Sapiens: Babylon
By Eric DeBerry
The Agricultural revolution is without a doubt one of the largest changes in human lifestyle. I will be focusing on an area near the beginning of the agricultural revolution, starting in 1894 BC in Babylon, which is one of the oldest places of human civilization. Babylon shows the beginning of major human settlement. This change from a nomadic hunter gatherer way of life, to one of permanent settlement and farming drastically changed how humans ate and lived. Instead of being on the move constantly, people built homesteads and settled down, becoming more sedentary and farming their own food, domesticating animals that they could slaughter without needing to chase down, and forming more complex social structures. Birth rates skyrocketed and the valleys and plains began to change into farmland.
Babylon was located in Mesopotamia, which in turn was located in the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent was considered the cradle of civilization, lush, fertile lands were in this area and it made it an ideal place to begin a civilization. People began to change the natural landscape into farmland, where they developed domesticated forms of wheat, as well as goats and other farm animals. The area of the Fertile Crescent was the first site in recorded history for the domestication of animals and plants. “Wheat and goats were domesticated by approximately 9000 BC; peas and lentils around 8000 BC; olive trees by 5000 BC; horses by 4000 BC; and grapevines in 3500 BC.” (Harari, 2014). The domestication of plants and animals began to change the landscape, more land was being converted into farmland which in turn meant less grazing land for wild animals and less change for plant species to thrive that weren’t being purposefully cultivated.
With this development of the land and the flora and fauna within it, settlements began to form in Mesopotamia. A few thousand years later the formation of the city state of Babylon began, with walls coming up to defend their stock from animals and other settlements, and the beginning of a social structure beginning to form. Babylon was a much different society than the egalitarian society that we live in the USA. There was a structured hierarchy with set castes of people. There was an elite class, a commoner class, and a slave class. This was the natural state of the world for Babylonians and the order of the city state was kept relatively well for civilizations in the area. We can thank the code of Hammurabi for this achievement. This group of codified laws, the oldest in current recorded history, outlined crimes and the required punishments for each wrongdoing. “Hammurabi’s Code was based on the premise that if the king’s subjects all accepted their positions in the hierarchy and acted accordingly, the empire’s million inhabitants would be able to cooperate effectively. Their society could then produce enough food for its members, distribute it efficiently, protect itself against its enemies, and expand its territory so as to acquire more wealth and better security.” (Harari, 2014). With a more unified people, Babylon was able to flourish economically and militarily and was able to grow into one of the largest empires in its age.
The loopy model shows the development of humanity once agriculture became more dominant. The creation of farmland and increase of domesticated plants and animals decreases the number of resources available for wildlife. As the number of domesticated resources increases, it supports a larger number of people in the settlement. As numbers increase, civilization begins to develop which allows for more complex societal rules or laws. This increases security which in turn allows for more developments to occur since people are less worried about their safety. Developments also occur independently from farmers and townsfolk.
Works Cited
Harari, Y. N., Casanave, D., & Vandermeulen, D. (2021). Sapiens. Jonathan Cape.
Loopy Model
Homo Sapiens and Cultivated Wheat
By Anonymous
The natural resource that I am looking at is wheat, as that is one of the first domesticated crops. Other early domesticated crops include potatoes, corn, and rice. Humans began cultivating wheat about 10,000 years ago. Originally, wheat was a wild grass that grew in the Middle east and is now a dominate crop worldwide (Harari, 2015). Harari’s viewpoint is that humans didn’t domesticate wheat, but wheat domesticated humans. He points out that wheat thrives in specific environments, and that humans changed from being hunter-gatherers to devoting almost all of their time to cultivating wheat. People worked hard to take care of the wheat by clearing fields, providing water and nutrients, and preventing animal and insect damage. Humans were not suited for this new type of work which resulted in increased injuries. Hunter gatherers were less concerned with personal property, but the cultivation of wheat made personal property important, as people needed space and time to grow wheat. This increased conflict because communities were often forced to defend their land or risk starvation. Although there was an increase in population, there was also a decrease in food security. Relying on a monoculture is not ideal. If something interfered with the wheat crop, there was no variety to fall back and resulted in starvation. Eating grains only contributed to increased disease as humans are omnivores and thrive when there is a variety of foods available. Grains alone lack nutrients and minerals.
