Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe and developed rapidly during the bronze age, a period of approximately 1, 700 years between the neolithic and iron ages. Horticultural information relating to the garden-like cultivation illustrated here was obtained from the archeological investigations of lacustrine (lakeside) bronze age settlements in Switzerland. A gardener is tilling the ground with a pick-axe, others are gathering fruit from trees which have been planted and cultivated. The presence of the dog, sheep, goat, pigs and cattle indicate the domestication of these animals.