World History · Unit 1 · Lesson 2 · 世界歷史單元一第二課

Why Did People Start Farming?人為什麼開始種田？

Follow one river valley through a year: foragers who move with the seasons on one bank, an early farming village on the other. Then see on a map how farming began separately in many parts of the world, and weigh what people gained and what they gave up.
跟著一座河谷過一年：一岸是跟著季節搬家的採集狩獵者，另一岸是早期的農村。再從地圖上看農業怎麼在世界上好幾個地方各自開始，並且想一想人們得到了什麼、又放棄了什麼。

Big idea · 一句話看懂

Farming was not invented once, by one person, or in one place. Beginning about 12,000 years ago, people in many parts of the world slowly turned wild plants and animals into crops and herds. It brought more food and more people, and it brought new hardships too.
農業不是一次發明的，不是一個人發明的，也不是在一個地方發明的。從大約 1.2 萬年前開始，世界上好幾個地方的人各自慢慢把野生的植物和動物變成作物和牲畜。它帶來更多的食物、更多的人，也帶來了新的辛苦。

3D Model · 3D 模型

One River, Two Ways to Live 同一條河，兩種過日子的方法

On the left bank lives a band of foragers, people who gather wild plants, fish, and hunt. On the right bank is an early farming village. Press Play, or pull the slider, and watch both through one year. Notice who moves and who stays, when each group works hardest, and what happens to the grain in the granary. Then switch on “A year when the harvest fails.” This valley is an illustration, not a real place: it is here to show the difference between two ways of getting food.
河的左岸住著一群採集狩獵的人，靠採野生植物、捕魚和打獵過活。右岸是一座早期的農村。按「播放」或拉動滑桿，看兩邊怎麼過同一年。注意誰在搬家、誰留在原地，兩邊各在什麼時候最忙，還有穀倉裡的穀子怎麼變化。然後打開「歉收的一年」。這座河谷是示意，不是真實的地方：它只是用來讓你看到兩種取得食物的方法有什麼不同。

Drag to turn · 拖曳轉動　Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪／雙指縮放

This 3D model needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The season slider and the panel on the right still work, and so do the reading, the map, and the games below.
這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL，無法顯示 3D 模型；季節滑桿和右邊的說明照樣能用，下面的課文、地圖和小遊戲也都能用。

Spring春 Winter冬

A year when the harvest fails歉收的一年Labels標示

Foragers (their camp moves with the seasons)
採集狩獵的人（營地跟著季節搬）
Farmers (their village stays in one place)
農人（村子固定在一個地方）
The crop: green while growing, golden when ripe
作物：生長時是綠的，成熟時變金黃
Stored grain in the granary
穀倉裡的存糧

This is a teaching sketch, not a reconstruction of any real site. The landscape, houses, crop, and the four seasons (sow in spring, harvest in autumn) are simplified; in many of the places where farming began, the farming year ran differently. Real foragers and real farmers were also far more varied than these two groups: some foragers lived in one place all year, and many early farmers went on gathering and hunting.
這是教學用的示意，不是任何真實遺址的復原。地景、房屋、作物和四季（春天播種、秋天收割）都經過簡化；在許多最早開始種田的地方，農事的時間並不是這樣安排的。真實的採集狩獵者和農人也比這兩群人多樣得多：有些採集狩獵者整年住在同一個地方，而許多早期的農人仍然繼續採集和打獵。

Model: an illustration made for this lesson. It does not show a real place or a real people. 模型：為這一課製作的示意，畫的不是真實的地點或族群。

Reading · 英文閱讀

Unit 2: Why Did People Start Farming?

Think about what you ate today. Rice, bread, noodles, vegetables, eggs: nearly all of it came from a farm. Yet for most of the 300,000 years of our species, there were no farms anywhere. People gathered wild plants, fished, and hunted. Then, starting about 12,000 years ago, people in some places began to plant seeds and to keep animals. It was one of the biggest changes in human history. Why did it happen?

想想你今天吃了什麼。飯、麵包、麵條、青菜、蛋：幾乎全都來自農場。可是在我們這個物種三十萬年的歷史裡，大部分時間世界上根本沒有農場。人們採野生的植物、捕魚、打獵。後來，從大約 1.2 萬年前開始，有些地方的人開始播種、養動物。這是人類歷史上最大的改變之一。為什麼會這樣？

The first surprise is that it happened more than once. Farming began independently in at least eleven regions of the world, among people who did not learn it from one another. In West Asia they grew wheat and barley. In China it was millet in the north and rice in the south. In the Americas it was squash and maize. In New Guinea it was bananas and taro, and in Africa sorghum. Each group worked with the wild plants that grew nearby.

第一件讓人意外的事：它不只發生一次。農業至少在世界上十一個地區各自獨立地開始，這些地方的人並不是互相學來的。西亞種的是小麥和大麥。中國北方是小米和黍，南方是稻。美洲是南瓜和玉米。新幾內亞是香蕉和芋頭，非洲是高粱。每一群人用的都是身邊長的野生植物。

The second surprise is how slow it was. Nobody woke up one morning as a farmer. Wild wheat drops its seeds when they are ripe, which is good for the plant and bad for the person trying to collect them. A few plants hold on to their seeds. Most researchers think the change went like this: when people cut the grain and sowed some of it again, those were the seeds they carried home, so each year a few more plants were of that kind. For wheat, barley, and rice, it took about two to four thousand years before nearly all the plants kept their seeds. All that time, people went on gathering and hunting as well.

