Food & agriculture · c. 8,500 BCE
Livestock domestication
Sheep and goats, then pigs, became herds that supplied meat, milk, wool and hides on demand.
Sheep and goats were domesticated in the Zagros and Taurus foothills around 8500 BCE, with pigs following in Anatolia. Managed herds turned animals into stored wealth and set the stage for dairy, traction and wool textiles.
What it built on 2
What it led to 11
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
World population over a million years Latest: 6.27k million people (2000) Source: DeLong 1998, table 'Total World Population' (Kremer series); Kremer 1993, Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990, QJE 108(3)
World GDP over a million years Latest: 41k billion 1990 international $ (2000) Source: DeLong 1998, Estimating World GDP, One Million B.C. - Present; Wikipedia: Gross world product (DeLong table, cross-check)