e. Sub-Saharan Africa posed many ecological obstacles including diseases and poor soils, and tropical cultivators adapted in numerous ways over the millennia.

The general cereal crop complex diffused into North Africa from the Middle East. In the forest zones, slash-and-burn was the foremost technique before tillage. As soil fertility ebbed, populations shifted and opened new forest tracts. Indigenous domesticated animals were few: guinea fowls, cattle, and perhaps donkeys. Evidence suggests cattle were domesticated in the Sahara region, perhaps by 4500 b.c.e. East African cattle culture is ancient, and pastoralism remained a major subsistence pursuit among tribes into the twentieth century c.e.

South and East Asia

Early food production in India is linked to the Near Eastern and East Asian patterns of domestication. The site of Mehrgarh (c. 7000 b.c.e.) in modern Pakistan revealed evidence of the cultivation of wheat and barley. By 5500 b.c.e., the population in India and other parts of South Asia was extensively exploiting wild cattle, sheep, and goats, suggesting a predomestication period similar to that of the Near East. By the end of the third millennium b.c.e., domesticated water buffalo, pigs, cattle, goats, and sheep were mainstays of village life. A millennium later, donkeys, camels, and horses, used in transport, were to be found over much of South Asia.

Few crops and animals were domesticated independently in India. The exceptions are chickens and cotton, which date from as far back as 5000 b.c.e. Dates, grapes, and seed plants such as sesame were probably grown by the third millennium b.c.e. Agricultural hand tools, like the adze and ax, were simple and constructed of stone.

The dense urban populations of Harappā and Mohenjo-Daro, cities of the Indus civilization (c. 2500-2000 b.c.e.), were supported through farming. The supporting technology included engineering projects to control flooding of the Indus River. The plow is believed to have been introduced into India following the collapse of the Indus civilization. The livestock, crops, and technological complex of village India has persisted into the modern world.

Early northern Chinese agriculture focused on the cultivation of millet, whereas in southern regions, rice became a staple. By 6000 b.c.e., foxtail and broomcorn millet as well as Chinese cabbage had been cultivated at the northern site of Peiligang, and rice had been cultivated in southern China at Pengtoushan. Additional plants included fruit trees (peach, pear, and apricot), soybeans, and the bottle gourd. The mulberry tree was grown for silkworm raising. At Hemudu (c. 5000 b.c.e.) in the Yangtze Valley, rice was cultivated, and stone, bone, and wooden agricultural tools were discovered. Livestock included pigs, chickens, cattle, goats, and sheep. Cattle were used for traction and probably pulled wooden plows for rice cultivation. The principal tools remained the hoe and spade. Fishing provided an important supplement for agricultural communities.

From these peasant villages evolved monumental Chinese civilizations. During the third millennium b.c.e., the Longshan culture in north China began to shift from extensive to intensive cultivation. Social differentiation, copper metallurgy, and specialized labor intensified, increasing the social complexity. In the second millennium b.c.e., the traditional agricultural economy enabled the Shang Dynasty (1600-1066 b.c.e.) to emerge, and people began to use the water buffalo. During the first millennium b.c.e., higher levels of efficiency were introduced into Chinese agriculture through the use of extensive irrigation works and iron implements, including the plow.

Oceania

Kuk swamp, Papua, in the New Guinea highlands provides the earliest evidence for agricultural activity: drainage systems, perhaps for sugarcane and taro cultivation, dating to 7000 b.c.e. This date suggests the possibility of another independent center for plant domestication. By 4000 b.c.e., tree foods, coconut and perhaps sago, were used in the lowland Sepik Basin. Independently of these precocious developments, migrations from Southeast Asia, beginning about 1500 b.c.e., initiated colonization through the remainder of Melanesia, as well as Micronesia and ultimately Polynesia, including New Zealand. These migrations diffused the primary domesticated fauna, dogs, pigs, and chickens, in addition to the greater yam, sugarcane, and new varieties of bananas throughout Oceania.

Successful settlement of the Pacific Basin was based on continuous adaptation to environmental diversity. The mainstay of life, vegeculture, persisted into the historic period, accompanied by the tree crops of breadfruit, coconuts, and bananas. Ecological variability caused prehistoric populations to evolve varied exploitative systems: raised bed cultivation in swampy locales for yams; sunken fields for taro, designed to benefit from subsurface moisture; and hillside terracing and irrigation. Swidden, or slash-and-burn technology, remained the premier cultivation technique into historic times. Tools were simple: the digging stick, a mainstay of tuber horticulture, and adzes of shell and stone. In contrast to mainland Asia, Melanesian chiefdoms and the Polynesian civilizations followed a different evolutionary course based on sophisticated vegeculture, tree food cultivation, and the resources of the sea.

