Neolithic Revolution Essay

Revolution of the Neolithic The Neolithic period was very revolutionary to human life. Presently defined by archaeologists as the period when plants and animals became domesticated, people began growing their food and breeding and raising animals. This period led to much industrialization to society, and changed how humans lived and survived. Prior to the Neolithic humans were hunters and gatherers. They hunted big game, such as, mammoths and moas, and gathered wild berries and grains. Therefore, they had to live where food was most abundant and “in season.” For many migrating seasonally was the most beneficial. In Mesoamerica migrating was necessary, families would live in macroband camps, multiple families together, or in a microband,

“Changes in climate may have been partly responsible for the decline in availability of big game, particularly the large herd animals. Another possible cause of that decline was human activity, specifically overkilling of some of these animals” (Ember 180). These changes in climate, extinction of big game, as well as population growth, led humans to begin searching for other ways to eat. This idea began the Neolithic period, as well as the beginning to life as we know it today. Lifestyle changes, such as crop and animal domestication began. “Domestication may have been a way for archaic peoples to make desirable plants more common in their environment” (Ember 173). Also, by cultivating crops, as well as raising and breeding animals, allowed for permanent homes. These homes were not as simplistic as the structures before, the towns also grew and had public buildings.

Migrating was no longer necessary, nor was hunting by women. This change enabled women to have children closer together. Since they no longer had to nurse for the first two to three years of a child’s life, the women would begin ovulating sooner. In result, children were born much closer together, which allowed for a woman to have more children in her lifetime than