Paleolithic Vs Neolithic Research Paper

The societies in the Paleolithic era differed from one another because each society had a different governments, diets, social organizations, what tools they used, and how they adapted to their environment. Some societies decided to move into a permanent settlement or village while others decided to keep their way of hunting and gathering. The societies that decided to move into a settlement started to become larger and complex. This allowed early humans to be able to accumulate more goods which caused more inequality in these societies.

The Neolithic Revolution made food easily accessible. Document 3 states, “But it means, rather, a state of culture in which food is planted and bred, not hunted and gathered — in which food is domesticated, not wild.” This shows that the Neolithic Revolution was a time in which people moved from

The Stone Age was divided into two eras, The Paleolithic and the Neolithic. During the Paleolithic Era, humans mostly foraged for food, used crude tools, and depended heavily on the environment around them. By the time the Neolithic Era began, people were developing more complex technology, social organization, using fire, and living sedentary lifestyles because of the discovery of agriculture. During the Paleolithic era, hominids used the natural materials in the environment around them (mostly wood, bone, and animal skin) to create simple tools and shelter, which started out mainly in caves and canyons. With the discovery of fire about one million years ago, humans were able to make simple structures like tents and huts to live in. Fire

The people of the Paleolithic Age were mostly nomads. To survive they had to travel everywhere, and follow the

The Neolithic Era lasted from about 9,000-3,000 BCE. We are not exactly sure of when it started but this is the best estimate. The Neolithic Era was a period of human history when the start of agriculture arose and came before the first civilizations. The Neolithic Revolution took place in many different regions of the world. They where not that advanced so they made tools out of wood, stone and bone.

The first scholars that existed named the whole period of human devolvement the “Stone Age.” The stone age is divided into three periods which are Paleolithic which means the old Greek age, Mesolithic and Neolithic which is the new Greek age. The Paleolithic and Neolithic stone ages have many great differences and has changed greatly between the two periods.

Slowly, permanent villages rose up all over the world and it became possible for families to bear more children making population surged. Within these new villages it became doable for the civilians to specialize in the sort of work they could do best. In permanent settlements economies based on trade were cultivated, languages were formed, and so did cultures. (Document #8)

As discussed in class by Dr. Birch, the term Neolithic was coined to refer to new techniques of grinding and polishing stone tools. The significance of the Neolithic, however, is related to the creation of an entirely new economy, not just the difference in artifacts. During the Neolithic Revolution many groups became dependent on domesticated foods, meaning at least 50 percent of their diet consisted of domesticated foods (Kottack 2011:234). These Neolithic economies, whose primary diet consisted of agriculture, were associated with substantial changes in daily life. Until recently, scientists believed that these changes were for the improvement of human life. Most anthropologists and archaeologists agreed that hunter-gatherer societies were far more labor-intensive, disease-filled, and generally a had lower quality of life. This has all changed with new studies and characterizations in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. Among these studies and characterizations of hunter-gatherers are those collected in Man the Hunter which suggests “that Paleolithic populations had abundant resources and could be considered the earliest affluent society” (Armelagos et al 1991:13). These new findings have causes anthropologists to wonder if populations during the Neolithic really did increase and if these populations were healthier than those of the Paleolithic. Was the Neolithic Revolution a good thing for the human species?

The Hunters and Gatherers had a little impact on the environment while the Neolithic villagers caused multiple environment degradation. The Hunters and Gatherers were seasonally mobile and only hunted animals and gathered plants since their needs or wants were so little. Also the Hunters and Gatherers had a rich ceremonial life and because of that, they only work for a few hours. On the other hand, the Neolithic villagers settled down and lived in permanent villages. While hunters and gatherers have a small impact on the environment because they're semi-nomadic, the Neolithic villagers invented plows, they used lands for farming, and used metals to create tools and weapons have caused multiple environment degradation such as over farmed land,

The Paleolithic Age was the age of stone. It occurred 2.6 billion years ago. During this age humans lived in small groups of about ten to twelve members plus children (Ltd, 2016). During this age humans were also hunters and gatherers. Women searched for nuts, berries, and other plants while the men did all the hunting. Only small proportions of food were found due to the environment and lifestyle of the early peoples. There were often scarce amounts of food to feed their small families. The hunters and gatherers were considered nomads because they constantly moved from place to place in search of food. The animals that the nomads would hunt for would also move location in search of

     The Neolithic Period extended from 10,000 B.C to 3,000 BC. It is also called the New Stone Age, and many new advances and changes took place in this time. Unlike the nomadic life of the Old Stone Age, the New Stone Age was the dawning of settled life. People lived more towards lakes and rivers instead of caves, and tree trunks. This led to the change of the jobs of the society.

In Afro-Eurasian history, many conflicts between nomadic people and settled people existed, as the people of the pastoral societies, who mostly depended on domesticated animals rather than farming crops, became attracted to farming societies. The farming societies’ fertile soil, many manufactured products, and wide variety of growing crops made the people of pastoral societies become aware of what the farming societies’ technology and the government were like. However, not every encounter between the farmers and the herders ended up in a conflict. These two groups also exchanged ideas, technologies, and goods, which helped the societies to become more technologically or culturally developed. This shows that the Neolithic society was more sophisticated than the Paleolithic societies, which mostly were about hunting and gathering as a way of

The Paleolithic age and all the aspects of its culture were full of amazing inventions and discoveries. The people of the Stone Age created a whole new way of living. The Paleolithic period was believed to first begin in Africa as we started to evolve“ (McDougal, World History: Patterns of Interaction, 2004). The Paleolithic age lasted from about 2.5 million to 8000 B.C” The hunter-gather lifestyle was a big part of the Paleolithic culture. In this culture, there was an equal division of labor between the men and women. To find food prehistoric people would use the hunter-gather method to find food in their natural settings, this lifestyle was also called the nomadic lifestyle. The men would hunt animals and the women would gather food such as berries and other plants. The nomads equally shared the responsibilities of their families including the care their young. Small family groups were common in the Paleolithic age do to the travel and constant search for food. There was no set government in the Paleolithic period, the Neolithic period, however, was strikingly different than the old stone age.

Due to the domestication of animals along with plants these nomadic people created steady food source no longer requiring them to follow their food but raise it themselves (Author 2010). The wheel was not created until the Bronze age, therefore animals were not used for farming, put they provide other resources to humans (Authors 2007). Much like today they used the wool from sheep for clothing, other animals such as goats where used for meat and even milk. During the Neolithic Revolution, the first wolves were domesticated as pups to help with herding once grown (Authors 20071). Other animals they domesticated are pigs and cattle. Because of their ever-growing knowledge of farming, they also would use the manure of the animals as fertilizer in the fields to richen the soil for the crops (Authors 2007).

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