ABSTRACT
Humans have been hunters and gatherers for 99 percent of the 2 million years our species has roamed the earth. Only in the last 12,000 years have people become agriculturists. The dates of domesticated plants and animals vary by region, but most predate the 6th millennium BC and the earliest may date from 10,000 BC. According to carbon dating, wheat and barley were domesticated in the Middle East in the 8th millennium BC; millet and rice in China and southeastern Asia by 5500 BC, and squash in Mexico by about 8000 BC. Legumes found in Thessaly and Macedonia are dated as early as 6000 BC. Flax was grown and apparently woven into textiles early in the Neolithic period (4500-1800 BC). The most sweeping technology change for humans occurred in prehistory: the use of tools, the discovery of fire, and the invention of agriculture. In addition, climatic changes during the late Pleistocene-with the consequent shift of vegetation as a whole and encouragement of particular plant species to prosper and spread-have been suggested as another reason for the emergence of agriculture.
