Neolithic Revolution Research Paper

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Pages: 4

The Neolithic Revolution, which occurred between 10,000-5,000 BC, represents the first major economic revolution of mankind. Prior to this, all societies were hunter-gatherers which led to a nomadic lifestyle where food surpluses rarely existed. The simplicity of these societies manifested from people solely focusing on acquiring sustenance caused humanity to stagnate for millions of years, with no innovation or significant changes occurring due to their lack of necessity. However, various factors such as the extinction of big herd animals, domestication of livestock, climate change, and pressures from growing populations, caused a need for change, and the shift to agriculture beginning in the Fertile Crescent came forth thus commencing the …show more content…
The Malthusian Trap suggests that rises in the level of income per capita will eventually be erased by unsustainable population growth, causing the quality of life to remain stagnant (Clark, p.1). This created a pattern, where improvements in income per capita, whether they be caused by technological advancement or acquired territory, would be short lived because these improvements would cause a level of population growth that was unsustainable for an agricultural society. With too many people to care for, nations exhibited famine, chaos, and unrest, all of which brought down the income per capita back to the levels seen prior to the improvements made. This is demonstrated by the figure above, where income per capita worldwide is shown to have gone up and down within the same range up until the Industrial Revolution. This is further reinforced by historical accounts of catastrophes such as the Black Plague and countless wars mitigating any progress that was achieved. As such, the Malthusian Trap represents an attributable reason as to why society, after the Neolithic Revolution, witnessed exponential changes in the advancement of civilization that coincided with a stagnation of human