Early Civilization Research Paper

The start of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution led directly to the beginning of civilization. The Neolithic Revolution, which happened 10,000 years ago, was the shift from hunter-gathers to a food-producing culture meaning humans started to farm and domesticate animals. This was the catalyst to help create civilizations. We know now how to distinguish groups of humans from actual civilization if those groups have certain characteristics. Those characteristics are complex institutions, record keeping, advanced cities, specialized workers, and advanced technology. A result of the Neolithic Revolution is that more people were able to thrive since there was a surplus of food. These early civilizations were able to take advantage of the rivers and create irrigation systems to water their crops.

From the early prehistoric society until now, we often heard the word “adaptation”, which means the process of changing something or changing our behavior to deal with new situations. The ways people adjust their natural environment varies according to time, place, and tribe. Foraging is common way of adaptation that people uses for most of human history; however because of the population pressure, some people adopt agriculture to fulfill their need. This essay, will discuss the positive and negative aspects of life in hunting and gathering societies compared to the agricultural societies based on Martin Harris’ article “Murders in Eden” and Jared Diamond’s article “The Worst Mistake in the History of Human Race.”

During the Neolithic Revolution, food was obtained by producing it. They developed the ability to farm and domesticate animals to help them with agricultural chores. Getting food was easier than ever. However, life around 8000 BCE was not always so efficient. According to Document 1, “So long as they relied on foraging, hunting, fishing, and trapping, they were dependent on the natural food supply.” Control was weak and guarantee was slim in the Paleolithic era. People had no

The transition to farming was a turning point in human history since people who remained hunter/gatherers couldn’t produce food as quickly as farmers, and couldn’t produce food that could be stored for a long period of time. Instead of roaming to search different locations for food, farming allowed them to drop seeds in soil that grow next to their

Prior to living in homes build to with stand the test of time, growing food their food source, and raising animals, humans were nomads who followed their food source around and were hunters and gathers. Although it took many years, from 8000B.C. to 3000B.C. for humans to go from hunters and gathers to a more common day life as we now know it, the result is referred to as the Neolithic Revolution the begins of human civilization. As the people of this time began to settle down and they began to both farm the land and domesticate animals for the better of the community. Along with the development of these communities as for the first time began to create social class among the many different roles they played in their community. Because

Humanity adapted to agriculture in the Neolithic Era; man began to plant crops instead wandering around and gathering. Farming made it easier for humans to control their food supply. Another impact to adapting to agriculture, was that it made people decide to settling down permanently, which led to the creation of villages. Furthermore,

Early civilizations and empires of the Middle East and Egypt developed several distinct characteristics. Babylon, Ancient Israelites, and Egypt developed characteristics that included governmental, social, and economic structures as well as distinct religions and innovations. These civilizations and empires existed between 2,575 B.C. - 323 B.C. and most of them had notable rulers.

In the 1930's, V. Gordon Childe proposed that the shift to food production was one of the two major events in human history that improved the condition of human societies. Childe described the origins of agriculture as a 哲eolithic Revolution.But the shift from hunting and gathering to food production was not as advantageous to humanity as Childe believed. Although there were benefits, there were also serious drawbacks, and humans paid a price for the advantages of agriculture.

The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for the majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications. There is much controversy over whether or not the introduction of

The development of agriculture by Native Americans more than five thousand years ago sparked new cultures and innovations. Hunters who previously roamed the land like nomads established permanent villages. Corn, sun, and water became focal points for many societies and played

Early civilization shared similar common features, because all of these societies were under the same pressures. Their whole purpose was survival as it is to this day. Each societies main focus was to become established, stay in one place provide food, shelter and protection for their families. Early civilizations materialize along rivers, because rivers supplied a continuous and dependable supply of water for farming and human consumption. Agriculture today has had an enormous benefit on today’s society, there are now more farmers growing organic fruits and vegetables because the realize the great health benefits organic foods have on human consumption, providing less risk of pesticides and or chemicals on their food.

The Paleolithic Era consists of hunter-gather societies. Living a nomadic lifestyle, the Paleolithic people followed their PREY and used resources provided by the land. AS A RESULT, THEY WERE ALWAYS MOVING SINCE they hunted mammoths, bison, deer, and rodents and gathered roots and berries. The earliest humans used very rudimentary and basic tools for tasks like cracking open bones and preparing animal hide. These tools were later improved on to help provide protection, food, and clothing. By the end of the Paleolithic Era, the hominids made weapons for hunting and food preparation, such as spears and the bow and arrow, out of bone and were creating more advanced stone and wood structures. There is also evidence of fishing. The development of tools helped hominids adapt to different

Modern humans today have the option to go to their local grocery stores for food and water. However, that is not case with early humans, to survive they had to hunt, or gather their food. Harsh climate changes could cause a scarce food supply. Without any food to hunt or find, the small groups were forced to move. Early humans would eventually overcome some of these obstacles, by learning how to make simple tools. One of the biggest discoveries was how to start a fire (Wilkinson, 16). Harsh climates soon became bearable with the aid of fire. Approximately 120,000 years

Human societies settled and developed agriculture in the Agricultural Revolution. Which was the start of domestication which created a mutual benefit and dependence for humans, animals, and plants. Domesticated plants and animals could no longer survive in the wild due to human action and protection to reproduce successfully. Likewise, humans now relied on domesticated plants and animals. Humans also increased the cultivation of various plants, as well as the breeding of particular animals. Due to the increase of food, the population also increased. Causing an extensive growth of exploitation of the environment; which increased human domination and settlement throughout the Earth. Not only did the humans use domestication to settle and develop

The most significant development during the Neolithic Era was the development of agriculture. This occurred approximately 10,000 years ago in human history. Humans began to domesticate animals and engage in selective breeding. With the end of the Ice Age, new plants became available and were cultivated to provide a more stable food source than hunting and gathering. Humans began to domesticate plants as well. "People had long observed wild plants as they gathered