360 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
than that. It was common in five continents. With amore stable and 
dependable food supply, human beings could settle down in a village 
for most of the year, or even, in rare instances, for a period of years. 
Soil exhaustion usually brought declining yields and a new patch was 
brought under cultivation. This process was repeated until finally the 
entire village had to move to fresh land. 
Patch farming was a great improvement over the collecting economy. 
It permitted a larger village group and lessened the need to move from 
place to place. Patch farming gave new leisure, more time for mind 
SEATS OF EARLY CIVILIZATION. : 
ITS SPREAD. 
r) 00 toe8 ’ 
300 wrLes 
Ficure 2.—This map makes it easier to consider the three valley cultures as one 
civilization. Why not call it the Irrigated Valley Civilization? Arrows show 
the trails of culture elements to China, Greece, and the land of the Hittites. 
(Base map copyright by Rand McNally & Company, Chicago. ) 
to play upon mind. Nevertheless, the problem of soil fertility usually 
kept the settlement from becoming a large one. It also prevented the 
group from remaining at the same place for any great length of time. 
These conditions existed on most of the soil areas of the world. 
Patch farming was followed by the domestication of animals, espe- 
cially in Egypt, the Near East, and Central Eurasia. The tough 
shoulders of the ox and donkey began to drag man’s burdens for him 
some 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. The sheep and goat gave skin 
and flesh by herding instead of hunting. These animals also gave milk, 
as did the cow. The tamed offspring of the wild boar gave roast pork, 
