Food Production (Prehistoric Era to 600 CE)

Crop rotation

________ was a solution for replenishing depleted soil because it allowed one plant to take up what another had depleted the previous season.

Yangtze River

Around 5000 BCE, rice was first produced in the ________ region, and later it spread throughout most of Asia.

Homo sapiens

During the ice ages, ____ spent the majority of their time hunting, gathering food, and maintaining their warmth and dryness.

bison

mastodon

two early sources of food

agricultural revolution

They were liberated from their nomadic past by this ______, which enabled them to find sedentary communities.

Dogs

These were probably the first domesticated animals, followed by livestock. Some animals were used as pack animals.

domestic responsibilities

Women were assigned ________ such as cooking, caring for small animals, and weaving, while men handled farming, hunting, and herding of large animals.

Mesopotamia

_______ was the site of the agricultural revolution, which later spread to Asia and Europe.

Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia, or the ________, developed the world’s first cities, and it is not unexpected that barley and wheat were first produced there.

irrigation and swamp drainage

Around 5000 BCE, there were also the first recorded instances of _________.

Nile River

Since the beginning of time, the ______ has overflowed its banks, bringing water and fertile silt to the long and rich floodplain.

Yellow River valley

Around 10,000 BCE, millet, barley, and other crops were domesticated in China's _________, marking the start of the country's agricultural revolution.

plow

By 3000 BCE, the Chinese had devised the _____.

Iron-clad farming tools

By 400 BCE, the Chinese introduced the ______.

Indus River valley

Before 5000 BCE, there was an agricultural revolution along the __________, where people grew wheat, barley, peas, and other crops.

**slash and burn**

People simply moved on to new fields after tilling the soil to the point of depletion.

This method is comparable to the "**_________**" farming that semi-nomadic communities still practice today in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Mexico

Around 5000 BCE, ______ may have seen the start of the Western Hemisphere's agricultural revolution.

maize

beans

squash

three sisters" of the diet

beasts of burden

By 3000 BCE, the donkey, the buffalo, and the camel had all been domesticated as the first _______.

llamas

In South America's Andes Mountains, _____ were used.

Horses

_____ died out early in the Americas and weren't introduced back until after 1500 CE by Europeans, which caused a delay in animal husbandry in this region of the world.

Chinese and the Celts

The horse has been greatly adapted over the ages by people as diverse as the _______.

pull war chariots

The horses were primarily used to _______; later, for cavalry; and not frequently, for agricultural labor.

human diet

Globally, the majority of the ________ is made up of cereal grains, beans, vegetable oils, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, fresh meat on occasion, and fermented drinks made from either grains or fruits.

coarse bread

Cereals were consumed in a variety of ways, but ________ was the primary form in Europe, the Near East, and the Americas.

white bread

In the Roman Empire, _______ made from fine wheat flour without the germ was highly prized.

granary

In 350 BCE, Egypt and North Africa later turned into a *______*for the Mediterranean peoples as a new variety of wheat suitable for such bread was grown there. Fruits and vegetables were consumed locally.

banana

With the introduction of the ________ by the Malay people, Sub-Saharan Africa produced food surpluses.

sugarcane

Since 100 BCE, _________has been grown in India and the East Indies, but its introduction to Europe was delayed until the discovery of a refinement process.

honey and concentrated fruit

Throughout most of the ancient world, _______ were used as sweeteners instead.

America

Today's more popular foods, including tomatoes, potatoes, and peanuts, have their origins in _____.