What Is The Neolithic Revolution

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 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

People living in sedentary villages in the Neolithic experienced worsened health and mortality. Sedentary life brought with it sanitation problems like garbage and human waste accumulate, which contributed to disease. The close association between humans and animals was also key to the transmission of many infectious diseases. Higher mortality rates were offset by increased fertility. (Haviland et al 2011: 249)

Hunter- gatherers was able to consume many variety of foods, such as animals meat, berries, nuts, roots etc which are high in proteins and fiber. Farmers can only consume the crops they grew, which is limited. Additionally, the main commonly crops are rice, corn, and wheat, which is high in carbs and lacked fiber, vitamins, and proteins. As a result, farmers’ diet consists of carbs and fats, but no vitamins or proteins. The second risk is limited crop production. Farmers are easily opened to risk of starvation if their crops fail to grow. The final risk to agriculture is epidemic diseases. Agricultural encouraged farmers to get together in crowded societies in order to trade their crops, which can easily lead to spread of contagious diseases and

What we eat and how we eat are imPortant both nutritionally and culturally. This selection suggests that how we get what we eat-through gathering and hunting versus agriculture, for example-has draThis seemspretty obvious.We all matic consequences. imagine what a struggle it must have been before the We developmentof agricu-lture. think of our ancestors spending their days searching for roots and berries to eat,or out at the crack of dawn, hunting wi.ld animals. isn't In fact, this was not quite the case.Nevertheless, it really better simply to go to the refrigerator, open the door, and reach for a container of milk to pour into a bowl of flaked grain for your regular

First, I would like to discuss the strategy of hunting and gathering, the sole strategy until twelve thousand years ago. Hunting and gathering is a form of subsistence dependent upon wild plants and animals for the majority of the calories of the diet. While its name underscores the importance of hunting in this lifestyle, this is misleading as the majority of caloric needs in societies practicing this strategy are met by gathering wild edible plants and berries.

The Neolithic revolution was a period of time that occurred during 10,000 - 9,000 B.C.E. Humans made the transition from hunting and gathering and being nomadic to being sedentary. During the neolithic revolution humans also developed social classes where the people who watched others work were at the top and the people who worked at the bottom. People have different opinions on the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture during the neolithic revolution. Thinking about all of the things humans received from the neolithic revolution, it was not worth it. Human society would have been better off without the disease, the social classes, and starvation. Therefore, while the neolithic revolution brought many beneficial things to human society such as agriculture, and permanent housing, it brought more harm than good like modern day diseases and social classes.

One of the greatest revolutions in the history of homo sapiens was the adoption of agriculture, which changed the face of communities at every level of class. Though this change was built upon new ideas and allowed us to provide more food for more people, was it in fact a positive change at the time? Today in 2017, we can all look around and see where the agricultural revolution has gotten us in the long run, but authors such as Yuval Noah Harari (2011) claim that during the infancy of the agricultural revolution, life for the average citizen was often a worse one than that of the common forager. A change in food production created many other changes, such as permanent human settlement, biologically unconventional labor, and a larger population density. This paper explores the pros and cons of the agricultural society and the hunter-gatherer society

According to Document 1, the Neolithic Revolution was good for the society because humans learned new skills and ways to live. Document 1 states, “The ability to acquire food on a regular basis gave humans greater control over their environment and enabled them to give up their nomadic ways of life and live in settled communities.” This shows that the humans learned many new things. In addition, based on Document 2, the context mentions, “Domestication means taming animals for human use. This was one of the most important innovations of the Neolithic Revolution.” This shows that the humans had good use of the animals. Also, the chart in Document 2 shows how common animals such as cows, goats, pigs, and sheep were used as advantages depending on their location, and for meat, milk, wool, and hide. As a result, Document 1 and Document 2 both support that the innovations of the Neolithic Revolution were good for

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 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

Agriculture is not just a way of growing food; it involves in whole spectrum of cultural changes and adaptations by early human communities. The demands and effects of practicing agriculture as a means of survival created a new kind of community life, with new opportunities and new problems for humanity.

In “Neolithic” lecture and presentation, the Neolithic advances are described in detail. The Neolithic period is crucial to later history, and created a lasting impact, because of the developments made at this time. During the Neolithic period, food production was changed; agriculture and livestock-raising was invented, this secured a stable food supply. These inventions created the foundation of the food industry as we know it today. Having a steady supply of food then set into motion the other developments of the era. A stockpile of food meant that communities could save the food for later, creating a food surplus, and this overabundance of food allowed for an increase in population.

It’s not too often we forget how our food is being produced or how large populations are able to maintain settlements in the most extreme habitats. Within the biosphere, many organisms adapt and survive in the environment they are born into or have migrated to. Human beings have a way of using different strategies and technology to help them live in their environment. Food gathering is a major factor of survival; one has to have the proper nutrients in order to be healthy within their settlement. Throughout the ages, populations have modified their previous strategies such as horticultural sciences to fit the appropriate need of food collection. Despite the benefits of these strategies of survival and adaptation, there comes a consequence of damaging the surrounding environment. At what cost are humans taking to survive on this planet that they are unintentionally destroying? In this paper, the topics of the Neolithic Revolution, these strategies of food gathering, and the consequences of the strategies will be discussed. Along with the amazing ways humans are able to adapt to the extreme conditions environments offer; the different settlements of various cultures that adapted to these conditions. These are the topics that I personally took interest in the most while studying Cultural Anthropology.