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What Is The Neolithic Revolution

Satisfactory Essays

Daniel Houze
Professor Kobari
Anthropology 101
23 November 2015

There Is No Light Without Darkness: The Neolithic Revolution
The human necessity of nourishment to aid life has been the cornerstone of human advancement since it’s inception. Common misconceptions perceive the earliest hominoids as hunters and farmers, while in reality they were scavengers. The Neolithic Revolution, which occurred around 10000 B.C., was a decisive point in the progression of man. The ability to domesticate plants and animals forever changed the previous nomadic lifestyle into a agrarian way of life. The following is an examination into the Neolithic Revolution and the ramifications resulting from the new way of life.
The agricultural lifestyle change granted the ability to establish a permanent location and allowed for an unprecedented increase in available food. Instead of the daily excursion to acquire food, the ability to domesticate animals and cultivate one’s own food presented a far more dependable diet. The introduction to this new style of living was not without its obstacles, though. One of the biggest setbacks with the domestication …show more content…

Because the previous nomadic lifestyle was inevitably unpredictable, that allowed for an inherently diverse diet. The Neolithic reliance on plants and lack of diversity in the diet led to an “over-reliance on a few super-crops that are deficient in certain nutrients” (Cordain, 1999). Due to a lack of iron and protein in the diet, populations experienced smaller statures, and a significantly higher frequency of anemic conditions (Papathanasiou, 2005). Despite the fundamental issues with nomadic lifestyle, research shows their diet was in fact, healthier than that of their initial Neolithic counterparts. Because the hunting and gathering lifestyle allowed for more dietary diversity, in a region where the agrarian way of life had been

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