It’s likely that noticing that seeds were edible, and that undigested seeds would spring up in waste piles, took less than one year. Observation of wild critters’ choice of plants probably helped expand the menu a great deal. The one drawback would have been the first vegans. ;^)
Multirow barley, which resulted from prehistoric plant breeding, was in use at least 14,000 years ago — an example of the survival of perishable materials and also of the usefulness of RC dating.
Trade with neighbors seems to have been around a long time, Colin Renfrew studied the obsidian trade, which on land and sea, and can be linked to specific ancient mines thanks to analysis of the obsidian artifacts.
We humans, we’re quite remarkable. :^)
It’s likely that noticing that seeds were edible, and that undigested seeds would spring up in waste piles, took less than one year.
Well I sorta disagree...they would have seen that even when hunting and gathering, as camps would be around for weeks and months before moving on. [I am envisioning plains Indian tribes following herds.]
Someone would have to have had an “A-ha!!” moment sow seeds. Then return to find grains where they were sown. That had to take some “faith” because you were casting away perfectly good food.
Then they would have to to infer that breaking the ground and sowing made the crop bigger.
I think it was a slower process and it happened over a lot of time.
[Sorry...I clicked post too soon]
Yes trading was around for millennia as different groups would meet up either by accident or design. I am sure goods were swapped and techniques shared [or copied].
Sounds like a very Jane Auull version of prehistoric folk, I know. But in the end, they still hunted and gathered their butts off.
By settling in villages and cities, specialization [such as trading and, I don’t know, pottery, weaving, etc. could be supported and expanded. [I realize some of this existed before but if you are settled, you an build a better more permanent kiln and a more substantial loom.]
Now, I wonder, did Native Americans come with the knowledge of “farming” 22,000 years ago or did they develop it once here independently?