Mesolithic and Neolithic Farming

As we get closer to 4,000 BC, the Swift-Arbont folks started to experiment with growing cereal grains in addition to their usual stuff. They used spades to cultivate fields right at the edges of the creek banks where they built their settlements. The overall pattern is pretty clear. There was a slow, halting, piecemeal adoption of some pieces of the farming package by a group of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who were in relatively close contact with farmers for a long time.