In my model, cultivated wheat is the stock. When cultivated wheat increases, food insecurity, disease, and injury increase. This causes the population to decrease. However, increased cultivated wheat also directly causes the population to increase due to more food availability. This leads to more children, both because there is enough food, but also because they are necessary to help in the field. More helpers mean more wheat can be planted. However, an increase in population also leads to a decrease in cultivated wheat because there are more people to feed. This model results in a cycle of increases and decreases in the population, whereas a stable population would be more favorable. As the author points out, cultivated wheat was beneficial to the homo sapiens species as a whole, but did not benefit individuals (Harari, 2015).
Works Cited
Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind (First U.S. edition). Harper.
Loopy Model
The Domestication of the Human Species
By Samantha Dawkins
Time Period
The beginning of the agricultural revolution began between 9500-8500 B.C.E. and lasted until approximately 3500 B.C.E. Though it is believed to have first started within the Middle East (Turkey & Iran), it also began throughout populations across the globe shortly after, completely independent from Middle Eastern farmers (Harari, 2014, p. 61).
Resource Characteristics
The resource units of the agricultural revolution would be the increased production of intentionally cultivated food. Previously, homo sapiens did not intervene with nature’s production of food, as they had plenty to go around. Wild grown fruits, vegetables, and nuts & seeds and hunted food. As their populations began to grow and more consistent diets and food collection were necessary, they began purposefully cultivating the food they were already consuming, but in greater quantity and quality.
Governance Characteristics
The agricultural revolution defines one of the first times that human beings settled down and created a type of governance that was followed. In return for food grown by peasant farmers (who were now living a much more difficult and unrewarding lives compared to hunter/gatherers), the “pampered elites” would provide protection from neighboring villages looking for additional food (Harari, 2014, p. 63).
Social/economic/political Settings or Related Ecosystems
I think that the greatest thing to recognize in the characteristics of governance is that the agricultural revolution gave humans the ability to “keep more people alive under worse conditions,” meaning that in return for today’s affluence and stability, we gave up/lost some of our characteristics that made us human in the first place (Harari, 2014, p. 65). The desire for economic and population growth led us to become domesticated by one important crop—wheat. Ultimately, the popularity of this crop is what led to some of the first instances of “property” as well as hierarchy. Because wheat is a fragile crop, peasant farmers would spend dawn to dusk working their fields in hopes of a good yield, majority of which would go to the elites who likely worked to protect villages and homesteads from neighboring tribes. Because of this, and many other reasons, Harari claims the agricultural revolution to be history’s “biggest fraud” (Harari, 2014, p. 63).
Interactions
The interactions of these humans with their environment were, in whole, negative. People all across the world suddenly went from accessing food and resources through available channels to settling down and farming land with breeds of plants and animals that were never truly intended to exist in these spaces. This led to an overall degradation of land quality and of the variability individuals had in their diets. This left the human population vulnerable and dependent on a single crop, and a picky one at that.
Outcomes
With an increase of wheat, there is an increase in the human population, increasing social classes, violence, starvation/disease, and the creation of technology and decrease the variability of diets. Ultimately, violence, land loss, starvation/disease, the use of social classes, and the creation of technology all increase as the population and implementation of wheat increases.
Loopy Model
Agricultural Revolution: The Next Step
By Anonymous
Around 10,000 years ago, the shift from hunting and gathering to manipulating food sources, otherwise known as the Agricultural Revolution, began. From watering plants to moving livestock, Sapiens began using all their time to ensure more food for themselves. Rice, potatoes, camels, olive trees, all became domesticated fairly quickly. However, this only began in places where species COULD be domesticated (Harari, 2014, pg. 62).
