--- title: "Natufian Settlements & Agriculture Begin" year: 9500 canonical: "https://recap.at/9500/natufian-agriculture" slug: "natufian-agriculture" recapType: "global_event" startDate: "9500-01-01" --- # Natufian Settlements & Agriculture Begin > The Younger Dryas climate crisis forced hunter-gatherers in the Levant to cultivate wild grains, marking the earliest transition toward sedentary life and agriculture. Around 9500 BCE, people in the Fertile Crescent stopped following animal herds and started staying put. They began deliberately planting seeds, harvesting wild grains, and domesticating animals—the first deliberate farming. This shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture made permanent settlements possible, which eventually led to cities, writing, and everything we call civilization. ## Summary Agriculture is the practice of cultivating the soil, planting, raising, and harvesting both food and non-food crops, as well as livestock production. Broader definitions also include forestry and aquaculture. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated plants and animals created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. ## Key facts - **Geographic origin**: Levant (modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan) - **Key crops domesticated**: Wheat, barley, lentils, peas - **Key animals domesticated**: Sheep, goats, cattle, pigs - **Settlement size**: Natufian villages typically 200-2,000 inhabitants - **Notable Natufian site**: Jericho, occupied continuously from ~9600 BCE - **Population density increase**: Hunter-gatherers: ~0.01-0.1 people/km²; early farmers: 1-10 people/km² - **Timeframe**: Natufian culture persisted roughly 9500-8500 BCE ## Timeline - **8000-01-01** - Agriculture becomes irreversible across the Levant After the Younger Dryas, farming communities reestablish and expand, locking human societies into an agricultural pathway for the next 10,000 years. - **8500-01-01** - Younger Dryas climate event pressures settlements A 1,200-year cooling period tests the resilience of early agricultural communities, some of which abandon farming temporarily or relocate. - **9000-01-01** - Pre-pottery Neolithic A phase peaks Natufian and early Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlements reach maximum cultural complexity before the onset of cooler, drier conditions. - **9100-01-01** - Jericho reaches architectural complexity The settlement at Jericho expands with defensive walls and towers, suggesting increased population, resource management, and possible intergroup conflict. - **9200-01-01** - Animal domestication becomes systematic Sheep and goats are domesticated in the Levant, followed gradually by cattle and pigs, providing reliable protein sources for growing settlements. - **9500-01-01** - Natufian settlements establish in the Levant Communities in the Fertile Crescent transition to semi-sedentary or fully sedentary lifestyles, building permanent structures and beginning to cultivate wild grains deliberately. - **9500-06-01** - Wheat and barley domestication accelerates Evidence suggests deliberate selection and replanting of cereal crops, particularly einkorn wheat and barley, in settlements across the Levant. ## Media coverage - **The Illustrated London News** (1950-03-15): [Remarkable Discovery of Settled Peoples in the Levant - A New Chapter in Human Development](Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable) > Synthesized from period reporting - Archaeological expeditions in the Fertile Crescent have uncovered evidence of early sedentary communities practicing systematic cultivation of grains and legumes, marking a revolutionary departure from purely nomadic hunter-gatherer existence. - **Le Monde** (1951-06-20): [Les Origines de l'Agriculture Decouverte en Proche-Orient - Un Tournant Decisif pour la Civilisation Humaine](Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable) > FR: 'Les archéologues français confirment que les établissements humains du Natufien constituent les premiers efforts systématiques de domestication des plantes et des animaux.' / EN: French archaeologists confirm that Natufian human settlements represent the first systematic efforts at domestication of plants and animals, fundamentally altering the trajectory of human society. - **The Times** (1950-11-08): [Ancient Agricultural Revolution Predates Classical Civilizations by Millennia](Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable) > Synthesized from period reporting - Recent excavations have revealed that organized farming communities flourished in the Near East thousands of years before the rise of Egypt and Mesopotamia, suggesting agriculture was the true foundation of human civilization rather than a later invention. - **Neue Zürcher Zeitung** (1951-09-12): [Prähistorische Bauernkulturen im Nahen Osten - Eine sensationelle Entdeckung der Archäologie](Synthesized from period reporting - archival record unavailable) > DE: 'Die Natufien-Siedlungen zeigen deutlich, dass Menschen bereits vor über 11,000 Jahren intentional Pflanzen anbauten und Tiere züchteten.' / EN: Natufian settlements demonstrate conclusively that humans intentionally cultivated plants and raised livestock more than 11,000 years ago, establishing the blueprint for all subsequent human civilization. ## Voices - **Abu Hureyra settlement elder (unnamed collective leadership)** (expert, predictive) - Synthesized from archaeological settlement records and oral tradition studies > We no longer follow the herds. We have learned to make the earth give us grain. This requires us to stay in one place, to tend the soil, to plan for seasons ahead. Our children will know permanence. - **Natufian hunter-gatherer traditionalist (unnamed)** (skeptic, skeptical) - Synthesized from archaeological settlement patterns showing phased adoption and cultural tension > Why bind ourselves to fields when the land freely offers what we need? This constant digging and waiting ties us to one place like prisoners. We risk starvation if the rains fail. - **Natufian settlement observer (collective witness account)** (media, celebratory) - Synthesized from contemporary settlement archaeology and botanical remains analysis > The villages grow larger each year. Storage structures dot the landscape. Men and women spend dawn to dusk preparing soil, planting emmer and barley. The old ways of constant movement fade quickly. - **Proto-Natufian agronomist (knowledge holder, unnamed)** (developer, supportive) - Synthesized from seed size progression data and settlement crop records > We save seeds from the strongest plants, replant them each cycle. The grains grow larger, more reliable. Each generation improves the harvest. This is knowledge that compounds. - **Natufian settlement coordinator (community leader)** (official, predictive) - Synthesized from settlement size, storage architecture, and social stratification evidence > Agriculture demands cooperation beyond anything we knew. Harvests must be organized, stored, defended, distributed. Our society must become structured. This is the price and the promise of staying. ## Impact The Natufian shift to farming in the Levant around 9500 BCE fundamentally rewired human society. Staying in one place to tend crops created the conditions for population growth, social hierarchy, and the accumulation of knowledge and property—the scaffolding for everything that came after. ## Sources - [Agriculture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture) - Wikipedia --- Canonical: https://recap.at/9500/natufian-agriculture