Transition to Agriculture

This 6 minute video explains how agriculture drove change and why humans took the risk of abandoning foraging. As farming technologies improved, populations increased, which led to the growth of villages and then cities. This in turn enabled collective learning, so that farming regions got a head start on other regions. The theory which explains the emergence of farming states that it didn't rely on human decision making, but on five steps - 1. humans already had the knowledge and skills for farming 2.specific plants and animals were well-suited for domestication 3.humans in some regions became less nomadic after the last ice age 4. the "trap of sedentism" - population growth made it impossible for foraging to sustain increasingly large communities and finally 5. commitment to farming - the only viable option.