第二件讓人意外的事：它非常慢。沒有人是某一天早上醒來就變成農夫的。野生的小麥種子熟了會自己掉到地上——這對植物是好事，對想把種子收集起來的人卻是麻煩。有少數幾株的種子會留在穗上。多數研究者認為變化是這樣發生的：人們割下穀子、再把其中一些播回地裡的時候，帶回家的正是這種種子，所以每一年，這種植株就多一點點。以小麥、大麥和稻來說，要等到幾乎所有植株的種子都留在穗上，花了大約兩千到四千年。在這麼長的時間裡，人們也一直繼續採集和打獵。

Why did people begin? Researchers do not agree. Some point to the climate: the last ice age ended about 11,700 years ago, and the weather became warmer and steadier; only then, they argue, did farming become possible. Others think that growing numbers of people needed more food. Others note that some foragers were already living in villages before they farmed, or that people were gathering in large numbers for feasts. The reasons may well have been different in different places.

人為什麼開始種田？研究者的看法並不一致。有人認為是氣候：上一次冰河時期大約在 1.17 萬年前結束，天氣變得比較暖、比較穩定——他們主張，要到這時候種田才成為可能。有人認為是人越來越多，需要更多食物。也有人指出，有些採集狩獵的人還沒開始種田就已經住在村子裡了，或是人們會大批聚在一起舉行宴會。在不同的地方，原因很可能並不一樣。

Farming changed people's lives, and not only for the better. A field can feed more people than the same land left wild, and the number of people grew. But in most places that have been studied, skeletons show that people became shorter as farming took hold, a sign of poorer food or more sickness. Stored grain could be owned, and the gap between richer and poorer families widened. A farmer is also tied to the field. When a harvest failed, it was much harder to move away.

農業改變了人的生活，而且不是只往好的方向。一塊田能養活的人，比同一塊地放著不管時多，人口也跟著增加。但是在大多數研究過的地方，骨骸顯示人在農業站穩之後變矮了——這表示吃得比較差，或是比較常生病。存起來的穀子可以被「擁有」，比較富有和比較貧窮的家庭之間的差距變大了。農人也被綁在田上：收成不好的時候，要搬走困難得多。

Farming spread in two ways. Sometimes farmers moved into new lands and took their seeds and animals with them. Sometimes foragers learned from their neighbors. And some peoples kept other ways of getting food for thousands of years. About 5,000 years ago, people in Taiwan were growing both millet and rice. Today almost everything we eat is farmed, and few of us ever wonder who first tamed the plants on our plates.

農業用兩種方式傳開。有時候是農人搬到新的地方，把種子和牲畜一起帶過去。有時候是採集狩獵的人向鄰居學的。也有一些人群，幾千年來一直用別的方法取得食物。大約五千年前，台灣已經有人同時種小米和稻。今天我們吃的東西幾乎全是種出來、養出來的，卻很少有人想過，盤子裡的植物最早是誰馴化的。

Read aloud · 課文朗讀

Questions · 閱讀理解

The lesson says farming was not invented once. What is the evidence for that?

Farming began in many regions that had no contact with one another, each with its own plants: wheat and barley in West Asia, millet and rice in China, squash and maize in the Americas, bananas and taro in New Guinea, sorghum in Africa. A review counts at least eleven such regions.

Why did it take thousands of years to turn wild wheat into a crop?

Because the change came from small differences added up over many harvests. Only a few wild plants keep their seeds on the stalk. Each time people cut and resowed the grain, slightly more of the seed came from those plants. People were also still gathering and hunting, so the fields were only part of how they lived.

The lesson calls farming a trade. What did people gain, and what did they give up?

They gained more food from the same land, stored food for hard seasons, and larger families and villages. They gave up some of their freedom to move, took on more risk when a harvest failed, and in many places their health became poorer. Differences in wealth between families also grew.

Words & Phrases · 生字及片語

wild(adj.)野生的Wild wheat still grows on hillsides in West Asia.西亞的山坡上現在還長著野生的小麥。gather(v.)採集The children helped gather nuts in the woods.孩子們幫忙在樹林裡採集堅果。crop(n.)作物Rice is the most important crop in Taiwan.稻是台灣最重要的作物。domesticate(v.)馴化People domesticated rice over thousands of years.人類花了幾千年才馴化了稻。harvest(n.)收成；收割The whole village worked together at harvest time.收割的時候，全村的人一起工作。store(v.)儲存They stored the grain in clay jars for the winter.他們把穀子存在陶甕裡準備過冬。surplus(n.)剩餘；多出來的部分A good year left a surplus of grain to trade.豐收的一年會有多出來的穀子可以拿去交換。settle(v.)定居The family settled beside the river and built a house.這一家人在河邊定居下來，蓋了一間房子。

Quick Check · 小測驗

1. How many times did farming begin?

2. Why is wild wheat hard to collect?

3. About how long did it take before nearly all the wheat or rice plants in a field kept their seeds on the stalk?

4. What does the evidence show about the bodies of early farmers in most places studied?

5. Why do researchers still disagree about why farming began?

Try It in the Model · 在模型裡試試

Four things to watch 四件值得看的事

The model shows a pattern, not a rule. After you have watched it, read the note under the picture about what it leaves out.
模型呈現的是一種常見的情形，不是定律。看完以後，讀一讀圖下面那段說明，看它省略了什麼。

