The Agricultural Revolution: 15000 to 1 BC

This chapter considers the Agricultural Revolution. The transition into the agricultural phase is often described by the term agricultural revolution. There were enabling conditions which made the revolution possible, such as climate change, and disabling conditions which previously blocked such an entry, such as the lack of domesticable plants and animals. Independent entry into the agricultural phase, in at least ten places, illustrates how humans in the same situation usually take the same action and follow the same common economic pathway. Innovation in agriculture was a continuing process, with a so-called secondary revolution based on the exploitation by farmers of by-products produced by live animals, for example, milk and dairy products, fibre and traction power. The chapter concludes by distinguishing four separate agriculture regimes, reflecting the environmental differences set out in Chapter 3 and emerging differences in factor supply.