North America

The Native Americans lacked the technology of the Old World civilizations, which included large animals for traction, metallurgy, and the wheel. A powerful energy base and a formidable subsistence technology evolved, however, permitting sophisticated adaptations, and in some environments, spectacular urban civilizations.

In the woodland regions of eastern North America, native populations domesticated a number of seed plants: lamb’s quarter, goosefoot, and the sunflower. Sunflowers and squash were domesticated by the mid-third millennium b.c.e. Hunting, fishing, and shellfish collecting supplemented wild food gathering and cultivation. Digging sticks and stone hoes were used in seed-bed preparation. Plants of ritual and economic importance diffused from Mexico: Tobacco and maize arrived in the Midwest by the second century c.e. Maize was a minor cultigen until the ninth century c.e.

An entirely different pattern evolved in the Salt and Gila River Valleys in the American Southwest. Rooted in the Mesoamerican tradition, the Hohokam (1-1400 c.e.) irrigated their fields in the hot Sonoran desert. Canalization, dated circa 300-200 b.c.e., included segments more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) long and irrigated thousands of acres. Hohokam agriculture included floodwater farming: These techniques allowed population expansion and political evolution. Large hydraulic works at the Snaketown site implied labor coordination, not only for construction but also for annual maintenance.

Mesoamerica

In the regions of modern Mexico, Guatemala, and adjacent Central America, independent domestication took place. Plant species were numerous, the foremost being maize, beans, squash, and chili peppers. Animal domesticates were few, consisting of the turkey and hairless dog. At Tehuac n in Mexico, maize was cultivated by 5000 b.c.e., chili peppers by 4000 b.c.e., and beans during the late first millennium b.c.e. Evidence of squash from Guila Naquitz in Oaxaca may date to 6000 b.c.e. By the fourth millennium b.c.e., villages in the Tehuac n Valley employed small-scale canalization. The shift to complete reliance on domesticates encompassed five millennia, a period in which hunting and foraging remained important. In the lowlands, the slash-and-burn technique was used to clear heavy vegetation; in the highlands, the digging stick remained the primary tool. Ground stone tools (the mano-metate) processed corn into meal.

Domesticates (particularly the triad of maize, beans, and squash) provided the nutritional base for Mesoamerican civilizations. The Olmec (c. 1200-400 b.c.e.) of the humid Gulf Coast farmed the rich soils adjacent to the lowland rivers. Teotihuac n (1-750 c.e.) in the central Mexican plateau became an urban center boasting a population estimated between 125,000 and 200,000 people. Irrigation was used selectively, as was chinampas, a form of raised field farming in which decomposing materials and mud are piled in a watercourse and secured by stakes and branches. After taking root, the branches and saplings held the “floating garden” firm.

In lowland Central America, a variant of shifting cultivation, conuco, was developed to grow such crops as sweet potatoes and manioc. The primary tool remained the digging stick, or coa.

South America

In pre-Columbian lowland and highland South America, regions with extreme ecological variability, emphasis was placed on root crops. Po tatoes, manioc, quinoa, beans, peanuts, cotton, and oca are among the many plants that facilitated the growth of civilization. Domesticated fauna were limited: the duck, alpaca, llama, and guinea pig. Llamas and guinea pigs were domesticated by the fourth millennium b.c.e. Domestication enjoyed a significant time span in Andean South America: Potatoes, for example, were domesticated by the late third millennium b.c.e., cotton between 4000 and 1200 b.c.e., and beans by 5800 b.c.e.

Irrigation was widely used. In the Moche Valley of north coastal Peru (first to seventh centuries c.e.), water was diverted for cotton, peanuts, beans, and other crops. Cultivation was by hand. Canals were constructed of mud and earth: Engineering was sophisticated to ensure the correct gradient of water flow down hillsides. Soil fertility was replenished through guano gathered from offshore islands. Moche intensive agriculture may have supported a population of 50,000. The Moche state was a heavily stratified, politically complex society, as evidenced by monumental building projects and an elaborate mortuary ritual. An equally complex agricultural infrastructure supported the sociopolitical hierarchy.

Bibliography

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