As humans, we could look at farming and agriculture as something that was invented. One day, we were moving around in small groups, spearing antelopes and gathering berries, and then we decided to stay put for a while. But the transition to a more stationary way of life didn’t happen over night. In truth, it took thousands of years and much of it was accidental.
This transition was gradual and likely took nearly 9,000 years, says Bill Finlayson, a professor of archeology at Oxford University. In the beginning, hunter gatherers were simply interfering with the local plants and animals, moving seeds to new environmental locations where they hadn’t grown before and being more thoughtful about the population of animals they were hunting.
“They were starting to hunt the young males because it didn’t have as much of an impact on the animal’s overall population,” Finlayson says.
Agriculture started almost accidentally ...
