Hunter-Gatherers And Agricultural Societies In The Neolithic-Paleolithic Eras

The transition from the traditional hunter gatherer societies, in to an agriculture based living system, has allowed humans to increase their population size, putting strains on the Earth’s environment. Agriculture has also brought along with it a decrease in women’s roles in the community, while also bringing about a class system where the wealthy rule, and were the weak and poor obey. As humans began to domesticate more plants and animals, they settled in permanent areas. The Change from hunter gatherer benefited few, but had dire consequences for the earth and groups with in it. One such consequence was the population increase, which has lead to major issues throughout history, and one that has ties to current global issues.

The societies of Paleolithic man were far different then that of the Neolithic man. The Old Stone Age societies had no time for other actives then what was necessary to survive. They did not invent many new things, and were constantly moving and changing their environment. Societies in he New Stone Age were a settled people, who constantly improved their lifestyle's to make it easier to live by. Job's of the women no longer consisted of gathering, it consisted of growing the crops, since agriculture was a new provider of food.

The social lives of the Paleolithic foragers greatly differ from that of the Neolithic farmers. This is mostly because of their way of acquiring food. The foragers had plenty of time after they hunted and gathered there food because that was all they had to do while the farmers constantly had to maintain their fields. The foragers spent their free time making art such as cave painting and constructing tools. With what little time the farmers had they used it to build structures, tools and containers for the next harvest. One thing they both had in common was the specific jobs that they assigned to men and women based on each gender’s abilities. In the Paleolithic time the men were the hunters, since they were more muscular,

     There were changes that occurred from the Paleolithic Period to the Neolithic. Small changes were made in this time, from the culture, to bigger changes like economics, and agriculture. How did man deal with these changes and what kind of impact did it have on society?

Early agricultural societies differed from those of the Paleolithic era in many different ways. They were two similar and different things. The Paleolithic era was more towards not staying in one specific area. They wanted to follow where their food went. In the agricultural societies, many people leaned towards being a lot less nomadic. They stayed in one spot and decided to farm for food.

One main reason is that the Paleolithic men were much healthier than the Neolithic men in the ways that, Paleolithic men were foragers and they moved their food which led them to not staying in one spot permanently. This means that sickness and diseases were not easily passed on. Unlike the Neolithic men who did have permanent settlements and had illness passed around quite easily. Also it says in the passage Old Stone Age vs. New Stone Age that "The adoption of grains in the Neolithic era coincided with a shortening of stature, thinner bones and crooked, cavity - ridden teeth." Since Paleolithic Era did not domesticated grains they only ate wild grains they were taller,

The Neolithic Revolution started in Mesopotamia, which is located in the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates in 12,000 to 8,000 B.C.E. due to the creation of agriculture leading certain societies to urban settlements and civilizations.

Hunter gatherer and agriculturalist societies have many similarities and differences. Population of hunter and gatherer groups have decreased. Neither one of them didn't have much technology at the beginning. They started off using sticks and stones. Hunter gatherers were pretty healthy. Agriculturalist were not as healthy as hunter gatherers. They had some health problems.

Technology has changed everything greatly since the Paleolithic age which include transportation, medicine, and communication. The changing of climate, becoming warmer has brought the ice age to an end. The world started to form going through many changes, the temperature changing, ocean levels rising which was starting to form islands. Living has improved greatly, people having boats for fishing and hunting, bow and arrow which was easier to kill for food. The change of environment has made a big impact on the way people live. People became farmers, living in villages and making enough food to survive for themselves. The farmers learned how to cultivate their plants and handle their animals much better. There forms of living was much different to they could accommodate up to 45-50 people which provided large amounts of storage for food. Walls were made of mud or clay and ceilings were made with plant such as straw or reed. The beds and seating was made from stone. Their houses were located near rivers, plateaus, or in swamps. Their art has improved instead of cave paintings and cave work now they use clay, ceramics and pottery.

The Neolithic revolution is a revolution because it profoundly affected the way human beings lived. During the Neolithic revolution people settled down, division of labor began, social inequality began, gender inequality began, the importance of surplus rose, and religious changes began. These were all the changes that happened during the Neolithic revolution. To this day some of these changes are still present.

The Neolithic Revolution (or The Agricultural Revolution) was a shift from food gathering to food producing; a significant change in people's lives. This allowed them to settle and farm instead of their former way of life, which consisted of frequently moving with the seasons and following game; being hunter-gatherers. The Neolithic Revolution was a massive step towards modern-day civilization and allowed our ancestors to create settlements with sustainable resources. The Neolithic Revolution occurred during the New Stone Age, also known as the Neolithic Age.

In many ways a hunting and gathering economy shaped the aspects of Paleolithic societies , for instance because these societies depended on hunting and gathering they became very egalitarian, which meant that those societies gave equal opportunities and believed in an equal set of principles. Along with those principals, Paleolithic societies had no formal government or ruler which made them freer of tyranny and oppression. However, there were the age old gender roles that still applied to everyday life. Men were to go and hunt and live up to the criteria of masculine identity while women would gather plants, but meat and wild game only counted for 30% of the diet and women would provide the other 70%, making them the primary source of food.

There were many major changes and contributions that shaped the humanities between the Paleolithic to Neolithic period. One major discovery was the wall paintings found in the Paleolithic period. These paintings often portrayed animals galloping in herds being hunted. What is important about these paintings is they are one of the first records of history. The humans that took the time to paint these pictures are significant because they gave a better understanding of their world. Another contribution to the humanities was the religion and rituals that took place during the Paleolithic period. The rituals and religion were revolved around the need for nature. For example the textbook describes one ritual as “…the theory that hunting rituals were performed in caves to gain control over the animals depicted there is strongly supported not only by the paintings of spears on the animals, but also by actual spearheads found driven into some of the painted animals…” (Benton, DiYanni 5) The people wanted to survive and survival to them meant abundant amounts of animals and vegetation. By looking to a higher power, they believed they were increasing their chances to live. Furthermore, one last major change to the humanities is architecture. Architecture is only found as far back as the Neolithic period. The piece most talked about is known as the

The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution?the transition from hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement (settlement is currently being questioned). Archaeological data indicate that various forms of domestication of plants and animals arose independently in at least 7-8 separate locales worldwide, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East around 10,000 BC (BCE) or

How did early civilizations effectively develop and utilize early plants and vegetables to move from hunter-gatherers to agriculturists, and what were the impacts socially, politically, and technically? “Agriculture did not emerge from an untapped resource base or randomly distributed family or tribal units of Homo sapiens sapiens. It emerged as the result of efforts by highly organized ecologically canny communities composed of skilled hunter-gatherers.” In the beginning of what is considered burgeoning civilization, humanities ancestors were what were called hunter-gatherers. They moved from place to place, following the source of their food in order to survive the brutal aspects of early life. If they could not find food, or not find it in sufficient amount, they would starve and eventually die off. Thus, the only decision facing them was to relocate their tribes in order to better take advantage of the available game. As the second portion of their name implied, they were also considered gatherers, in which they subsisted on whatever grains and green vegetables or fruits they could find to eat. It was this kind of lifestyle which led to a smaller, tribal mindset in which you ate what you could, when you could. Over time this began to change, with the establishment of agricultural practices which allowed for availability of much needed crops and the decision of tribes to establish permanent communities, as well as the increase in both number of members and life terms.