ABSTRACT
At one time all the human beings in the world were hunters, gatherers and fishers, essentially they were collectors of food not producers. Indeed, some groups of people continued to live in this way until recent times and in many places lived quite well. Nevertheless, during the last 10,000 years or so major changes took place, in which most humans came to control their sources of food, so that they could produce it at will. This involved manipulating the reproduction of selected animals and plants, so that they were more suited to human requirements. The result was the development of farming, the most important change in subsistence economy that has ever taken place. It consisted of two major elements: pastoralism, the herding of domesticated animals, and cultivation, the growing of domesticated plants. Sometimes these activities characterized different groups of people, sometimes they were practised to varying degrees by the same people. The changes that led to farming used to be thought of as an economic ‘revolution’. It was also thought that these changes had originated in a limited number of places and had then diffused to many other parts of the world. In the case of Africa, its proximity to South-West Asia, where there was very early evidence for farming, seemed to be sufficient proof of introduction from that region. However, archaeologists have now realized that the shift from food collection to food production in Africa was a very gradual process, involving many different developments in many places. Some of these developments did indeed originate in South-West Asia but it is becoming increasingly apparent that African innovation was also a major factor.