With the increase of food, populations increased, and social classes became very distinct. To create a better environment to grow plants, such as wheat, humans had to work in laborious conditions in order to make such demands. This resulted in the destruction of the human body leading to arthritis, hernias, etc (pg. 63).
There was an increase of danger and violence since land could be gained by just taking from their neighbor. Additionally, with having no strong political or social standards and regulations, violence was common. Wealth was also not a constant for the farmers since they rely on other species for their income, which can be good or bad (pg. 63-64).
The natural resource units include plants/wheat, animals, the sapiens and farmers themselves, social classes, natural land, violence, fire, and disease. When adding equal amounts of humans, wheat, animals, and natural land, lots of interactions follow. With an increase of domesticating wheat, the human population increases. The same positive feedback occurs with the domesticated animals. When wheat increases, natural land decreases, which creates a negative feedback loop. The decrease of natural land increases violence which results in human deaths. The increase of wheat creates a positive feedback loop with social classes since more social classes were created as a result. Additionally, with more humans, comes more fire, which allowed more what to grow. When populations rose, humans fed their children porridge instead of breastmilk, so a negative feedback loop is created with disease.
With all these factors considered, the human population grew exponentially along with the domesticated plants and animals. However, it was not all positive, since more violence and separation of people based on wealth occurred.
Works Cited
Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.
Loopy Model
Sapiens: The Agricultural Revolution
By Alexander Ameika
The domestication of plants and animals drastically changed the course of human history. Humans were once nomadic, and they needed to forage and hunt for their food. Once they learned to domesticate certain plant and animal species, they could get far greater yields from their efforts. Humans could work on growing their food where they settled as long as the land and climate were suitable for what they wanted to grow and what their technology could allow them to handle. More permanent settlements were then built that could be expanded as desired or needed. The agricultural revolution is thought to have started around 12,000 years ago. (Harari, 2015)
The first major change this brought to the human species was population growth. Suddenly there was not only enough food for those who lived in a community, but a surplus of food that allowed the population to grow rapidly. As the population grew so could the farms that were made to feed that population. It could create a positive feedback loop where an ever expanding population supplied the manpower necessary to increase agricultural production which in turn caused the population to grow. There is conflicting research on some of the intricacies of this process but regardless, enough food was there to feed enough people for the population to grow. (Goodman, 1991)
The next major change this brought was the formation of society. Once human populations grew, large settlements were created around agricultural production and societies began to come about. People that all lived and worked near each other formed much larger settlements that developed characteristics which set them aside from others. Buildings and pathways were made to be permanent alongside food production.
Finally, this allowed technology to be improved immensely. Once an area to live and a means of supplying a population with nutrition were secured there was a lot more time for humans to focus on developing tools that made their lives easier and got them what they wanted. (Harari, 2015)
In my loopy model I attempted to visually show what happens to the wilderness and natural resources in areas where this kind of human activity is taking place. One stock is wilderness, which includes land that would eventually be known as “arable” as well as other spaces without human influence. Another is natural resources. Both of these stocks decrease in size as the human population grows. Other elements of the loopy system are population size, food production, technology, and size of society. All of these elements increase in the loopy model, which is the cause of the decrease in wilderness and natural resources. Humans and their activities are the driving force of this positive feedback loop that depletes available land and resources. Even developments in technology lead to more and more depletion of natural elements of the environment. Political and economic characteristics do not need to play a role in this system because I believe it is likely that this would occur regardless of varying political and economic systems this could be integrated into.
Works Cited
Harari, Yuval N. (2015). Sapiens: a brief history of humankind. Via:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – PDFDrive.com (archive.org)
Goodman et. Al. (1991) The origins of agriculture: Population growth during a period of declining health. Popul Environ 13, 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01256568
Loopy Model
How Wheat Domesticated Humans
By Anonymous
In his novel “Sapiens,” author Yuval Harari (2018) makes an interesting point when he suggests that wheat domesticated humans. This was a shocking statement to make as for centuries it has been viewed from the other lens. People assume humans domesticated crops. However, in approximately 9000 BC wheat began to make its prominent appearance. Before around 9500 BC-8500 BC when the agricultural revolution began, humans were primarily hunter/gatherers (Harari, 2018).
