Israeli Archaeologists Push Back The Agricultural Revolution

[Minimalist]

Or, perhaps, it would be better to discount the notion of an agricultural "revolution" in its entirety.  Agriculture it seems begins whenever the climatic and social conditions are right for it to do so.  Previously evidence has been found of agriculture in the Nile Valley during the 11th millennium BC.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/archaeol...n-thought/

Archaeologists find possible evidence of earliest human agriculture — 11,000 years earlier than thought

[Arrogant Christian]

Or, perhaps, it would be better to discount the notion of an agricultural "revolution" in its entirety.  Agriculture it seems begins whenever the climatic and social conditions are right for it to do so.  Previously evidence has been found of agriculture in the Nile Valley during the 11th millennium BC.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/archaeol...n-thought/

Archaeologists find possible evidence of earliest human agriculture — 11,000 years earlier than thought

I could agree with the discounting of the "revolution," unless you are using its definition as trend. Humans were very well developed by this point, its not unthinkable that some experiments were tried, and news got out. Honestly though, I have very little knowledge in this particular area, so it is only a fool's opinion

[Minimalist]

There have been other localized examples of early agriculture reported in Egypt and now Israel. The trick is to know what to look for which is the importance of this study.  Hunter-Gatherer (HG) groups needed an extensive knowledge of the flora of the area they were in, otherwise they could easily poison themselves.  It really isn't so hard to imagine that they would use this knowledge to identify those plants which were super useful to their survival and from there it is but a short step to trying to grow them rather than gather them  But.  You need a stable climate.  Too much rain is as bad as too little.  Too much sun is as bad as too little.  Moreover you need to be in an area which is capable of supporting your group to the point that you see no reason to move on.  And, you also need to not be continually pressed by other groups looking to move in.

Once you have attained those conditions the reasons for cultivating in one spot rather than gathering from the local environment are obvious.  You lessen your exposure to predators.  However, the process is always tenuous and we see even today that seasonal rains often fail with dire consequences for the inhabitants.

Life was precarious back into the Pleistocene.  Our ancestors were not stupid in the modern dipshit republicunt asshole, sense of the word but their intelligence was geared to survival.  I've often wondered how long any of us would last were we suddenly dropped back into that environment.  I imagine we would quickly end up as sabre-tooth cat shit lying by the side of a trail.

[Pyrrho]

Bold emphasis has been added:

There have been other localized examples of early agriculture reported in Egypt and now Israel. The trick is to know what to look for which is the importance of this study.  Hunter-Gatherer (HG) groups needed an extensive knowledge of the flora of the area they were in, otherwise they could easily poison themselves.  It really isn't so hard to imagine that they would use this knowledge to identify those plants which were super useful to their survival and from there it is but a short step to trying to grow them rather than gather them  But.  You need a stable climate.  Too much rain is as bad as too little.  Too much sun is as bad as too little.  Moreover you need to be in an area which is capable of supporting your group to the point that you see no reason to move on.  And, you also need to not be continually pressed by other groups looking to move in.

Once you have attained those conditions the reasons for cultivating in one spot rather than gathering from the local environment are obvious.  You lessen your exposure to predators.  However, the process is always tenuous and we see even today that seasonal rains often fail with dire consequences for the inhabitants.

Life was precarious back into the Pleistocene.  Our ancestors were not stupid in the modern dipshit republicunt asshole, sense of the word but their intelligence was geared to survival.  I've often wondered how long any of us would last were we suddenly dropped back into that environment.  I imagine we would quickly end up as sabre-tooth cat shit lying by the side of a trail.

Given that most of us have not been raised to deal with such an environment, our survival for very long would be extremely unlikely.  One can do an experiment today to illustrate this sort of thing.  If we consider the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest who live in a manner not too unlike what their ancestors experienced hundreds of years ago, I can confidently state that were I suddenly put in their environment, I would be dead fairly quickly, unless I got out of that environment, or they took pity on me and kept me alive.  I have almost no clue what I should eat, and what I should avoid eating, in the Amazon.  I do not know what things are a great danger to me, and what things are not.  And I would be completely miserable until the sweet release of death.

The "ignorant savages" are generally ignorant of what "civilized people" know, but the "civilized people" are likewise generally ignorant of what the "ignorant savages" know.  Stupid people often only notice what other people do not know, and do not notice what they themselves do not know, that others do know.

[Minimalist]

Precisely. 

Remember the scene in Castaway where he is trying to open the coconut?  Same idea.