The camp that walks會走路的營地

Left bank, all year · 左岸，一整年

Watch the foragers' camp. It moves to the river, the meadow, the woods, and a sheltered winter spot. People go to the food. Everything they own has to be carried.
看採集狩獵者的營地。它搬到河邊、草地、樹林，再搬到背風的地方過冬。人去找食物。他們擁有的每一樣東西都得搬得動。

The field that cannot be left不能丟下不管的田

Right bank, spring to autumn · 右岸，春天到秋天

Watch one field from sowing to harvest. The farmers bring the food to themselves, but the field needs them for months, and the village stays where the field is.
看一塊田從播種到收割。農人讓食物長在自己身邊，但是田有好幾個月都需要人照顧，而田在哪裡，村子就留在哪裡。

The granary穀倉

After the harvest · 收割之後

After the harvest the granary is full, and it empties a little every day until the next one. Stored food carries a village through winter. It can also be counted, guarded, and owned.
收割之後穀倉是滿的，然後每天少一點，一直到下一次收成。存糧讓村子撐過冬天。存糧也可以被清點、被看守、被擁有。

A year without rain沒有下雨的一年

Switch on “A year when the harvest fails” · 打開「歉收的一年」

Switch on the bad year and go to spring. The granary is empty before the new crop is ready. Compare how each bank gets through.
打開歉收的一年，再跳到春天。新的作物還沒熟，穀倉已經空了。比較一下兩岸各自怎麼撐過去。

Explore · 動手看看

Where Did Farming Begin? 哪裡開始種田？

Pull the slider from 12,000 years ago toward the present. A region glows faintly when the earliest evidence appears there, and strongly once farming is clearly under way. People in these regions did not learn farming from one another: each worked it out with the plants that grew nearby. Click a number to see what was grown there.
把滑桿從 1.2 萬年前往現在拉。一個地區出現最早的證據時會淡淡地亮起來，等到那裡的農業已經很明確了，才變成實的。這些地區的人不是互相學來的：每個地方的人都是用身邊長的植物，自己摸索出來的。點一個號碼，看那裡種的是什麼。

Regions where farming has begun已經開始種田的地區

12,000 years ago1.2 萬年前 4,000 years ago4,000 年前

Click a numbered circle on the map, or a name below it.點地圖上有號碼的圓，或是地圖下面的名字。

The map shows seven regions whose dates this lesson could check against published studies. A 2014 review counts at least eleven regions where farming began independently, and several more have been proposed. The glow marks a rough area, not a border, and each date is a range that new finds may change.地圖上畫的是七個地區，它們的年代這一課都對過已發表的研究。2014 年的一篇綜述認為農業至少在十一個地區各自獨立開始，另外還有幾個地區有人主張。光暈只表示「大約這一帶」，不是邊界；每一個年代都是一段範圍，新的發現可能會改動它。

Game · 小遊戲

Where Is It From? 它是哪裡來的？

Eight foods you may have eaten this week. Where were they first farmed? Use the map above if you need it. There is no timer, and you can keep choosing until you get it; the game counts how many you place correctly on the first try.
八種你這個星期可能吃過的食物。它們最早是在哪裡被人栽培的？需要的話可以看上面的地圖。不計時，可以一直選到對為止；遊戲會記下你第一次就選對的題數。

Right on the first try · 第一次就分對 0 / 0

Where was this first farmed?這種作物最早在哪裡被人栽培？

Game · 小遊戲

What Changed? 什麼變了？

When people took up farming, some things went up, some went down, and some are still argued over. Sort each one by what the evidence shows. The point is not to decide whether farming was good or bad. It is to see that it was a trade.
人開始種田以後，有些事增加了，有些事減少了，有些到現在還在爭論。依照證據顯示的結果，把每一項分好。重點不是判定農業是好是壞，而是看到它是一場交換。

Right on the first try · 第一次就分對 0 / 0

After farming began, what happened to this?開始種田以後，這一項怎麼了？

Parallel Timeline · 平行時間軸

The same idea, in lane after lane 同一個點子，出現在一條又一條線上

Each bar is the estimated range for the beginning of farming in one region. Read down the timeline: within a few thousand years, people far apart, who had not learned it from one another, were all doing something no human had done before. Two lanes are empty in this lesson. Farming reached Europe when farmers related to those of Anatolia, in West Asia, moved in; that is a story for a later lesson.
每一條長條，是一個地區開始種田的估計範圍。直著讀這條時間軸：在幾千年之內，相隔遙遠、並沒有互相學習的人，都做起了一件以前沒有人做過的事。這一課有兩條線是空的。歐洲的農業，是和西亞安納托利亞的農人有親緣關係的農人搬進去的時候帶來的；那是後面的課要講的故事。

Click a bar or a diamond to read its dates. Press “Whole span” to see how late in the human story all of this comes.點一條長條或一個菱形，讀出它的年代。按「全部」，看看這一切在人類的故事裡出現得有多晚。

