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Domestication & settlement: history of agriculture

11 topics: The origins of farming in the Fertile Crescent; The history of rice cultivation and domestication; The history of maize and Mesoamerican…

The origins of farming in the Fertile Crescent: c. 10,000–8000 BCE, Southwest Asia · Fertile Crescent. Cultivating plants and keeping animals gradually transform food production and the organisation of settlements.
The history of rice cultivation and domestication: c. 8000–4000 BCE, China · middle and lower Yangtze basin. From gathering wild rice to cultivating plants whose grains are easier to harvest and retain.
The history of maize and Mesoamerican agriculture: c. 7000 BCE, Mesoamerica · southern Mexico. Generations of selection transform teosinte into a crop that will underpin many economies across the Americas.
The first farmers in the lands of modern Poland: c. 5350–5050 BCE, Poland · Gwoździec, Zakliczyn municipality. A Linear Pottery settlement documents early farming north of the Carpathians.
Kuk: independent agricultural origins in New Guinea: c. 5000–4500 BCE, Kuk, Wahgi Valley, Papua New Guinea. Cultivation mounds, taro and bananas reveal a distinct New Guinean pathway towards agriculture.
The First Olive Groves: The Emergence of Levantine Horticulture: c. 5000 BCE · evidence from Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley and southern Levant; later the Mediterranean Basin. Charcoal, stones, oil residues and pollen reveal how long-lived plantings changed the organisation of farming.
Sorghum and pearl millet: African pathways to farming: 4th–3rd millennia BCE, Sahel: northern Mali and eastern Sudan. Two different cereals, distinct domestication regions and agricultural connections between Africa and Asia.
Date Palms: Mesopotamian Gardens and Oasis Economies: fourth–third millennia BCE · early cultivation, Southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf; later North African oases. Palm gardens combined long-term investment, variety propagation, skilled labour and rights to future harvests.
Cacao in Amazonia: Growers, Beverages and Early Exchange: approximately 5,300 years ago · Ecuadorian evidence, Santa Ana–La Florida, Palanda, Ecuador; later South America and Mesoamerica. Starch, theobromine and DNA document early cacao use, while further studies reveal agricultural networks of exchange.
Chicken Domestication: From Asian Fields to Poultry Keeping: c. 1650–1250 BCE · evidence from Ban Non Wat, Ban Non Wat, northeastern Thailand; subsequent Eurasian history. Cereal fields, genetic exchange and changing uses of birds reveal the successive stages of chicken, meat and egg production.
African Rice: Independent Domestication and Farmer Knowledge: First millennium BCE · early evidence in Mali, Inland Niger Delta, Mali; West Africa and later the Guianas. Archaeology, genetics and social history reveal African rice origins and farmers’ contributions to the creation and survival of varieties.