Learning Outcomes 2. Key Concepts 2. Misconceptions and Teaching Challenges 3. Vocabulary 3. Lesson and Content Overview 5

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1 UNIT 7 GUIDE Table of Contents Learning Outcomes 2 Key Concepts 2 Misconceptions and Teaching Challenges 3 Vocabulary 3 Lesson and Content Overview 5 BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 1

2 Unit 7 Agriculture & Civilization Unit 7 Driving Question: Was farming an improvement over foraging? Learning Outcomes 1. Define agriculture and describe where it emerged. 2. Identify the features of agrarian civilizations. 3. Understand the similarities and differences between the lifestyles of hunter-gatherers and farmers. 4. Describe how early civilizations formed and their key features. 5. Understand what scholars from multiple disciplines know about agriculture and civilization and the information they can derive from them using an integrated perspective. Key Concepts In this unit, students learn how agriculture transformed human history and accelerated the pace of change. As human societies accumulated greater resources, they got larger, more complex, more powerful, and more dynamic, which led to the eventual rise of cities, states, empires, and agrarian civilizations. Students will begin to realize that while farming definitely had its advantages, including the eventual formation of civilizations and an increase in collective learning, foraging was the way of life for humans for most of their existence. In fact, students will likely be surprised to learn that foragers were probably healthier than farmers, worked shorter hours, and were exposed to fewer diseases. The Rise of Agriculture From the Big History perspective, agriculture is more than simply producing crops and raising livestock. First and foremost, agriculture signals an increased impact of humans on their environment. Over time, the favored (or domesticated) species of plants and animals change genetically, becoming even more useful to humans. This increased control over plants and animals gave humans greater control over the available energy in the biosphere and redirected it to support a single species, Homo sapiens. A second important impact was that agriculture also changed humans. The changes were not genetic, as they were in plants and animals; the changes in humans were technological, social, and cultural. Settling down, whether in villages or cities, was a new behavior for humans and had significant consequences, which gave rise to the emergence of specialists and social hierarchies. The First Cities and States Appear The increasingly large human communities that developed as a result of the adoption of agriculture led to an explosion of complexity in the way humans lived. This complexity can be seen clearly in the characteristics of agrarian civilizations. All agrarian civilizations share common features: cities and towns that extracted most of the food and other resources they needed from surrounding villages; rulers who extracted taxes from the population; large monumental buildings such as pyramids, temples, and palaces; specialists who focused on crafts or other work not related to farming, and whose value to society led to the development of ideas of hierarchy and class; markets in which farmers, artisans, and traders exchanged goods; organized armies; and literate officials or BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 2

3 scribes. Agriculture gave humans access to the food necessary to support larger populations. In addition, the adoption of an agricultural lifestyle allowed humans to settle down in larger, denser communities. This provided individuals with increased opportunities for more diverse contacts with other humans. The development of trade further enhanced the possibilities for diverse contacts, as people in distant communities could exchange goods, ideas, foods, and diseases. Thus, agriculture made possible a dramatic acceleration in collective learning. Ways of Knowing: Agriculture and Civilization This unit continues the interdisciplinary approach of Big History by asking students to examine the history of agriculture and civilization from a variety of viewpoints including those of traditional history, archaeology, and anthropology. There are also connections to other subjects as students learn about how humans harnessed the energy of the Sun to redirect it to certain plants and animals they wished to domesticate; thus exacting more energy for themselves. Misconceptions and Teaching Challenges A Proper Sense of Scale Humans have been foragers, not farmers, for most of their time on Earth. Because farming is such an important feature of modern life, many students will likely assume that humans have always farmed or that they have farmed for most of their time on Earth. Modern humans have been around for about 200,000 years, and they foraged almost exclusively for most of that time. Students may need help in grasping that humans have been farmers for only a very small percentage of the last 200,000 years only about 5 percent of that time! Agriculture Happened Independently Throughout the World One hundred years ago most scholars assumed that farming was invented in the Fertile Crescent and then spread from there to other regions of the world. A great deal of research in the twentieth century has been devoted to the origins of agriculture, and this research has shown that agriculture did in fact first appear in the Fertile Crescent about 11,000 years ago, but this research has also shown that agriculture was then developed independently in a number of other regions, including Mesoamerica, the Andes, West Africa, and South and East Asia. Vocabulary agrarian civilization A large, organized human society that relies on a large number of its members producing food through agriculture. May incorporate hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, and include cities together with their surrounding farmed countryside. Common features of agrarian civilizations include coerced tribute ( taxing ), specialized occupations, hierarchies, state religions, kings or queens, armies, systems of writing and numbers, and monumental architecture. agrarian era An era of human history, beginning roughly 10,000 years ago and lasting until the beginning of the modern era, when the production of food through agriculture was a central focus of many human societies, and a large number of people living in those societies worked the land. agrarian surplus The production of more crops and other food than immediately needed. One key to how a civilization develops specialized roles and a division of labor. The society that produces food in surplus can afford to have a class of people who don t need to farm. These people can fulfill other duties in an increasingly complex society, including the roles of leaders, judges, bureaucrats, doctors, priests, artisans, slaves, or soldiers. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 3