A long bar means a slow change, or an uncertain date, or both.長條很長，表示變化很慢，或是年代不確定，或是兩者都有。
A striped bar marks a date that researchers still debate.有條紋的長條，是研究者還在爭論的年代。
The gray diamond is something that came before farming: bread.灰色的菱形是比農業更早的事：麵包。

Bread, before farming還沒有農業，就有麵包

Wheat and barley小麥和大麥

Millet in northern China華北的黍和小米

Rice on the Yangtze長江的稻

Millet and rice in Taiwan台灣的小米和稻

Bananas and taro in New Guinea新幾內亞的香蕉和芋頭

Squash and maize in Mesoamerica中部美洲的南瓜和玉米

Squash in South America南美洲的南瓜

Sorghum and pearl millet高粱和珍珠粟

How Do We Know? · 我們怎麼知道？

Burned seeds, stubborn stalks, and specks of dust 燒焦的種子、不肯掉的穗，和一粒粒微塵

No one wrote any of this down. The story of the first farmers is read from what they threw away, and most of it is very small.
這些事沒有任何人寫下來。最早的農人的故事，是從他們丟掉的東西裡讀出來的，而且大部分都非常小。

Burned seeds燒焦的種子

Seeds that fell into a fire and turned to charcoal do not rot. Archaeologists stir soil from a site into water; the charred seeds float, and can be skimmed off and identified one by one. This is how the millet and rice of ancient Taiwan were found.
掉進火裡、燒成炭的種子不會腐爛。考古學家把遺址的土倒進水裡攪一攪，碳化的種子會浮起來，撈出來以後一粒一粒辨認。古代台灣的小米和稻就是這樣找到的。

Its limits · 它的限制Only what was burned survives, so foods that were never cooked near a fire, such as leaves and soft fruit, are nearly invisible.只有被燒過的才留得下來，所以從來不在火邊煮的食物（例如葉子和軟的果實）幾乎看不到。

Tsang et al., Botanical Studies 58 (2017) ↗

Seeds that stay on the stalk留在穗上的種子

On a wild plant, each grain in its husk falls off cleanly when ripe and leaves a smooth scar where it was attached. On a domesticated plant the grain has to be torn off by threshing, which leaves a rough scar. By counting smooth and rough scars under a microscope, researchers can tell how far a crop had changed.
野生的植株上，帶殼的穀粒熟了會整齊地脫落，在原本相連的地方留下光滑的疤。馴化的植株上，穀粒要靠打穀才扯得下來，留下的疤是粗糙的。在顯微鏡下數一數光滑的和粗糙的各有多少，研究者就知道一種作物已經改變了多少。

Its limits · 它的限制This shows that a crop was changing, not when people first began to plant it. Planting came long before the plants looked different.這只能看出作物正在改變，看不出人是什麼時候開始種的。早在植物看起來不一樣之前很久，人就已經在種了。

Tanno and Willcox, Science 311 (2006) ↗

Traces too small to see小到看不見的痕跡

Plants leave behind microscopic grains of starch and tiny glassy particles called phytoliths, each kind with its own shape. They cling to grinding stones and cooking pots for thousands of years. Maize in Mexico was identified this way, on grinding stones and other stone tools from layers about 8,700 years old.
植物會留下顯微鏡才看得到的澱粉粒，以及叫做「植矽體」的玻璃質小顆粒，每一種植物的形狀都不一樣。它們可以黏在磨石和陶鍋上幾千年。墨西哥的玉米就是這樣認出來的——在大約 8,700 年前的地層出土的磨石和其他石器上。

Its limits · 它的限制Telling a wild plant from its domesticated relative by such traces takes great care, and specialists sometimes disagree about what a particle is.要靠這些痕跡分辨野生的植物和它馴化的親戚，需要非常小心；一顆顆粒到底是什麼，專家有時候看法也不同。

Piperno et al., PNAS 106 (2009) ↗

Different Accounts · 不同的說法

Four questions without a settled answer 四個沒有定論的問題

The beginning of farming is one of the most argued-over questions in the study of the past. Here are four parts of the argument. The views are set side by side; this lesson does not choose between them.
農業的開始，是研究過去的學問裡爭論最多的問題之一。下面是這場爭論的四個部分。各種說法並列，這一課不替誰下結論。

Why did people begin to farm?人為什麼開始種田？

The climate allowed it氣候讓它變得可能
One influential paper argues that farming was impossible in the cold, unstable climate of the last ice age and became possible only when the climate steadied afterward.
一篇很有影響力的論文主張：在上一次冰河時期又冷又不穩定的氣候下，農業根本不可能；要等之後氣候穩定下來，才變得可能。
Richerson, Boyd, and Bettinger, American Antiquity 66 (2001) ↗
People settled first人先定居下來
On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, some foragers were living in long-lasting settlements 15,000 years ago, well before anyone farmed. House mice had already moved in with them. Researchers who stress this evidence argue that staying put came first and farming followed.
在地中海東岸，有些採集狩獵者 1.5 萬年前就住在長期使用的聚落裡，比任何人開始種田都早得多。家鼠那時候已經搬進去和他們一起住了。重視這項證據的研究者主張：是先定居，然後才有農業。
Weissbrod et al., PNAS 114 (2017) ↗
Gatherings and feasts聚會與宴飲
At Göbekli Tepe, in what is now southeastern Turkey, hunter-gatherers carved and raised decorated stone pillars. Its excavators described people coming together there for feasting, and suggested that such gatherings may have encouraged them to make more use of wild grain. Whether people also lived at the site is debated.
在今天土耳其東南部的哥貝克力山丘，採集狩獵者雕刻並豎起了有裝飾的石柱。發掘它的考古學家描述人們聚在那裡舉行宴飲，並且提出：這樣的聚會可能促使人們更常利用野生的穀子。至於是不是也有人住在那裡，還有爭論。
Dietrich et al., Antiquity 86 (2012) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況Each idea has critics. A study of gazelle teeth from the eastern Mediterranean, for example, found that a cold spell there, long thought to have been dry as well, was not drier, which weakens one version of the climate story. Many researchers now doubt that one cause explains all eleven or more beginnings.每一種想法都有人批評。例如，一項研究分析地中海東岸出土的瞪羚牙齒，發現那裡的一次變冷（長久以來被認為同時也變乾）其實並沒有比較乾，這削弱了氣候說的其中一個版本。現在很多研究者懷疑，有哪一個單一的原因能解釋十一個以上的開端。

