Neolithic: The Tools Used In Farming

     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?

All throughout history, humans have come up with innovations that have brought both positive and negative changes to the way people live. This all started around 10,000 BCE, when people developed agriculture. The first nomads started off by moving from place to place, hunting and gathering food… but as people developed agriculture, they saved a lot more time. After agriculture developed, the humans learned many things such as farming and taming wild animals for their own use. This time in history was called the Neolithic Revolution… which lasted about 6,000 years, until 4,000 BCE. The big change in the way people got their food and how they lived, resulted to positive and negative changes of human innovations of the Neolithic Revolution. So,

The earliest humans known to man lived in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago. These people had specific methods for completing daily tasks. Yet this all changed once the paleolithic era was over.The neolithic era also known as the “The New Stone Age” was a huge and very impactful turning point in the history and progression of mankind. Till this day the skills discovered remain relevant in our everyday lives. Humans went through a major change in tactics food wise. Yet historians are still baffled on whether or not this was a positive change.

Political, economic, and social conditions have often led to turning points that have changed the course of history for nations and people. The Paleolithic Era and Neolithic Revolution was a turning point that changed the orbit of history for mankind. In Documents 1, 2, and 4, they explain life before the Neolithic Revolution and what changed during the period and provide an analysis of results of the revolution. They introduce food supply and settlement, and civilization and trade.

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?

Since agricultural production began in the neolithic revolution, there have been many advancements to improve the farming industry. However, the farming industry has seen a steady decline in its contribution to the US economy as it is a very time consuming and labor intensive endeavor. Since the cultivation of produce is essential to supporting the world’s populace, researchers, scientists, and engineers have been developing new farming strategies and technologies to revitalize the farming industry. Implementing new ideas will be important for the future success of production. The formation of agriculture began with these technological advancements almost 12,500 years ago.

The Neolithic Revolution also known as the Agricultural Transformation was “the most momentous turn in the progress of humankind” (Hillel, 1991). This transformation began with having the capacity to produce crops and maintain livestock. This allowed for people to gain a massive source of food, which allowed for permanent settlement. As well as the growth of population and the demand of greater advances. Hunters/gathers/wanderers had no need for their skills anymore. Which is why they made the transition to become settler and live a settled life. With no need to hunt for good and no need to gather a food supply the human could provide for family in a more progressive manner. Transition of this became possible due to the creation of crop stability

According to the article, Jared Diamond refutes the view that the human race is better placed because communities embraced agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Accordingly, in ‘The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race’, Diamond explains his point of view by showing that archaeological findings have proven that civilization was worsened after the Neolithic Revolution as it gave rise to inequality and people became less healthy. By using the account of Bushmen and the Hadza nomads from Tanzania, Diamond argues that the lives of primitive people improved with the adoption of farming instead of gathering, but goes ahead to challenge this assumption.

Amy, I agree with you that the division of labor between men and women in the Neolithic is based on the differences of their body types, not on cultural differences as it is based today. I also liked how you mentioned that women were the caretakers of the children and women tend to be better multitaskers then men, probably due to practice not an innate ability. Therefore, they would be better suited to watch the children while grinding grain then the men. In addition, they would have to breast feed the children and that is something that only women could do, although in today times men are trying to lactate, so even that is changing in our society.

Characteristics of the Paleolithic Age – Some characteristics of the Paleolithic Age include hunting and gathering methods and living in small groups. Also using stone tools and living a nomadic lifestyle. There were four different type of stone tools used including pebbles, hand axes, flakes and pebbles. They would not plant any vegetables or grains but hunted for berries and roots in the wild. They would also fish in streams like we still do today.

Hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and agricultural societies in the Neolithic/Paleolithic eras have definitely changed overtime and adapted and affected their environment. During the Bantu migrations, they encountered new, established societies that some were agricultural and others were hunter-gatherers. “ Farmers largely replaced foragers as the dominant people on the planet.”(283) This quote means that the hunter-gatherer practice decreased as the second-wave civilizations developed. In the Paleolithic era, hunting and gathering was the main way to get and maintain food. However, as societies grew overtime, the people adapted a new way of getting food which resulted in the hunting and gathering to decrease. Pastoralists on the other hand, they invaded China as well as other Nomads and ruled a few states in the Han Dynasty. “ These new conditions resulted in some loosening of the strict patriarchy of Han dynasty China… the cultural influence of nomadic peoples, whose women were far less restricted than those of China, was noticed… by more Confucian-minded male observers.”(236) The pastoral peoples that invaded China noticed the way women were treated, that is when they first adapted to the civilizations. Then, this affected their environment because they were very used to women who had less restrictions and when they came to China, the women were inferior and that is why it resulted in the patriarchy to loosen up a bit. With agriculture, In the Bantu speaking areas agriculture was preferred more than hunting and gathering. “ Their agriculture also was enriched by acquiring a variety of food crops from Southeast Asia… Bantu farmers then spread this agricultural package… throughout the cast area of eastern and southern Africa.”(284) The agriculture in Bantu locations was very popular as it was the basis of economy. The Bantu speaking people adapted to this rapidly because it was favored more than hunting and gathering. It affected their environment because their agriculture improved which resulted in different varieties of food. Overall, Hunter-gatherers, pastoralists and agricultural societies affected and adapted their environments over time.

The main goal of the paper (Bocquet-appel, 2002) is to detect the change in the number of humans from Mesolithic to Neolithic transition. The paper uses a combination of both theoretical and cultural historical evidence to infer the transition during Neolithic revolution. Previously, such transition in demography is mainly inferred from genetic data, using the demic-expansion model. Bocquet-appel (2002) argued that the genetic model embedded in the demic model did not show the change representing the transition and suffered from ambiguous interpretation, and the new method of paleoanthropological data from cemeteries can promise more informative and reliable signals. The theoretical assumption behind Bocquet-appel (2002) is that the proportion

The earliest documented evidence of real estate dates back to the cave paintings of the nomads during the Paleolithic Revolution. These paintings littered the ceilings and walls of caves and exhibited occupancy of one point in time. The Neolithic revolution commences “approximately 12,000 years ago” with the “transition from hunter-gatherer societies to predominately agriculture and settlement lifestyles.” The nomads abandoned their lifestyle of traveling alongside the regional animal supplies and instead domesticated livestock, planted crops, and began building the first evidence of housing structures. This introduced “sedentism, or the practice of living permanently in one place” and marked the transition toward an agrarian society.

Humans are born with the dominance over all other living species. A characteristic that follows this authority is that we are not obligated to work, or strive for it because it is something we are just given. We are further advanced, and have the capability of constructing essential technologies that we possibly couldn’t live without, such as phones, TV’s, microwaves, and cars. Meanwhile, there are some people who are not accustomed to these luxuries. There are societies in existence who still rely on hunting and gathering to obtain their food. Also, because they don’t have a grasp on these technologies, they are not exposed to all of the corrupt things that we are. In comparison to those civilizations, we could be viewed as an advanced and privileged society. Therefore, there are a great deal of things we can learn from those who are still living off their land, and living in old ways. These qualities can be shown through their traditions, and balanced way of living.

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