There are multitude reasons to why early communities began to cultivate, many of which are unique to different geographical locations and to different communities and their preferences. A great example of a community who chose not to begin domesticating and cultivating their environment is the Jomon hunter-gatherers stuck to their ‘traditional’ methods even though neighboring communities in the Koreas and China had moved to a more agricultural based system. They even went to the extent...
There are multitude reasons to why early communities began to cultivate, many of which are unique to different geographical locations and to different communities and their preferences. A great example of a community who chose not to begin domesticating and cultivating their environment is the Jomon hunter-gatherers stuck to their ‘traditional’ methods even though neighboring communities in the Koreas and China had moved to a more agricultural based system. They even went to the extent of transporting wild boar between islands – without ever domesticating the animals themselves. This highlights the fact that the onset of agriculture was not forced upon these communities and it was a choice made by individual groups depending on their own environment and circumstances. Growing populations and a move towards living in settlements for a greater period of time put more pressure on communities and led to jealousy between settlements which often would lead violence. Communities had begun to cultivate purposely designed fields and had begun storing the yield produced by them. With this came the opportunity for nearby communities to raid and seize goods for their benefit without having to put in the same amount of work.
