ABSTRACT
Archaeologists seem to agree that agriculture began in the Levant. This was part of the Fertile Crescent, which included Mesopotamia as well. Food storage is relatively easy in arid conditions such as those of the Levant from May to November. The European soils that Neolithic farmers preferred were those with high fertility and a light texture that made them easy to work. The best of these soils was loess. When it turned into dust the wind blew it away and redeposited it elsewhere. Note that farmers were well established in the Levant, Anatolia, and Europe before they began to farm in the river flood plains of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Although cultivation of grain crops can both encourage population growth and, under certain circumstances, increase the vulnerability of a population to infectious diseases, settlement also leads to the development of animal husbandry. Trade tended to support the development of market towns located on trade routes.