The way wheat domesticated humans is blatantly obvious. Humans began to cultivate wheat which is an extremely demanding crop. This forced humans to settle next to their crops and form villages, towns, and cities. The widespread growth of the natural resource led to many unexpected uses. It can also be deduced that the spread of wheat cultivation contributed to the creation of markets, since humans were not hunting for their food, they would have had to begin to trade for goods and services.
This domestication completely changed the way society worked. Humans interacted with each other in new ways since they had never resided in villages together before. There are also many long-lasting negative impacts of wheat farming. Dependence on this crop also led to a more vulnerable society, since monocrop cultures are more vulnerable to disease. If the crop is spoiled, the people will starve. The human body is also not fit to farm wheat from dawn to dusk. Humans began to develop back issues, arthritis, and other ailments (Harari, 2018). However, the outcomes were not all negative. These villages gave shelter from wild animals and weather, which prior humans did not have the luxury of before (Harari, 2018). Overall, the demand of wheat farming led to the reshaping of human society.
Works Cited
Harari, Y. N. (2018). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Harper Perennial.
Loopy Model
The Agricultural Revolution: The Need for Greed
By Anonymous
The agricultural revolution began 12,000 years ago. While the agricultural revolution was a turning point in the world by promoting prosperity and progress, plants and animals were compromised, social classes began to form as Sapiens became greedy. Domestication of plants and animals became a big focus in humans’ lives because humans spend most of their time manipulating animals and plant species for survival. Humans gathered plants such as wild figs and started sowing seeds. Humans also hunted animals such as wild sheep and took sheep to grazing grounds (Harari, 2014).
The agricultural revolution overexploited the resources for society. Agricultural societies formed as farming and populations increased. Therefore, leading to permanent settlements in the society. The land was widely available at the beginning of the agricultural revolution for farmers to have enough space to graze their animals. However, with an increase in population, the grazing fields became smaller and there was pressure on farmers and resources to keep up with the population. The farmers in the society focused more on the future and preferred to preserve food or wealth, while foragers only cared about the present and consumed all that they had ((Larsen, 2006).
The agricultural revolution led to different social classes where individuals settled together would organize themselves based on wealth or the agricultural produce they had. The wealthy individuals were individuals that belonged to a privileged and powerful tier of society. While at the bottom of the social class, individuals were underprivileged and were subservient to those in the higher tier of society (Ehrlich and Ponisio, 2016).
The stocks in the model are animals, plants, natural land, farmers, foragers, and implementing social class. At the beginning of the model animals, plants, and natural land starts with full amounts because animals, plants, and natural land were abundant in the beginning of the agricultural revolution. Farmers, foragers, and implementing social classes start with little amounts.
Animals and farmers have a negative feedback interaction because as animals were abundant, farmers started to settle and domesticate animals, which decreases animals when farmers increase. Plants and farmers have a negative feedback interaction because when farmers increase, plants decrease. Farmers and Natural Land have positive feedback because farmers may have taken space of the land, but farmers used it for grazing animals therefore the land was still fields and famers increased when natural land increased. Foragers and animals, plants, and natural land had a negative feedback interaction, because foragers used up resources as fast as they could by not caring about the future and took up space in the natural land as they started to permanently settle. As foragers and farmers increased, it led to positive feedback with implementing social classes because social classes increase with the population.
Works Cited
Ponisio, L., & Ehrlich, P. (2016). Diversification, Yield and a New Agricultural Revolution: Problems and Prospects. Sustainability,
Larsen, C. (2006). The Agricultural Revolution as Environmental Catastrophe: Implications for Health and Lifestyle in the Holocene. ScienceDirect, 12-20
Loopy Model