Early nomadic hunter-gatherers lived off that land and had a minimal effect on the environment around them. Around 10,000 years ago people started to settle down and developed agriculture possibly in response to a warming climate. The origin of agriculture is often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution. Keep in mind that different societies domesticated plants and animals, and consequently agriculture, independently i.e. Mesopotamia, Nile River Valley, Ancient China. These farmers had to overcome obstacles such as dry land with technologies like large scale irrigation. These large agricultural byproducts, irrigation, had a large impact on the environment. Pastoralism, the branch of agriculture concerned with raising livestock, developed in Afro-Eurasian grassland, negatively affecting the environment when pastures were overgrazed.
The switch to agriculture created a much more reliable and abundant food source which allowed populations to soar. This lead to diversification of labor which meant that food requirements could be on the backs of certain people and new classes like artisans or warriors could develop. These people developed technologies like pottery, metallurgy or plows.
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