Was farming good for the people who did it?農業對種田的人是好事嗎？

The costs代價
A review of many studies of skeletons found that in most of them people became shorter as farming took hold, and an earlier survey found health declining in 19 of 21 societies. In 1987 the scientist and author Jared Diamond called farming “the worst mistake in the history of the human race.”
一篇整理許多骨骸研究的回顧發現，大多數研究裡，人在農業站穩之後變矮了；更早的一項調查則發現，21 個社會裡有 19 個的健康狀況變差。1987 年，科學家兼作家賈德・戴蒙把農業稱為「人類歷史上最大的錯誤」。
Mummert et al., Economics and Human Biology 9 (2011) ↗
The gains收穫
Burial grounds from the same period hold a larger share of children, which one researcher reads as about two more births per woman, and populations grew. Farming fed far more people from the same land. Other researchers also warn against imagining that foragers lived in ease.
同一個時期的墓地裡，孩子占的比例變高——有一位研究者把它解讀成每位婦女大約多生兩個孩子——人口也增加了。同一塊地，農業養活的人多得多。也有研究者提醒，不要把採集狩獵者的生活想像得很輕鬆。
Bocquet-Appel, Science 333 (2011); Kaplan, Journal of Anthropological Research 56 (2000) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況Both sets of facts can be true together: more people, living in poorer health. Whether that is “better” depends on what is being weighed, and that is a question evidence alone cannot settle.兩組事實可以同時成立：人變多了，健康卻變差了。這算不算「更好」，要看拿什麼來衡量——而這個問題，光靠證據回答不了。

Did foragers work less than farmers?採集狩獵者的工作時間比農人少嗎？

One view一種說法
A study in the 1960s of one group of foragers in southern Africa is often quoted as showing that they spent only about 15 to 20 hours a week getting food. It gave rise to the idea that foragers lived with plenty of free time. A 2019 study of one people in the Philippines found that those who farmed more had less leisure.
1960 年代對非洲南部一群採集狩獵者的研究，常被引用來說明他們每個星期只花大約 15 到 20 小時找食物，於是有了「採集狩獵者有很多空閒時間」的說法。2019 年對菲律賓某一個族群的研究則發現，種田比較多的人，空閒時間比較少。
Dyble et al., Nature Human Behaviour 3 (2019) ↗
Another view另一種說法
The often-quoted figure leaves out making tools and preparing and cooking the food. With those counted, the same study's total comes to more than 40 hours a week. Critics also ask how well fed those foragers really were.
常被引用的那個數字沒有算進製作工具、處理和烹煮食物的時間。把這些算進去，同一項研究的總數超過每星期 40 小時。批評者也問：那些採集狩獵者實際上吃得夠不夠？
Wikipedia, “Original affluent society” (an encyclopedia summary of the debate); Kaplan (2000) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況Studies of living peoples cover only a few groups in particular places, and none of them lived 10,000 years ago. They are hints, not measurements of the past.對現代族群的研究只涵蓋特定地方的少數幾群人，而且他們都不是活在一萬年前。這些是線索，不是對過去的測量。

When did rice farming begin?稻作是什麼時候開始的？

Early很早
Microscopic plant particles from the Shangshan site near the lower Yangtze are about 9,400 years old, and their shape suggests that rice domestication may have begun by then.
長江下游附近上山遺址的植物微粒大約是 9,400 年前的，從形狀看，稻的馴化可能那時候就開始了。
Zuo et al., PNAS 114 (2017) ↗
Later, and slowly比較晚，而且很慢
At Tianluoshan, in the same region, the share of rice remains with the domesticated seed-holding trait rose only from 27 to 39 percent between 6,900 and 6,600 years ago. On this evidence rice was still mostly wild in form at that time.
在同一個地區的田螺山遺址，6,900 到 6,600 年前之間，種子不會自己掉落（馴化特徵）的稻只從 27% 增加到 39%。照這份證據，那時候的稻在形態上大部分還是野生的。
Fuller et al., Science 323 (2009) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況The two studies measure different things, and they fit one picture: people may have been growing rice for a very long time before the plant itself finished changing. The earliest dates remain debated.這兩項研究量的是不同的東西，卻拼得成同一幅圖：在稻這種植物本身變完之前，人可能已經種了很久很久。最早的年代仍然有爭論。

