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We see domestication and agriculture occurring so early in the Near East because of two main reasons. One is the geography, where the Near East contains many wild progenitors of domesticates. <ref>See: Zeder, M. A. 2008. “Domestication and Early Agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, Diffusion, and Impact.” ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105'' (33): 11597–604. dos:10.1073/pnas.0801317105.</ref>The region along the Zagros and Taurus mountains , valleys, and lowlands is home to wild varieties of wheat, lentils, oats, barley, sheep, dogs, goats, pigs, and cows. On the other hand, many other regions do not contain such a rich variety of plants and animals that are genetically susceptible to domestication.
In addition, during the period known as the Younger Dryas (12,900 to c. 11,700 BP), which was a cold and dry period in the Near East and was an ice age in Europe and North America, human societies were mostly living in small bands.<ref>For a discussion on the Younger Dryas and its role on domestication see: Haldorsen, Sylvi, Hasan Akan, Bahattin Çelik, and Manfred Heun. 2011. “The Climate of the Younger Dryas as a Boundary for Einkorn Domestication.” ''Vegetation History and Archaeobotany'', April. dos:10.1007/s00334-011-0291-5.</ref> At this stage, some exploitation of wild varieties of plants and animals likely occurred, with perhaps animals such as dogs, sheep, and goats potentially already domesticated. In the subsequent period, with the melting of the continental glaciers, a much different environment developed. The Near East became warmer and wetter and this led to more rainfall in many areas of the Near East. This change encouraged more exploitation of plants and animals; however, it seems domestication was not an even process.<ref>For a discussion on the rate of domestication, see: Heather, Pringle. 1998. “The Slow Birth of Agriculture.” ''Science'' 282(5393):1446.</ref> Not every village or settlement necessarily exploited plants and animals and began to domesticate them. Rather, some villages appear to have utilized agriculture for at least some of their food, while overall many villages or nomadic bands were still heavily dependent on hunting and gathering.<ref>For a discussion on complex evidence for domestication and its adoption see: Simmons, Alan H. 2010. ''The Neolithic Revolution in the Near East: Transforming the Human Landscape''. 1. paperback print. Tucson, Ariz: Univ. of Arizona Press.</ref> Favorable climate conditions did allow agriculture to expand to more distant regions, where now we begin to see the spread of crop plants, probably through human action and spreading, to new areas across the Near East. The spread of domesticated crops and animals eventually makes its way to Europe.
==Social Factors==
