Neolithic Revolution Essay

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The Neolithic Revolution was the transition from hunting animals to farming. This alteration had many benefits and consequences according to The Worst Mistake in The History of the Human Race by Jared Diamond. One of these benefits were that, you would be able to make a lot of crops without having to do as much work, compared to a hunter gatherer who, would go to the wild to find their food. The consequences however, were the spread of diseases, poor health and sexual inequalities. While some would agree the Neolithic Revolution had many benefits, others disagree that the Neolithic Revolution had a plethora of negative effects on many and may be deemed as the worst mistake in the history of the human race. The Neolithic Revolution was considered …show more content…

This is interesting that the Paleolithic community had a longer life expectancy than Neolithic community, signaling that because of the diseases that aroused from farming, it can be concluded that farming had little nutritional value compared to the food that hunter-gatherers found. This is why the Neolithic Revolution was the worst mistake in history. Another reason why the Neolithic Revolution was the worst mistake in history is because of inequalities. It states, “farming women tended to have more frequent pregnancies than their hunter-gatherer counterparts -- with consequent drains on their health. Among the Chilean mummies for example, more women than men had bone lesions from infectious disease.” Women in the Neolithic Revolution had more pregnancies than women in the Paleolithic Revolution, which was detrimental to farmers because they would have more mouths to feed and have to do more work to support their family, causing them to be tired. Plus, the population size has increased to the point where there isn’t much space for farmers to live. Women also, had more bone …show more content…

Gorillas have had ample free time to build their own Parthenon, had they wanted to. While post-agricultural technological advances did make new art forms possible and preservation of art easier, great paintings and sculptures were already being produced by hunter-gatherers 15,000 years ago, and were still being produced as recently as the last century by such hunter-gatherers as some Eskimos and the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.” This shows that hunter-gatherers had just as much free time as farmers and were making art plus, sculptures just before the farmers, and paintings and sculptures are still being produced by hunter-gatherers. It also states, “The evidence suggests that the Indians at Dickson Mounds, like many other primitive peoples, took up farming not by choice but from necessity in order to feed their constantly growing numbers. “I don 't think most hunter-gatherers farmed until they had to, and when they switched to farming they traded quality for quantity," says Mark Cohen.” This explains that hunter-gatherers had to pick up farming because of the population growth. They had to pick up farming in order to feed more mouths, and have more food to supply for their families, which resulted in the nutritional value of the crops to go down. Because of the population growth, hunter-gatherers had to pick up agriculture which resulted in a plethora of tragedies such as spread of diseases the many injuries the farmers

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