How Did The Neolithic Revolution Change Society

The Neolithic Revolution in 10,000 BC changed mankind from nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers to what we would call a society. Since the beginning human history, people would survive by living in relatively small groups, hunting animals for food, and foraging wild plants and berries as they followed the animal herds. This sort of lifestyle made it hard to grow in population due to the inconsistencies of hunting because any extended period of no returns from hunting would result in members of the tribe starving to death. This changed at the end of the Ice Age around 10,000 BC when temperatures rose and food became more abundant. Not having to constantly relocate due to depleted food resources allowed people to settle down in one place all year long. Staying in one place gave the settlers time to study the growth patterns of local plants and develop methods to grow them in large quantities. The switch from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement and agriculture is what allowed the formation of civilization. The surplus of food provided by agriculture allowed for rapid growth of population. Farmers would replant the seeds of the plants that had the

Since there’s suddenly an abundance of food, not everyone has to spend all day generating food for their survival. Many people took advantage of this free time by dedicating themselves to other pursuits such as pottery, weaving, tool-making, and carpentry. The supply of extra tools and trade increased the scale of trade between people. Merchants emerged to facilitate the exchange of goods. These people would become very wealthy and powerful. Some others would grow envious of these people’s wealth and would stop at nothing to get a hold of it. Soldiers emerged as a new class of specialists to protect other people’s possessions or the city. A divide in class was beginning to form and this would have to be