Notice what kind of disagreement this is. Nobody disputes that farming began. The exact dates in each region are still argued over, and the hardest arguments are about why it began and what it did to people. On those questions the evidence speaks least clearly.留意這是哪一種分歧。沒有人否認農業開始了。每個地區確切的年代還在爭論，而最難的爭論是它為什麼開始、對人造成了什麼影響。在這些問題上，證據說得最不清楚。

History English · 歷史英語

Eight sentences for causes, results, and slow change 說原因、說結果、說「慢慢地」的八句英文

History is full of becauses, and careful writers do not claim more than they know. These sentences show how to give a possible reason, how to say what followed, and how to say that something happened slowly. Listen, repeat, then make your own sentence with the words in bold.
歷史裡到處都是「因為」，而細心的寫作者不會說得比自己知道的更多。這八句示範怎麼提出一個可能的原因、怎麼說接下來發生了什麼、怎麼說一件事是慢慢發生的。先聽、再跟著唸，然後用粗體的字自己造一句。

Before farming, people gathered wild plants and hunted.
在有農業之前，人們採集野生的植物，也打獵。
before + noun: what came earlier說更早的情形
Farming began independently in at least eleven regions.
農業至少在十一個地區各自獨立地開始。
independently: separately, without help from one another各自地、沒有互相幫忙
The change happened gradually, over thousands of years.
這個變化是在幾千年裡慢慢發生的。
gradually, over …: slowly, through a long time在一段很長的時間裡慢慢地
One reason may be that the climate became steadier.
其中一個原因，可能是氣候變得比較穩定。
one reason may be that: a possible cause, not a certain one一個可能的原因（不是確定的）
As a result, more people could live in one place.
結果，同一個地方可以住更多人。
as a result: what happened because of it因此發生了什麼
A good harvest led to a full granary.
一次好收成帶來了裝滿的穀倉。
led to: caused, over time（經過一段時間）造成
Researchers do not agree on why farming began.
農業為什麼開始，研究者的看法並不一致。
do not agree on: have different opinions about對某件事有不同的看法
Farming brought more food, but it also brought new risks.
農業帶來了更多食物，但也帶來了新的風險。
but it also: adding the other side補上另外一面

Taiwan at That Time · 那時候的台灣

Millet and rice, five thousand years ago 五千年前的小米和稻

The oldest evidence of farming found in Taiwan so far is about 5,000 years old, and it is a handful of burned grains.
台灣目前找到最早的農業證據，大約是五千年前的——那是一小把燒焦的穀粒。

In Lesson 1, the oldest culture known in Taiwan belonged to people who lived by gathering, fishing, and hunting. Thousands of years later a new way of life appears in the ground: pottery marked with cord patterns, and small settled villages. Archaeologists call it the Dapenkeng Culture, the earliest Neolithic culture found so far in Taiwan.
第一課講過，台灣目前所知最古老的文化，屬於靠採集、捕魚和打獵生活的人。幾千年之後，地層裡出現了一種新的生活方式：有繩紋的陶器，和定居的小型聚落。考古學家稱它為大坌坑文化，是台灣目前發現最早的新石器時代文化。

The oldest grain in Taiwan台灣最早的穀粒
At the Nanguanlidong site in the Tainan Science Park, archaeologists from Academia Sinica found charred rice together with two kinds of millet, broomcorn and foxtail. (The study that reports them writes the site name as Nan-kuan-li East.) The site dates from about 5,000 to 4,300 years ago. They are the oldest rice and millet known in Taiwan so far.
在臺南科學園區的南關里東遺址，中央研究院的考古學家發現了碳化的稻米，以及兩種小米類的穀物：黍和粟。這處遺址的年代大約是距今 5,000 到 4,300 年。這是目前所知臺灣最早的稻米和小米。
Tsang et al., Botanical Studies 58 (2017); 中央研究院歷史文物陳列館 ↗
How did it get here?它是怎麼來的？
The National Museum of Prehistory explains that this Neolithic culture was brought in by another group of people from the southeastern coast of the mainland. Academia Sinica puts it more cautiously: it may have been a new culture brought by migrants from overseas.
國立臺灣史前文化博物館的說明是：這個新石器時代文化，是「另一群人由中國大陸東南沿海帶入」的。中央研究院說得比較保留：它「可能應是由海外移民而來的新文化」。
國立臺灣史前文化博物館・考古學習網 ↗
The dates do not match年代對不起來
How old is the Dapenkeng Culture? The National Museum of Prehistory says from a little over 6,000 to 5,000 years ago. An older Academia Sinica page (2001) gives about 7,000 to 4,700 years ago. The study of the grains dates that one site to 5,000 to 4,300 years ago. Each is a careful estimate from different evidence.
大坌坑文化有多古老？國立臺灣史前文化博物館說大約六千多年前到五千年前。中央研究院一個比較早的網頁（2001 年）說距今大約 7,000 到 4,700 年。研究那些穀粒的論文，把那一處遺址定在距今 5,000 到 4,300 年。每一個都是從不同的證據仔細估出來的。
中央研究院「臺灣的考古」 ↗
Millet today今天的小米
Millet is not only a thing of the past. The National Museum of Prehistory notes that most of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples once had millet as their main food, and each developed its own ceremonies and culture around it. In some communities and schools, millet is gradually being planted again.
小米不只是過去的東西。國立臺灣史前文化博物館指出，臺灣原住民族早期大多數以小米為主食，並各自發展出獨特的儀式與文化。現在有些部落和學校正逐漸重新種起小米。
國立臺灣史前文化博物館電子報第 424 期 (2020) ↗

