Agriculture began in the eastern Mediterranean Levantine Corridor about 11000years ago toward the end of the Younger Dryas when aridity had diminishedwild food resources. During the subsequent Climatic Optimum, agriculturalvillages spread rapidly but subsequent climatic changes on centennial tomillennial scales resulted in striking oscillations in settlement, especiallyin marginal areas. Natural climate change thus alternately enhanced anddiminished the agricultural potential of the land. Growing populations andmore intensive land us, both for agriculture and livestock, have led tochanges in the structure of vegetation, hydrology, and land quality. Over themillennia, political and economic interventions, warfare and incursions bynomadic herding tribes all impacted sustainability of agriculture and theability of the land to supports its populations. In much of the region today,agricultural land use is not sustainable given existing technology andnational priorities. The Near Eastern case is instructive because of thequality of information, the length of the record, and the pace of modernchange.
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