In many cases, stressed, declining civilizations adapted, or reemerged, into new or similar complex cultures (Schwartz & Nichols 2006). In agriculturally-based societies during the last ten millennia, humans have developed complex, urban civilizations that have cycled through periods of increasing complexity, awe-inspiring intellectual achievement, persistence for millennia, and, in some instances, perplexing decline (Trigger 2003). This short, yet highly significant period of time, represents less than 0.3 % of the more than four million years of human evolution as bipedal hominids and ultimately Homo sapiens. Although of fundamental importance today, agriculture is a relatively recent human innovation that spread rapidly across the globe only 10,000 to 12,000 years ago (Diamond 1999, Montgomery 2007, Price & Gebauer 1995, Smith 1995), during the Agricultural Revolution. Soil and water are essential natural resources for our domesticated animal- and plant-based food production systems. These topics will be discussed to demonstrate the vital role that soils play in our agriculturally-dependent society.Īgriculture and Human SocietyHuman use and management of soil and water resources have shaped the development, persistence, decline, and regeneration of human civilizations that are sustained by agriculture (Harlan 1992, Hillel 1992). ![]() In exploring the link between soil and agriculture, this article will highlight 1) our transition from hunter-gatherer to agrarian societies 2) the major soil properties that contribute to fertile soils 3) the impacts of intensive agriculture on soil degradation and 4) the basic concepts of sustainable agriculture and soil management. Of these resources, soil and water have provided humans with the ability to produce food, through agriculture, for our sustenance. Human society has developed through utilization of our planet's resources in amazingly unique, creative, and productive ways that have furthered human evolution and sustained global societies.
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