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15 000 yrs ago
Our Civilization

The last Ice age ended some 18,000 years ago. People were still in the ‘hunter/gatherer’ way of life. It took breakthroughs in certain aspects of their lives to change this and allow ‘civilization’ to develop, leading to all we know today. A temple was built – Gobekle Tepi in Turkey, one of the first signs of civilization.

The major change came in the development of farming. It is not too much of a stretch to go from gathering seeds, fruit and other edible parts of plants to the deliberate raising of them. It may have required water and possibly some form of additional nutrient, but it was not a difficult action.

The first area that we know that this happened was the “Fertile Crescent”.

The oldest evidence of farming practices goes back some 12,000 years.

The Ice Age was over, there was a great deal of water available from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Perhaps of even more importance, the area was host to a number of crops which became important. The eight Neolithic founder crops – emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax – were cultivated in the Mesopotamian area.

The other aspect which changed radically was the transition from hunter to herder. Instead of following the prey animals it became easier to keep them in an area that did not require long-distance tracking.

This domestication of animals was spread over some time and also in different places. Obviously not all animals occurred in the appropriate regions, but alternatives could be found. The first animal to become part of the groups were dogs, descended from Wolves.

The domestication used an almost Darwinian forced evolution, whereby animals that gave the best or most of what was required were allowed to breed, and those with lesser attributes did not.

These developments were initially made in the region we are referring to as the Fertile Crescent. However, over the next few thousand years the concept of farming and subsequent settlements was initiated in a number of other parts of the world, totally independently. These included South and Central America – Andes valleys, China and even the Highlands of New Guinea. These ideas and the items that could be farmed were then, over time, spread.

Once the farms were producing more food than the family could consume, the way was open to the development of settlements and eventually major towns. The freeing up of the remainder of the population from having to spend all their time and efforts in getting food enabled other skills and ‘professions‘ to develop. Things that were made – for instance pottery – could be exchanged for excess food produced by the farmer. Societies began to develop.

Around 12,000 years ago in what is now Turkey, a Temple was built using massive pillars and circular structures. Gobekle Tepi.

The local inhabitants were in the process of changing from the hunter gatherer life to that of settlements.

Some of the pillars had carvings of animals

It appears that this was not an edifice that was only to provide shelter or daily needs. Showing that there were people with time and concepts to carry out actions away from the finding of food.

So the emergence of ‘civilization’ which leads to where we are today, was dependent upon the settling down of communities and freeing up of people to develop the other skills and roles that form part of our societies.

15 000 yrs ago Our Civilization

15 000 yrs ago
Our Civilization