Neolithic People Essay

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Unit I: Emergence of Complex Societies
Stone Age to Civilization:

Origins of Agriculture: Neolithic Era:
Neolithic means “New stone age”
In Neolithic society’s archeologists found polishes tools rather than chipped ones
Today Neo\lithic refers to the early stages of agricultural society, from 12,000-6,000 years ago.

Global Climate Change
Agriculture was near impossible 15,00 years ago
Ice age: Earth was much colder and drier than today
Large fluctuations of temp. and rainfall
After the ice age the weather was much more reliable so the Neolithic people took advantage of this to grow plants and raise wild animals

Gender Relations and Agriculture
Many reliable sources believe that woman were the first to tend to plants
The woman were most likely interested in growing food crops and finding a sustainable food supple so they started to nurture plants
Neolithic men then started to capture and domesticate wild animals to help provide for them
This slowly led to the formation of agricultural economies
Independent Inventions of Agriculture
Agriculture: Includes crops and domestic animals
This emerged in several different areas of the world without the influence of each other’s
Earliest evidence is eras artery 9000 B.C.E.
People in southwest Asia cultivated barley and domesticated sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle.
Africans of the Sahara Dessert domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats
Yangzi River: Cultivate Rice
Yellow River: millet and soy beans
East Asia: Pigs and Chicken
Mesoamerica: corn and beans, peppers, squashes, and tomatoes

The Early Spread of Agriculture

Slash and burn cultivations: Farmers would slash the trees to the ground and proceed to burn them
Resulted in weed free and nutrient rich soil
Later the weeds started to grow and the soil lost its nutrients, so the farmers moved to another part of the land and repeated the procedure
Knowledge of different crops spread throughout the world for example wheat and rice
Agriculture was very physically demanding

Early Agricultural Society
The population increased by an astounding rate due to agriculture

Emergence of Villages and Towns
The agricultural advancements encouraged new forms of social organization
One of the earliest known Neolithic villages was Jericho
The populations of Jericho was above 2000
They had very little trade and did not domesticate animals

Specialization of Labor
The large population in the village encouraged division of labor
While there were many cultivating crops and hunting animals, others were able to devote their time to learn different skills
Archeologists found multiple things including pottery, jewelry, tools, etc.
The earliest crafting jobs were pottery, metalworking, and textile production

Pottery
The earliest of the specialized crafts
They used pots to use as containers to store surpluses of food
The Neolithic people found methods of heating clay to make it air tight and waterproof
They then discovered they could carve designs in the clay

Metalworking
Earliest metal used was copper
The people discovered that heat could make the copper more easy to handle
The heated the copper enough to pour into molds
They were able to make weapons
Textile Production
The dating of textile production is not certain
Some plants and animals provided nice fibers
Invented by woman
Became most important enterprise in agricultural society
Social Distinctions and Social Inequality
The
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