Contextualization: Agrarian Societies Event Cards
WORLDHISTORYPROJECTORIGINS/LESSON3.5ACTIVITYCONTEXTUALIZATION: AGRARIAN SOCIETIES EVENTCARDSSedentary foragers learneda great deal about their local environments,includingwhichplants grew well in certain conditionsandtimesofyear.Sedentary foragers began experimenting with growing and harvestingplantstoaccommodate growing populations.For much of our existence (since about 300,00 years ago), modern humans have beenpredominantlyforagers.Cities required more organization and increased job specialization, as the storage and distribution of food surpluses meant that not everyone in the city had to farm.Aspopulationincreasedandpeople formed villages, they often needed someoneto organize projects such as the storage and distribution of food, or to provide for defense.Powerfulrulersgainedcontrol of many societies and these rulersoftenalsoheldreligious significance.Foragers nearrivervalleys were ableto remain nearthese regions duetoabundantresources.These foragersbecamesemi-sedentary, meaningtheywereabletostayin one place for an extended time.As sedentary foraging populations increased, more resources were necessary.As populations grew in cities/ city-states,moreresourceswere needed, and early states and empires formed.Large states and empires generally had common characteristics such as surplus and storage of food, monumental architecture, rulers, militaries, taxes, belief systems, and laws. Alongside these large states and empires, some people continued to forage while others were pastoralists.The end ofthe last ice age (c. 10,000BCE)ledtoawarming period on Earth.Large building projects began, such as the creation of defensive walls, which were built to protect the inhabitants of the city or city-state including the rulers, priests and priestesses, and other important members of the community.After thousands of years of humans experimenting with different crops, and with the gradual increases in population, villages and citiesbegantoform.Asglobaltemperaturesincreased, areas near river valleys became lush with vegetation.As the population of villages increased, some became cities (c. 3500 BCE). These cities wereoftenconnectedwithother villages, cities, and societies through trade networks, where goods(pottery,food,andmetals) and ideas were exchanged.