4 agriculture The cultivation of plant and animal species that are useful to humans for food or other purposes. A form of symbiosis, it generally results in genetic changes in the domesticated species over time. Agriculture can be vastly more productive than foraging technologies, though agricultural societies are also vulnerable to crop failure, disease, and other problems. Its appearance marks a fundamental transformation in human history. artificial selection The process by which humans breed plants or animals in order to cultivate certain desirable characteristics. city A large center of population (usually with tens of thousands of people or more) with its own social and trade structure. civilization A human society having dense population, large public buildings, a central authority, and, often, a system of writing or other means of recording information. cuneiform The world s first known system of writing, written with reeds on wet clay in Mesopotamia (Sumer); the first written records date back a little more than 5,000 years. domestication The process by which humans breed a population of plants or animals to make them more productive, easier to control, or more beneficial to humans in other ways. Domestication results in genetic changes to the species and often works as a form of symbiosis, in which domesticated species benefit from human protection. Agriculture depends on the process of domestication. Fertile Crescent An area of fertile river valleys in Mesopotamia that contains the earliest evidence of agriculture. geography The study of how physical features of the Earth and human interactions with the physical environment vary from place to place; often overlaps with geology, political science, economics, and many other disciplines. government A person or group of people who maintain leadership and control over a city, state, or civilization. history The study of past events. ice age A cold period on Earth when much of the globe is covered by ice sheets and glaciers. irrigation The control of the flow of water to support agriculture. Mesopotamia A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was the site of some of the earliest agrarian civilizations. Much of the region lies in modern-day Iraq. monumental architecture Large structures, such as pyramids, temples, public spaces, and large statues, that tend to appear wherever powerful leaders emerge; a feature of all agrarian civilizations. Natufians A group of people who lived in part of the Fertile Crescent some 12,000 15,000 years ago. Though they did not farm, they lived in settled villages, and their culture suggests some of the transitional stages between foraging and early forms of agriculture. pastoralism A way of life similar to agricultural, but based primarily on the exploitation of domesticated animals rather than plants. To allow their domesticated animals to graze over large areas, pastoralists are generally nomadic. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 4

5 power (relations among people) Power relations in human societies can usefully be analyzed into two fundamental forms: Power from below (consensual or bottom-up power) is power granted by followers to a leader to ensure the successful achievement of group tasks. Power from above (coercive or top-down power) is power that depends on the ability of rulers to impose their will by force. sedentism Living in one place for most of the year; rare in foraging societies but became widespread with the adoption of agriculture. Sedentism developed because agriculture made it possible to produce more resources in a given area and encouraged farmers to stay in one place to protect their crops. state A regionally organized society, capable of imposing its will by force, based on cities and their environments, and containing populations of tens of thousands and up to many millions of people. Sumer A region in Mesopotamia that was the site of one of the earliest agrarian civilizations. teosinte A type of wild maize that is the ancestor of corn. Uruk A major city that emerged in Sumer about 5,500 years ago; one of the first big cities to emerge in the world, and probably the largest city in the world at its height. village A small, settled community of people. Lesson and Content Overview Lesson name Lesson description Content Activity 7.0 The Rise of Agriculture Planting crops instead of hunting and gathering meant humans stopped following food sources. This had an enormous effect on human history. Watch: Threshold 7 Agriculture Watch: Why Was Agriculture So Important? Read: Collective Learning (Part 2) Opening: This Threshold Today Activity: DQ Notebook Vocab Activity: Memorization Activity: Biography of a Crop Closing: Little Big History Biography 7.1 The First Cities and States Appear The emergence of agriculture was a huge step in human development because it paved the way for cities, states, and civilizations. Larger and larger communities of people living together...together led to the emergence of new, more complex social structures. Watch: Where and Why Did the First Cities and States Appear? Read: Uruk Read: Mesoamerica Read: Jericho Read: East Asia Read: Greco-Roman Opening: Comparing Crops Vocab Activity: Comprehension Activity: Comparing Civilizations Closing: Early Civilization Museum Project 7.2 Ways of Knowing: Agriculture and Civilization Like detectives solving a murder mystery, historians use artifacts and written records of past civilizations as clues to understand our history as a species. Watch: Intro to History Read: Recordkeeping and History Opening: Social Status, Power, and Human Burials Activity: What Do You Know? What Do You Ask? BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 5

6 Lesson name Lesson description Content Activity Investigation: Was farming an improvement over foraging? In this investigation, students consider the quality of life had by hunter-gatherers and by people living after the Agricultural Revolution. Tools and shelters of huntergatherers Tools and shelters of farmers Writing and laws Health Presentation or poster Writing assignment Additional content Additional content items, including image galleries, can be used to augment lessons or customize your own unit. Agriculture (gallery) Civilization (gallery) A Big History of Everything H2 (video) Transition to Agriculture (video) Agrarian Civilizations (reading) Timekeeping (reading) Claim Testers: Episode 3 Planting Seeds (reading) Learning tips Random facts Related galleries, images, websites, and videos Web links Assessments Unit 7 has no required assessments. Unit Quiz (optional) Glossary Challenge Actions The Unit Log is required for every unit. Unit Log BIG HISTORY PROJECT / UNIT 7 GUIDE 6

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