Paleolithic Age and Neolithic Revolution

Although most historians say that pre-history is not important, it is actually very important because that is where it all started. , which refers to the hunting and gathering way of life, is 95% of the human history. 100,000 years ago, Homo sapiens started using tools to manipulate their surroundings, and migrating and adapting to new environments. They traveled to Eurasia, Australia, Western hemisphere, and the Pacific islands. Then they started farming, which lead to an era with more technology, surplus, and time to think.

The Paleolithic Age and Neolithic Revolution was an important beginning to the human history. A lot happened during the Paleolithic Age. Technological innovations, such as stone blades and tools made out of bones were created, along with the controlling of fire. Some people argue because there was no surplus and there was no specialization, life was more egalitarian back then. Men and women were thought to have a more equal relationship. Even then people were spiritual, marking their existence, and was trying to control natural forces with supernatural forces.

Forces of nature beyond their control was feared. When people started migrating, people learned and invented ways to adapt to their environment. They started communicating through language, and in the Americas, it is evident from the discovery of Clovis point that people communicated in a large area. At the end of the Ice Age, the warmer and wetter climate made it easier to settle down, which lead to the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution was when people started farming all over the world.

This gave them surplus, which made them settle down, which eventually lead to villages, cities, empires, and civilizations. But this also meant a more concentrated power to the elite men who forced the labor system, thus more stratified. Pastoralism also developed, which was the domestication of animals. Animals were used for not only meat purposes now but also for transportation, power, and manure. The pastoralists and agricultural people would later conflict due to competition for land.

Agriculture all depended on availability. In the Fertile Crescent, a variety of plants and animals were available for domestication. But in the Mesoamerica, only corn/maize was available, but it also lead to the first genetic engineering. More sophisticated tools were invented, and people tried to control nature by the deliberate selection of plants. Humans started impacting the environment a lot. Agricultural diffusion occurred, where language and ideas spread to other parts of the world.

Overall, the Neolithic Revolution lead to increase in human population, new technologies (pottery, metallurgy, secondary products), new diseases spreading, difficulty to move when something disastrous (crop failures) happens, chiefdoms, and settlements. The Paleolithic Age and Neolithic Revolution was when “Homo sapiens” became “humans. ” It was the base of a new era, the Industrial Era, which is when humans dominate the world for good or for bad. But it all certainly started when humans first started using tools, and started farming all over the world.