Introduction

One of the most important moments in human history was the beginning of farming. It didn’t happen at the same time across all societies. However, the switch from looking for food to growing it changed everything. Farming allowed humans to store extra food, leaving more time for other activities. In this way, farming made it possible for humans to build complex societies.

As with most big changes, these societies did not appear overnight. Cities and states evolved over a long period of human history. Most people from this period lived in villages and small towns. Even the Roman Empire was mostly people living in small settlements.

These early villages grew in different ways. Some eventually developed into large city centers. Others remained independent villages, exchanging with other villages in networks. We don’t have written records from most villages, but archeological studies have revealed a lot of information. Archeologists have been able to reconstruct a story about early village life.

Social life before the city

What was life like before farming gave us all this free time? Many scholars consider earlier hunter-gatherer societies to be largely egalitarian. That means that all people were treated equally and no one had more power than anyone else. This continued to be the case in early farming villages. People in these communities were relatively equal. Most people living in villages spent the majority of their time producing food. Labor was mostly divided by gender.

Women spent more time taking care of small children but also participated in food production. However, these gender divisions did not necessarily mean gender inequalities.

How do historians know this? Evidence shows that people in villages probably shared tools and workspaces. Excavations of ancient sites in Ukraine and the town of Çatalhüyük in Turkey show that houses were mostly about the same size. Objects in homes and graves were of relatively equal value, too.

People living in farming communities had very different lives from hunter-gatherers. They lived in smaller areas, which allowed diseases to spread much faster. Some studies suggest that people worried more about diseases, too. Farming communities were also more dependent on favorable environmental conditions. For this reason, they worried more about the weather. The importance of weather is evident in early religious beliefs and practices.

Farming communities were not models of gender equality, though. As these villages grew, they introduced new concepts such as permanent homes and the idea of owning things. A more specific definition of the family developed, too. As a result, gender hierarchies tended to intensify. Family systems became more complicated and rigid. Hunter-gatherer societies had needed full-time effort from all men and women to stay fed. However, the new farming communities could build up stores of food. This allowed women to have more children. Over time, most women’s lives became more focused on children and maintaining small family homes.

Before long-distance trade

When we talk about trade, we usually think of ships crossing oceans. Long before any of that happened, though, villages began trading with each other in local networks. That change was also important. It allowed farming villages to get their hands on things like obsidian. This is a black glass that comes from cooled volcanic lava. Villagers in Çatalhüyük used it to make sharp cutting tools. Parts of obsidian tools weren’t just found in Turkey. Archeologists have also found evidence of obsidian among the Pacific Ocean islands. Trade between islands occurred way before long-distance trade routes emerged. The Lapita culture existed from about 1600 to 500 BCE in the Pacific Islands. They left behind plenty of obsidian artifacts, as well as ceramics, marine shells, and plants. The Lapita were the ancestors of historic cultures in Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia.

In the Americas, coastal villages traded fish, mollusks, and shells with inland villages. The inland villages grew corn and potatoes and raised llamas.

Once you start trading potatoes and llamas, it isn’t long before you are building roads and bridges. This kind of trade also increased specialization. That means that people had different kinds of jobs. As villages grew, people took on new social roles. Labor became increasingly divided, and larger projects needed to be managed by leaders. Greater social hierarchies emerged as people had more defined jobs.

Gender roles also changed. For example, male heads of family tended to gain control over wealth, leaving women with less power. However, this didn’t happen everywhere in quite the same way. There was still plenty of variety in the way people understood gender and family in different regions of the world.

Trade helped villages to grow, but village networks also boosted trade in a big way. As trade routes grew, villages located in key areas were able to grow even faster. This cycle reinforced itself over time. Eventually, many villages would come together into large city centers. This produced a type of social life that looked very different from village life.