Paleolithic Life and the Agricultural Revolution — From Hunter-Gatherers to Settled Farmers

THREE PROMISES standing recite — class recites MG-8 Living-Descendant Promise + MG-9 Humanity-FIRST Promise + MG-10 Resilience-FIRST Promise together; then a 60-second turn-and-talk on yesterday's exit-ticket prompt or the I-STILL-WONDER chart

• Display MG-8, MG-9, MG-10 promise posters at front of classroom
• Lead the recite; pause to ensure all three promises are spoken intentionally
• Quickly check the I-STILL-WONDER chart for any items relevant to today's lesson

M-6-F-CUL-02-B Photograph

Photograph of Lascaux Hall of Bulls (Dordogne, France, c. 17,000 BCE Upper Paleolithic, replica or low-light original photography) showing the famous black-line and ochre paintings of aurochs, horses, deer, and ibex on the limestone cave walls. Caption: 'Lascaux II replica, original c. 17,000 BCE. Made by Aurignacian-Magdalenian Sapiens. Discovered 1940. Sealed to public 1963 to preserve.' This is the introductory MG-7 source-card application example — students apply the 4-question short form.

MG-7 Interactive Physical / non-image

Ancient-World 6-Question Source Card — 8.5x11 laminated tool with 6 questions: (1) WHO made this source and WHEN? (sourcing); (2) WHAT was happening in this civilization at the time? (contextualization); (3) DOES this source agree or disagree with other sources from the same civilization or other civilizations? (corroboration); (4) WHAT does this source actually SAY (close reading); (5) WHO are the LIVING DESCENDANTS of this civilization today, and what do they say about this source? (NMAI-inspired 5th move); (6) WHO TRANSLATED this source from its ancient language? WHOSE INTERPRETATION are we reading? WHAT IS LIKELY MISSING from the source-record entirely (silences)? (World History Association-inspired 6th move). Scaffolded short-form for Lessons 3-7; full form for Lessons 11-21. Style: educator-tool, durable laminated card.

Paleolithic Sapiens evolved in East Africa c. 200,000 BCE (per genetic + fossil evidence — Klein 'The Human Career'). Sapiens migrated globally c. 70,000 BCE — Asia, Australia c. 65,000 BCE, Europe c. 45,000 BCE, Americas c. 16,000-13,000 BCE. Hunter-gatherer adaptations included fire control (Homo erectus c. 1 million BCE; widespread by Sapiens), the Oldowan-to-Aurignacian stone-tool sequence, and cave art at Lascaux (France c. 17,000 BCE), Chauvet (France c. 32,000 BCE), Altamira (Spain c. 36,000 BCE), and Sulawesi (Indonesia c. 45,000 BCE — the oldest known figurative art). The Agricultural Revolution c. 10,000-5,000 BCE was NOT a single event in one place but INDEPENDENT origins in MULTIPLE regions: Fertile Crescent c. 10,000 BCE (wheat, barley), China c. 9,000 BCE (rice, millet), Mesoamerica c. 8,000 BCE (maize, beans), sub-Saharan Africa c. 5,000 BCE (sorghum, yams), Andes c. 5,000 BCE (potatoes, quinoa). Consequences: settlement, surplus, social stratification, larger populations, and the conditions for state-formation and writing. Bioarchaeological evidence shows EARLY Neolithic farmers were SHORTER and had MORE dental disease than their late-Paleolithic hunter-gatherer ancestors (per Jared Diamond 'The Worst Mistake' essay 1987) — the Agricultural Revolution made civilization possible but it did not improve every individual life.

• Notice: this overturns the older single-origin diffusionist model.

  model Agriculture developed INDEPENDENTLY in at least 5 regions of the world c. 10,000-5,000 BCE — Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica, sub-Saharan Africa, Andes. There was no single 'origin' of agriculture; humans figured out farming in multiple places.

  prompt Where did agriculture first develop?
• Multi-perspective: yes for the civilization-as-a-whole; mixed for individual lives.

  model Mostly civilizations possible — but early Neolithic individuals were often shorter and sicker than their hunter-gatherer ancestors. Surplus made cities and kings and writing possible — and also made hierarchies, disease epidemics from animal contact, and social stratification.

  prompt Did the Agricultural Revolution make life better?

• Where did Sapiens evolve and when?
• Name two regions of independent agricultural origin and the staple crop of each.
• What evidence challenges the simple 'Agricultural Revolution made life better' narrative?

Introduce MG-7 Source Card in short form (4 questions: WHO/WHEN, CONTEXT, CORROBORATE, CLOSE READ). Apply briefly to a cave-art image from Lascaux as a non-textual primary source: WHO made it (Aurignacian-Magdalenian Sapiens c. 17,000 BCE) / WHEN (Upper Paleolithic) / CORROBORATE (similar art at Chauvet 32,000 BCE) / CLOSE READ (what animals depicted? what postures? what does the absence of human figures tell us?).

M-6-F-CUL-02-A Map

World map showing 5+ independent agricultural-origin regions with bordered shading: Fertile Crescent c. 10,000 BCE (Iraq-Syria-Turkey-Israel-Palestine-Lebanon-Jordan area) — wheat, barley, lentils; China c. 9,000 BCE — rice (Yangtze valley) and millet (Huang He valley); Mesoamerica c. 8,000 BCE (Mexico) — maize, beans, squash; sub-Saharan Africa c. 5,000 BCE (Sahel region) — sorghum, pearl millet, yams; Andes c. 5,000 BCE (Peru-Bolivia-Ecuador) — potatoes, quinoa; New Guinea c. 7,000 BCE — taro, bananas; Eastern North America c. 4,000 BCE — sunflower, goosefoot. Each region labeled with date and primary staple crop. Style: National Geographic educational, 11x17.

• In pairs, locate the 5 independent agricultural-origin regions on a world map; identify the staple crop of each

  scaffold Partially-filled map with region outlines
• Read excerpt from Jared Diamond 'The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race' (1987 Discover Magazine) and identify ONE piece of evidence Diamond uses to argue the Agricultural Revolution was a mixed-blessing

  scaffold Excerpt provided + sentence frame: 'Diamond argues ___. His evidence is ___.'

• Name two independent agricultural-origin regions.
• What is one piece of evidence that the Agricultural Revolution had costs for individuals?

• Restate one big idea; preview Lesson 3 (Mesopotamia + cuneiform)

• Find one food at home — identify which agricultural-origin region it came from (e.g., rice → China; wheat → Fertile Crescent; maize → Mesoamerica; potatoes → Andes; sorghum → sub-Saharan Africa). Write 3 sentences on the food's deep-time origin.