The history of world civilization is filled with pivotal moments that contributed to the further development and evolution of mankind. When carefully analyzing the history of ancient civilizations, one can see how simple locations for settlements became breakthroughs and led to the establishment of agriculture. Thus, the capacity to investigate possibilities and take advantage of them is the significant similarity between human growth and evolution in primitive times and the modern world.
The Social Shift from Hunting to Settlements
When reviewing the history of humankind, it is vital to start from the beginning and look closely at the social shift from hunting and nomadism to settlements. The first human communities developed in the Fertile Crescent, which is frequently referred to as the Cradle of Human Civilization (Scarre et al., 2021). This region brought several technical advancements, such as writing, irrigation, and farming. The reason why this location was preferred was that the wandering tribes found rivers and lush land. The men found an abundance of food due to the two significant rivers and the area’s agricultural prowess, owing to the rich soil (Scarre et al., 2021).
Consequently, the people decided to settle, and farming became one of their primary activities. This made it possible for various lifestyles, interests, and abilities to develop while the hunter-gatherer way of life was replaced with its lack of excess.
Thousands of years later, after washing away the sediments, archeologists found many tools and items that helped understand the men’s lifestyle. The found items were burned fragments of wild grain, lentils, beans, oats, and other fields’ relatives, along with human and animal figures, animal bones, and other artifacts (Scarre et al., 2021). Mirrors, beauty vials, and brushes have been discovered in the area as well (Scarre et al., 2021). The Fertile Crescent is still considered civilization’s birthplace, even if its current situation is complex and uncertain. The impact of this civilization on the current era involves the establishment of languages, cultural beliefs, social hierarchies, organizations, and material possessions.
However, nowadays, people are more adept at technologies and are more capable of supporting farming or producing crops, owing to the modification of the agricultural system. As for the potential opportunities for settling in the future, these will include large cities with more possibilities in the context of globalization. Modern people will keep settling in the regions with better food, water supplies, and other amenities.
The Background of the First Tool Use
As for the background of the origin of the first tool and its use, it is necessary to look at the work of Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, the first woman archeologist. In the 1920s, the archeologist worked in Palestine in the Shukbah cave (Fagan, 2018). She discovered a layer of Mesolithic activity around 60,000 years old that she termed Natufian, located above Mousterian and barren sediments (Fagan, 2018). She hypothesized that the Natufian men were the first farmers based on the collection of primitive tools, which included axe blades for harvesting, lunates hunting tools, perforators for drilling in innovative materials, and hammers and mashers used for preparing meals (Fagan, 2018).
Every one of the locations offered a plethora of knowledge about previous ancient societies, most of which is still helpful for comprehending archaeology after more than 70 years. The earliest stone tools produced by human ancestors marked the start of the Early Stone Age. Hammerstones, granite cores, and pointed rock flakes are all included in such toolkits. Today, people farm crops using modern infrastructure and technology, utilizing the help of machinery and sophisticated tools.
The Origins of Agriculture
Finally, the application of cultivating and harvesting crops was another feature of ancient civilizations that managed to perfect this activity. Unlike domesticated grasses and crops, wild vegetations tend to be more complex. However, ancient farmers cultivated the plants to the point when they could be hardier and provide better food. The three leading agricultural products among contemporary cereals, corn, millet, and wheat, were cultivated worldwide between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago (New Scientist, 2018). The first cultivated cereals were utilized for human nutrition, livestock feed, and brewing grain.
Another innovation introduced by mankind’s ancestors was the storage of produce. Food was kept fresh by making it difficult for microorganisms to grow on it or by placing it in an unfriendly setting (New Scientist, 2018). The most popular and well-known methods are pickling, drying, smoking, salting, fermenting, and chilling in subterranean ditches and creeks, which are examples of natural freezers (Ariyamuthu et al., 2022). As a result, ancient communities excelled at agriculture and found different approaches to produce applications.
However, genetic manipulation makes modern crops different from ancient crops. The adaptation of the first field crops is credited with establishing sedentary agriculture and, notably, plant breeding. Ancient human producers initially chose food sources with specific desired traits and exploited them as seed sources for succeeding generations, leading to a buildup of traits through time. Although over time, studies started to involve intentional hybridization with advanced comprehension. While contemporary crop production involves applied genetics, its scientific underpinnings are more extensive. Thus, the process of genetic modification is more sophisticated in the modern era.
Conclusion
In sum, the primary similarity between human growth and evolution in primitive times and in the modern world is its capacity to see opportunities and seize them. The first example was the settlements of the ancient civilizations when people chose the most fertile lands, and, in turn, modern people chose bigger cities to reach all amenities. Another feature, the first tool used, shows how people’s ancestors developed their farming and cooking processes, simplifying them, and in the 21st century, humans almost entirely use machinery. Lastly, agricultural skills allowed ancient people to domesticate crops; similarly, modern society uses genetic modification.
References
Ariyamuthu, R., Albert, V. R., & Je, S. (2022). An overview of food preservation using conventional and modern methods. Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 10(3), 70-79. Web.
Fagan, B. (2018). Grahame Clark: An intellectual biography of an archaeologist. Taylor & Francis.
New Scientist. (2018). Human origins: 7 million years and counting. John Murray Press.
Scarre, C., Fagan, B., & Golden, C. (2021). Ancient civilizations. Taylor & Francis.