Who were the first farmers?
Today, farming provides nearly all of our food, but people started as hunter-gatherers, so how did farming begin?
Farming is a relatively recent invention for our species. For most of human history, people were hunter-gatherers. They moved around the landscape to get their food, hunting prey and gathering fruits and cereals from their environment.
But then, around 10 thousand years ago, human society shifted, and the first farmers appear in archaeological records around the world. So how did this idea start? Who planted the first seed and domesticated the wild ancestors of our cows and chickens?
That鈥檚 what Listener Brian wanted to know, and so CrowdScience presenter Anand Jagatia seeks out the archaeologists, geneticists and anthropologists who can give us the answers.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia,
Producer: Rory Galloway
(Photo: A farmer working in a green cotton field with two bulls. Credit: Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Clip
-
What were the origins of farming?
Duration: 02:56
Broadcasts
- Fri 12 Jul 2019 19:32GMT大象传媒 World Service except South Asia
- Sat 13 Jul 2019 23:32GMT大象传媒 World Service
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 04:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 05:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 06:32GMT大象传媒 World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 10:32GMT大象传媒 World Service West and Central Africa
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 13:32GMT大象传媒 World Service Australasia
- Mon 15 Jul 2019 17:32GMT大象传媒 World Service South Asia
Podcast
-
CrowdScience
Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe