Microsoft Word Version

Agriculture and Civilization

Key Concepts

agriculture

civilization

surplus

specialization

Neolithic Age
Name_____________________ Date____________________

Agriculture and Early Civilization

Elements of Civilization

(1) Deliberate and calculated FARMING of grains and plants

(instead of experimental plant cultivation) producing a SURPLUS

(2) Permanent settlements (instead of frequent or seasonal migrations which was the way of hunter-gatherers and the earliest cattle breeders)

The building of houses was often associated with building of “temples” for gods and burial of the dead in cemeteries

(3) Clay vessels, first made by hand, then turned on wheels, later fired for more hardness and decorated with incised designs or painted patterns

(4) Specialized crafts and different categories of labor

and (eventually in Europe and Asia) . . .

(5) Production and Use of Metal Tools (In Mesopotamia copper was the first metal to be worked. Later copper was mixed with tin to produce bronze)

(6) Development or adoption of Writing (including written mathematics . . . American Indian civilizations did not have well developed writing systems, but they did have a calendar system)

(from) The International History Project: Mesopotamia: (http://history-world.org/mesopotamian_civili.htm)

Civilization and an Agricultural Surplus

_______________ is the domestication of animals and the deliberate and calculated farming of grains and plants. The slow _______________ from hunting and gathering cultures to agriculture is called the Neolithic Age (New _______________Age). Settled agriculture probably started somewhere in or near Iraq and gradually moved into the river valley areas where the _______________ civilizations began.

transition stone first Agriculture

When farmers can produce more than they and their families can use, it is called a ____________. An agricultural surplus can allow interesting things to happen. If farmers can ____________ food for future years, there may be less fear of famine when floods, draughts, or pests destroy crops. Agricultural surpluses can also be ____________ for goods produced by others. Finally, agricultural surpluses allow people to spend more time doing other things, for instance making pots, building monumental buildings, working with metal, or learning to read and ____________.

traded store write surplus

Every ____________of civilization depends on an agricultural surplus. But the other elements of civilization also help increase the agricultural surplus. For example sealed baskets and ____________ pots can help store and preserve certain foods for longer periods of time. So do well built, defensible buildings. Metal tools help get more work done. People who can devote ____________ time to a craft like pottery, tool making, or building, can make better and better pots, tools, and buildings. Writing helps keep track of goods and animals, but it also helps with all kinds of planning and ____________. When a civilization or culture has a fully developed writing system, they are no longer prehistoric or primitive.

clay aspect calculations specialized

_____________________ (n) a stage of culture associated with cities and developed systems of organization in arts, technology, government and religion

_____________________ (n) the process of cultivating certain plants and raising domesticated animals to produce food, fiber and other products

_____________________ (n) a stage of culture associated with advanced stone tools and the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled farming

_____________________ (n) the amount that remains when needs and wants are satisfied

_____________________ (adj) concentrating one’s efforts in a single field activity or practice

Neolithic Age specialized surplus civilization agriculture

Agriculture and Early Civilization

WORD BANK

Word Forms and Word Endings

Noun	Verb	Adverb	Adjective	ed Participle	ing Participle
domestication	domesticate		domestic domesticated	domesticated	domesticating
agriculture			agricultural
			Neolithic
deliberation	deliberate	deliberately	deliberate	deliberated	deliberating
calculation	calculate	calculatingly	calculated	calculated	calculating
transition	transition	transitionally	transitional	transitioned	transitioning
settlement	settle		settled	settled	settling
hunting, hunt	hunt		hunted	hunted	hunting
gathering	gather			gathered	gathering
Iraq
probability		probably	probable
valley
famine			famished	famished
	graduate	gradually	gradual	graduated	graduating
surplus
monument		monumentally	monumental
civilization	civilize		civilized	civilized
	specialize		special	specialized
primitive		primitively	primitive
beginning	begin
destruction	destroy		destroyed	destroyed
production	produce		produced	produced	producing
plan, planning	plan		planned	planned	planning
farm, farmer, farming	farm		farmed	farmed	farming
grain
plant, planter, planting	plant		planted	planted	planting
aspect
store, storage	store		stored, storable	stored	storing
incision	incise	incisively	incised, incisive	incised
defense	defend	defensibly, defensively	defensible, defensive	defended	defending
migration	migrate			migrated	migrating
pot, pottery, potter
priest		priestly
teacher, teaching	teach			taught	teaching

Agriculture and Early Civilization

Use the Word Bank to Answer the Clues

Across

2 (n) a lowland between hills or mountains or along the course of a river

6 (adj) strong or able to be fortified, difficult to attack

8 (n) the country north of the Persian Gulf including most of the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys

9 a prefix meaning "new"

11 accumulating, bringing together to one place

12 (v) to cut into

15 (n) another name for agriculture

23 (n) farming

24 (v) to travel from place to place usually depending on the season

26 (n) a place where goods are kept or sold

28 (adj) of impressive size, very large and permanent

29 (adj) living in cities, able to function smoothly in a society, able to demonstrate education and social skills

30 (adj) having no permanent home or settlement, moving from place to place depending on the season or the opportunity

33 a worker who specializes in helping others learn (especially to read, write, and do mathematics)

35 (v) to promise

36 (n) a place where people have made permanent homes, dwellings, or domiciles

37 (n) a side, part, or element, (a view)

38 (n) a change, a slow and gradual change, or anything that makes a change more smooth and less abrupt

39 (v) to start

40 (adj) slow and smooth, not abrupt

Down

1 one who specializes (or is authorized) to perform religious rituals

3 from a Latin root word meaning "stone"

4 (n) a series of steps designed to help achieve a goal (a good one accounts for contingencies)

5 (v) to ruin or demolish

7 (n) starvation, severe hunger, a time of hunger or starvation

10 (v) to make, to create, to generate

13 (v) to figure out (especially to solve a number problem), to consider all aspects, to plan ahead

14 (v) to make suitable for living with people, to tame

16 (n) one of the grass family with edible seeds

17 (n) one of the kingdom of living things able to photosynthesize sugars from sunlight and carbon dioxide

18 (adj) having to do with farms and farming

19 (adj) extra

20 (adv) with purpose, planning, and care

21 (v) to gather together and keep

22 (adv) likely, having a good or better chance

25 (adj) simple, undeveloped, not advanced

27 (adj) the "New Stone Age" (the most advanced stage of stone tool cultures)

31 (v) to set a goal and calculate steps towards achieving it (a good one anticipates possible problems)

32 stalking and killing animals for food, fur, or sport

34 a worker who specializes in making clay vessels

Crossword Answers

famine	(n) starvation, severe hunger, a time of hunger or starvation
gradual	(adj) slow and smooth, not abrupt
surplus	(adj) extra