The Start of Agriculture

When most people think about agriculture they imagine men working the fields. What most people don’t know, however, is that agriculture was created by woman. Throughout the Stone Age humanity was based in nomadic tribes hunting and gathering what they needed to live. Traditionally hunting was the man’s job and women and child were in charge of gathering. Since tribes were nomadic they had different areas where they would be for a certain time of year. If a site was a favorite of the tribe’s some of the women left seeds behind so crops could grow again for next year. By doing this women discovered they could manipulate the environment.

Eventually the plants grew so well and so abundant that some of the nomads decided to stay the next time they visited the site. With the tribe stationary men still went hunting but the women and children tended the little gardens they created with simple tools, this was called horticulture. Since the tribes were becoming stationary they had the ability to keep livestock like sheep around. In time more nomads came and settled with the others and make a permanent settlement. Eventually with the increase in population women needed more help tending the fields so they enlisted the men. With men helping they were able to do more, and eventually they took over all together. The men were able to completely change the way farming was done by using larger tools, this was called agriculture.