World History
Mr. Murray
The Neolithic Revolution
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A revolution is an event that has long term results and dramatically changes how people
live. A revolution can be political (the French Revolution, 1789-1799), economic (the
Industrial Revolution 1750-1890), scientific (the Scientific Revolution, 1650-1750),
social (the Sexual Revolution 1960-1970) or cultural (the Rock and Roll Revolution,
1960-1975). The key aspect of any revolution is major, long-lasting change. Today
Americans are experiencing the current of many revolutions in mans history and that is
the Communication Revolution. This was made possible by the invention of the Internet
and miniaturized, hand held computers.
The Fertile Crescent, 8000 BC
Of all the revolutions in the history of
mankind, the one that had the most
profound impact on how we live was the
Neolithic Revolution. Neolithic means
new stone age and the Neolithic
Revolution took place around 8000 BC.
The Neolithic Revolution was the
invention of farming and this seemingly
simple advance first took place in about
8000 BC in the Near East, somewhere in
or near the Fertile Crescent, the hilly arc
of fertile land curving from Iran around
Iraq and Syria, down through Lebanon
and Israel, and ending in Egypt in the
Valley of the Nile. Four great river
systems drained the Fertile Crescent: the
Tigris and the Euphrates in Iraq, the
Jordan in Israel and the Nile in Egpyt.
The conditions of the Fertile Crescent
fertile land, an abundance of water and a hospitable climatemade the Neolithic
Revolution possible. Barley, two types of wheat, and poppies had grown wild in this area
for tens of thousands of years and it was this abundance of vegetation that made the
Fertile Crescent such rich hunting grounds. Drawn to the edible foliage, this region of
the Middle East was prime grazing ground for animals, which, in turn, provided generous
kills for the hunting/gathering clans of the Paleolithic Era.
Modern Day Countries Comprising the Fertile Crescent:
Today farming feeds most of the worlds
inhabitants, but until 8000 BConly yesterday in
the history of humankindall people on earth were
hunter/gatherers. In fact the entire period called
Paleolithic Man is characterized by the constant
search for food. For 99% of mans time on earth,
he was nomadic and existed in a plunder economy.
Paleolithic Man was at the mercy of nature. When
a band had killed or driven away most of the game
animals in the vicinity and picked clean all of the
edible vegetation, it moved on, relentlessly
following the food supply. Permanent settlements
were impossible.
If it had not been for the first farmers, there would be no civilization today, and man
would still be a hunter-gatherer, roaming the face of the earth as he had done during the
500,000 years of the Paleolithic period. Before the rise of farming and its related activity,
the breeding of animals, man was a rare inhabitant of the earth. Like all other animals,
man was a slave to nature, having to constantly follow his food supply. The Neolithic
Revolution transformed mans economy from a plunder economywhere he was
nomadicto a production economy. Food raising triumphed over food collecting and for
good reasonit was clearly a more efficient way of life. While approximately 250
square miles of land were needed to feed a band of twenty-five to thirty hunter-gathers
during the Paleolithic Era, six square miles could supply the 150 inhabitants of an early
farming village with more than enough food supplies. While Paleolithic hunger/gathers
would burn between 3000 to 4000 calories a day in their constant quest for food, early
farmers had a calorie burn comparable to modern man: between 2000-2500 calories a
day.
Why then were 500,000 years of Paleolithic hunting/gathering abandoned? After all
there are few occupations in the world more difficult and more physically demanding
than farming. Farming is tedious, boring and labor-intensive; there is no adrenaline rush
of the chase and the kill. There must have been some compelling reasons to force
Paleolithic Man to take up the endless drudgery of farming. Climate change is a major
theme in human history. The current period of global warming is just one of many such
events. Around 10,000 BC the climate of the world became dramatically warmer,
signaling the end of the last Ice Age. Fertile, well-watered areas thinly populated by
Paleolithic hunter/gatherers dried up as the great glacier sheets retreated. Many rivers
stopped flowing. Deserts of shifting sand replaced forests and grasslands. In order to
survive, man and animals alike were forced to take refuge in a few remaining wellwatered places such as between the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia (Greek for the
land between two rivers) and the Nile Valley in Egypt. Crammed together by the water,
man was forced by necessity to begin to plant food-producing plants instead of relying on
natures limited bounty.
But how did this happen? How did man abandon a half a million years of
hunting/gathering and begin to farm? Accidental domestication was the first step. Over
the next two thousand years, between 10,000 and 8000 BC, man accidentally picked up
farming. This probably happened over time when man eventually noticed that along a
game trail or along a path to the wild wheat fields, plants were growing where none were
the year before. Eventually, through deductive reasoning, he figured out that fallen seeds
from harvested crops grew to become new crops. Once man had established what
psychologists call primary causal thinkingif I do this, then this will followman could
then plant seeds on purpose and this is called deliberate domestication. It was deliberate
domestication in 8000 BC that sparked the Neolithic Revolution and after the Neolithic
Revolution, as historians call the discovery of farming, man was no longer a rarity on the
planet. Armed with the knowledge of how to plant crops and how to tame animals, man
became not simply the dominant animal on earth, but the planets dominant form of life.
Mans economy shifted from a plunder economyhunting/gatheringto that of a
production economyfarming and raising animals. The repercussions of this event
would be enormous.
After 8000 BC, for the first time in a half a million years, man had a food surplus.
Hunter/gatherer societies are but three days away from disaster. Paleolithic mans quest
for food was unrelenting and endless. After 8000 BC all this changed. Once man had
domesticated crops and animals he could produce eight to ten times the amount of food
he could consume. This is called a food surplus. A food surplus generated a time
surplus. 250 square miles were necessary to support a band of twenty-five to thirty
people during the Paleolithic Era. That meant that hunters/gathers needed to cover ten to
twelve miles per day to meet their food needs. Between forty to sixty hours per week
were involved in hunting-and-gathering, which left little precious time to do anything
else.
After 8000 BC and the invention of farming all of this changed. With the Neolithic
Revolution man could now produce more food than he could eat; man no longer had to
search for food twenty-four/seven. This resulted in a time surplus. Every second of
every day did not involve hunting/gathering. Instead, with a food surplus, man now had a
time; time to invent; time to build permanent settlements; time to build massive
monuments and temples; time to create and to produce art; and on darker side time to
wage war and time to enslave his fellow man. None of this was possible before 8000 BC.
To put all of this in perspective consider this: in 1776 90% of the American population
was involved in farming. By 1860 this percentage had dropped to 60%, by the beginning
of World War II, 30% of the American population farmed, and today that number is less
than 2%. Yet with only 2% of America involved in agriculture, the United States of
America currently produces 40% of all food grown in the world. To demonstrate the
sheer volume of the American food surplus, close to 40% of all food produced in
American is thrown away and wasted. The numbers dont lie. Without a food surplus
there can be no time surplus and without a time surplus division of labordifferent
people doing different jobswould be impossible. None of this would have been
possible without the Neolithic Revolution.