Taiwan's Story, Lesson 1: How Do We Know What Happened Long Ago?台灣歷史第一課：很久以前的事，我們怎麼知道？ →Taiwan's Story, Lesson 2: Who Lived in Taiwan Thousands of Years Ago?台灣歷史第二課：幾千年前，誰住在台灣？ →

Stories Behind the Evidence · 證據背後的故事

Burned bread, a swamp garden, eel traps, and the first friend 燒焦的麵包、沼澤裡的菜圃、捕鰻魚的水道，和第一個朋友

Four short stories that do not fit the simple tale of “first hunting, then farming.”
四個小故事，都不合「先打獵、後種田」那個簡單的說法。

West Asia · 西亞

Bread came first先有麵包

In a fireplace inside a stone building in the Black Desert of Jordan, archaeologists found burned crumbs. Under the microscope they turned out to be the remains of flat, bread-like loaves, made from wild grain and roots by foragers at least 4,000 years before farming began in the region. People knew how to make bread long before they grew the wheat for it.
在約旦黑沙漠一座石砌建築裡的火塘中，考古學家找到了燒焦的碎屑。放到顯微鏡下一看，原來是像麵包一樣的扁餅——採集狩獵者用野生的穀子和根莖做的，比當地開始有農業早了至少 4,000 年。人們早在種小麥之前，就已經會做麵包了。

New Guinea · 新幾內亞

A garden in a swamp沼澤裡的菜圃

At Kuk, in the highlands of New Guinea, people heaped wet ground into mounds for planting about 7,000 years ago, and about 4,000 years ago began digging ditches to drain the swamp. UNESCO describes the site as wetland worked almost continuously for 7,000 years, and possibly for 10,000. The crops were bananas, taro, and yams, grown from cuttings and not from seed. The evidence suggests that farming developed there on its own, with no grain at all.
在新幾內亞高地的庫克，人們大約 7,000 年前把濕地的土堆成一個個土丘來種東西，大約 4,000 年前開始挖溝把沼澤的水排掉。聯合國教科文組織形容這片濕地幾乎連續被人經營了 7,000 年，甚至可能有 10,000 年。這裡種的是香蕉、芋頭和薯蕷，用的是分株扦插，不是播種。證據顯示，農業在那裡是自己發展出來的——而且完全沒有穀類。

Australia · 澳洲

Another way to manage food另一種經營食物的方法

At Budj Bim in southeastern Australia, the Gunditjmara people built channels, weirs, and dams in old lava flows to trap and keep eels. UNESCO says they created and reshaped this system over at least 6,600 years. They did not plant fields, yet they managed their own supply of food.
在澳洲東南部的布吉必姆，貢第吉馬拉人（Gunditjmara）在古老的熔岩流上修築水道、堰和壩，用來捕捉和蓄養鰻魚。聯合國教科文組織說，他們建造並不斷改造這套系統，至少有 6,600 年。他們沒有種田，卻經營著自己的食物來源。

Before farming · 農業之前

The first domesticated animal第一種被馴化的動物

The first animal people domesticated was not a farm animal. It was the dog, descended from wolves, living alongside hunters well before anyone farmed. When and where it happened is debated: one study argues for Siberia about 23,000 years ago.
人類馴化的第一種動物不是農場上的牲畜。牠是狗，狼的後代，早在任何人開始種田之前就和獵人生活在一起了。這件事發生在什麼時候、什麼地方，還有爭論：有一項研究主張是大約 2.3 萬年前的西伯利亞。

In the Curriculum · 對應課綱

Where this lesson fits 這一課對應的課綱

These entries come from Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education curriculum for social studies (October 2018). The curriculum has no entry on how farming began; the words for Neolithic and for domestication do not appear in it. This lesson is background for the entries below.
下面的條目出自十二年國民基本教育課程綱要社會領域（民國 107 年 10 月）。課綱裡沒有談「農業怎麼開始」的條目，整份文件也沒有出現「新石器」或「馴化」這些詞。這一課是下面這些條目的背景知識。

歷 Ba-Ⅳ-1國中・早期臺灣 · Junior high · early Taiwan
考古發掘與史前文化。
The “Taiwan at That Time” card presents the Dapenkeng Culture and the charred grains from the Tainan Science Park, and shows how the dates given by different institutions differ.「那時候的台灣」介紹大坌坑文化和臺南科學園區出土的碳化穀粒，並且讓學生看到不同機構給的年代並不一樣。
歷 Na-Ⅳ-1國中・古代文化的遺產 · Junior high · the heritage of ancient cultures
非洲與西亞的早期文化。
The early cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia were built on farming. This lesson explains where that farming came from.埃及和兩河流域的早期文化都建立在農業上。這一課說明那些農業是從哪裡來的。
地 Cb-Ⅳ-1國中・地理 · Junior high · geography
農業生產與地理環境。
The geography entry is about farming today. The map in this lesson shows the same link in the distant past: each region domesticated the plants that suited its own land.地理的這一條談的是今天的農業。這一課的地圖讓學生看到，同樣的關聯在很久以前就有了：每個地區馴化的，都是適合當地土地的植物。

Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思

Four things people get wrong 四個常見的誤會

✗ Myth · 迷思Farming was invented once, by one clever group, and everyone else copied them.農業是某一群聰明人發明的，其他人都是跟他們學的。

✓ Fact · 事實Farming began independently in at least eleven regions, with different plants in each. Even inside West Asia, crops were domesticated slowly in several places, not in one “home” village.農業至少在十一個地區各自獨立地開始，每個地區用的植物都不一樣。就算在西亞內部，作物也是在好幾個地方慢慢馴化的，並沒有一個「發源的村子」。

✗ Myth · 迷思The Agricultural Revolution was a sudden event.「農業革命」是突然發生的。

✓ Fact · 事實It was a slow change. For wheat, barley, and rice, it took about 2,000 to 4,000 years before the trait that keeps seeds on the stalk became fixed, and in many places people kept gathering and hunting throughout.它是一個緩慢的變化。以小麥、大麥和稻來說，「種子留在穗上」這個特徵要花大約 2,000 到 4,000 年才固定下來；這段時間，許多地方的人也一直在採集和打獵。

✗ Myth · 迷思Farmers were healthier and better fed than the hunter-gatherers before them.農人比之前的採集狩獵者更健康、吃得更好。

✓ Fact · 事實In most of the places studied, people became shorter when they took up farming, and one survey found health declining in 19 of 21 societies. The number of people grew; their health, in most places studied, did not improve.在大多數研究過的地方，人開始種田以後變矮了；有一項調查發現，21 個社會裡有 19 個的健康狀況變差。人數增加了；但在大多數研究過的地方，健康並沒有變好。

✗ Myth · 迷思Hunter-gatherers were always on the move and always hungry.採集狩獵的人總是在搬家，也總是在挨餓。

✓ Fact · 事實Some foragers lived in long-lasting settlements thousands of years before farming, and they baked bread from wild grain. Their lives were not easy, and they knew hunger too, but they were not simply waiting for farming to rescue them.有些採集狩獵者在農業出現的幾千年前，就住在長期使用的聚落裡，還會用野生的穀子烤麵包。他們的日子並不輕鬆，也嘗過挨餓的滋味，但他們並不是在等農業來拯救自己。

Remember It · 記憶口訣

Four lines to keep 四句帶著走

Many beginnings, not one很多個開端，不是一個

Wheat, rice, millet, maize, bananas, sorghum: different plants, different places, the same idea.
小麥、稻、小米、玉米、香蕉、高粱：不同的植物、不同的地方、同一個點子。

Slow, not sudden很慢，不是突然

Thousands of years, not one harvest. People planted long before the plants looked different.
是幾千年，不是一次收成。在植物看起來不一樣之前很久，人就已經在種了。

A trade, not a gift是交換，不是禮物

More food and more people, in exchange for more risk, more sickness, and a life tied more closely to one place.
更多食物、更多人，換來的是更多風險、更多疾病，和更離不開一個地方的生活。

Ask what went up and what went down問什麼變多、什麼變少

When someone says a change was “progress,” ask who gained, who lost, and how we know.
有人說某個改變是「進步」的時候，問一問：誰得到了好處？誰吃了虧？我們是怎麼知道的？

Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一

The Seeds That Stay 留下來的種子

You need · 準備材料

About 100 dried beans of one color and 10 of another color (for example, 100 red beans and 10 mung beans)一種顏色的乾豆子大約 100 顆，另一種顏色的 10 顆（例如紅豆 100 顆、綠豆 10 顆）
A tray, a cup, and a sheet for recording each round一個托盤、一個杯子、一張記錄每一回合的紙

Steps · 步驟

Spread all the beans on the tray. This is a field of wild grain. The many are plants that drop their seeds; the few are plants that hold on to them.把所有豆子攤在托盤上。這是一片野生的穀子。多的那一種是種子會自己掉落的植株，少的那一種是種子會留在穗上的。
Harvest time. Tilt the tray so that about half of the many slide off: those seeds fell before you came. None of the few fall. Scoop what is left into the cup.收割的時候到了。把托盤斜一下，讓多的那一種大約滑掉一半——那些種子在你來之前就掉了。少的那一種一顆也不會掉。把剩下的都舀進杯子裡。
Next year's field is sown from the cup. Count the two colors, then build a new field of 110 beans with the same proportions.明年的田是用杯子裡的種子播的。數一數兩種顏色各有多少，再照同樣的比例擺出一片 110 顆豆子的新田。
Repeat for six rounds. In English, say what is happening each time: “The share of seeds that stay is going up, gradually.”重複六個回合。每一回合用英文說出發生了什麼事：「The share of seeds that stay is going up, gradually.」

Nobody in this game decides to change the plant. Ask the class: did the first farmers know what they were doing to the wheat? Real crops changed far more slowly than the beans, because people did not always harvest and sow in this way.
這個遊戲裡沒有任何人「決定」要改變植物。問問全班：最早的農人知道自己對小麥做了什麼嗎？真正的作物變得比豆子慢得多，因為人們並不是每一次都這樣收割和播種。

Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二

Would You Make the Trade? 你會做這個交換嗎？