ABSTRACT
Agriculture and domestication of animals began to spread worldwide beginning at about 10,000 years ago. Until then, humans lived as huntergatherers throughout the world. The new life style had its pluses and minuses as we shall see in this chapter. On the plus side, agriculture solved the problem of not having enough food. In fact, it even facilitated a population increase. On the minus side, it introduced an unhealthy life style where diseases and malnutrition weakened the participants. However, there was no going back once farming and ranching took over. Humanity was changed socially and genetically. Agriculture played a pivotal role in the evolution of human beings.
