This lecture is part of a course from The Great Courses called The Big History of Civilizations taught by Professor Craig G. Benjamin, Ph.D.. This course and over 300 other courses can be accessed with a subscription to Wondrium.
How did human beings make the leap from nomadic communities dedicated to foraging over to village-based civilizations built around agriculture? In this free 30-minute lecture provided by The Great Courses, Professor Craig G. Benjamin outlines the current academic thinking on the factors that led to this major transition in human history, which took place over 11,000 years ago. These circumstances include post ice age climate change, which created stable environmental factors in areas like the fertile crescent, animal and plant domestication breakthroughs, and demographic pressures that made it more sensible to stay and develop a single piece of land. With the advent of agriculture, Professor Benjamin notes that human beings were suddenly set on a new historical trajectory; a pathway that made civilization as we know it possible.