Hello,
Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!
The prompt is:
How did the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution change the lives of the people experiencing it? Consider its impact on individuals as well as groups.
Thank you in advance
Frederic
Present-day humans are the fruit of a long mosaic evolution since the emergence of the first hominids about four million years ago. Indeed, Homo genus individuals endured biological and cultural transformations. Among them, about ten thousand years ago, certain humans' groups initiated the systematic use of mating plants and animals for obtaining food. That period of cultural adaptation, the Neolithic, occurred at different moments of the human history and at different rates all around the world, and ended about four thousand years ago. As any cultural transformation, the conversion of a food-collecting to a food-producing subsistence pattern resulted in far-reaching behaviour alterations at the individual and group level. That induced social, economic and political changes in humans' societies.
On the one hand, social alterations took the form of an attachment to the land, a labour specialization and a religious commitment. First, Duiker and Spielvogel note that archaeologists have discovered at Çatal Hüyük, in modern Turkey, traces of a Neolithic settlement, which dates as far back about seven thousand years ago, whose surface approximates thirty two acres.1 Consequently, such findings tend to stress that the early anatomically modern humans established themselves in definite areas and constructed fixed dwellings with the intention to stay for long periods. However, that does not necessarily implies that those humans have totally abandoned their nomadic way of life but only they have started to enjoy a more sedentary one. That marked interest for the benefits provided by that land is a direct consequence of the passage to agriculture.
Second, in Neolithic societies "people began to specialize in certain crafts" argue Duiker and Spielvogel.3 That indication highlights the fact that various tasks that are necessary for maintaining individual and common lives have been performed by persons who have been clever at fabricating, hunting, speaking; namely particularly expert in a domain. The authority conferred upon those specialists by their manual dexterity or intelligence naturally encouraged their contemporaries to appeal to them for performing specific tasks that, therefore, caused a labour specialization. The latter is a corollary of the adoption of agriculture because cultivation and breeding produced surpluses of foodstuff. Accordingly, less people were required to provide enough supplies for the whole community and the people freed from that daily drudgery were available for undertaking other activities.
Third, researchers have found at Çatal Hüyük, an archaeological site in modern Turkey, several "religious shrines housing figures of gods and goddesses", as observe Duiker and Spielvogel.4 The presence of housings especially dedicated to the adoration of supreme divinities is highly significant. On the one hand, that attests of the emergence of religious beliefs, along with fixed rituals and practices for worshiping. On the other hand, the fact they have fabricated numerous representations of diverse gods and goddesses emphasizes the existence of polytheism. Neolithic people were aware that their dependence towards the yields, in terms of both quantity and quality, generated an important source of worry despite agriculture provided them with profuse supplies of food, generally at a stable rate contrary to the foraging subsistence pattern. The arousing of such disturbing emotions led the Neolithic people who experienced anxiety about their terrestrial condition to search supernatural means for predicting or controlling the future, which gave rise to a religious commitment.
On the other hand, changes in the economic model of Neolithic societies provoked some individuals' augmentation of political power because status differences emerged in Neolithic societies, whose main subsistence pattern was agriculture, and gave birth to political rulers. In the words of Duiker and Spielvogel, a start of social stratification appeared between genders because "men came to play the most dominant role in human society" and between groups of individuals because "kings and an upper class of priests, political leaders, and warriors dominated" those Neolithic societies.2 Therefore, the passage from a foraging to a true agricultural system entailed, on the one hand, the creation of dominant ranks and favoured classes in terms of political power of economic benefit, and on the other hand the gradual vanishing of the previously prevalent egalitarian system. That is the consequence of the disappearance of an obligate foraging way of life that prevented humans from storing abundant quantities of food resources. Agriculture supported the storage of food resources that were the key elements for the surfacing of some individuals' wealth, bestowing them an influential social status within their groups and the possibility to exercise authority and power that, thus, allowed them to gain political influence.
The Neolithic revolution happened around 10,000 years ago in the wake of gradual changes that took place at the end of the last ice age, around 40,000 years ago, and lasted around 30,000 years. Its main feature is an alteration of the human subsistence pattern that has evolved from food-collecting to food-producing societies. That transformation brought a stabilization of alimentary resources and a diminution of geographical peregrinations. Furthermore, to manage the requirements of an increasing population density, Neolithic societies developed elaborate social structures. Besides, economy proved to have unexpected profound effects on politics due to their tight links. Finally, surprisingly enough, mundane material changes provoked the emergence of forms of spirituality. It seems that the early anatomical modern humans, in their endeavours to alleviate the considerable pressures exercised by the selective agents present in their ecosystems, succeeded in ameliorating their food-acquiring pattern what, in the end, turned out to be highly detrimental to the constancy of the homogeneity of their groups and challenging because of their dependency to their agricultural productivity. The adoption of agriculture during the Neolithic period has still consequences hitherto such as, for instance, the enjoyment of permanent inhabitations, fixed and highly sophisticated labour specializations, and a convoluted social stratification. Finally, the cultural and material intricacy that has followed the Neolithic agricultural revolution is the result of collective interpretations and responses of societies to their natural environment that above all underlines a momentous change in Homo sapiens sapiens' worldview.
Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!
The prompt is:
How did the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution change the lives of the people experiencing it? Consider its impact on individuals as well as groups.
Thank you in advance
Frederic
Present-day humans are the fruit of a long mosaic evolution since the emergence of the first hominids about four million years ago. Indeed, Homo genus individuals endured biological and cultural transformations. Among them, about ten thousand years ago, certain humans' groups initiated the systematic use of mating plants and animals for obtaining food. That period of cultural adaptation, the Neolithic, occurred at different moments of the human history and at different rates all around the world, and ended about four thousand years ago. As any cultural transformation, the conversion of a food-collecting to a food-producing subsistence pattern resulted in far-reaching behaviour alterations at the individual and group level. That induced social, economic and political changes in humans' societies.
On the one hand, social alterations took the form of an attachment to the land, a labour specialization and a religious commitment. First, Duiker and Spielvogel note that archaeologists have discovered at Çatal Hüyük, in modern Turkey, traces of a Neolithic settlement, which dates as far back about seven thousand years ago, whose surface approximates thirty two acres.1 Consequently, such findings tend to stress that the early anatomically modern humans established themselves in definite areas and constructed fixed dwellings with the intention to stay for long periods. However, that does not necessarily implies that those humans have totally abandoned their nomadic way of life but only they have started to enjoy a more sedentary one. That marked interest for the benefits provided by that land is a direct consequence of the passage to agriculture.
Second, in Neolithic societies "people began to specialize in certain crafts" argue Duiker and Spielvogel.3 That indication highlights the fact that various tasks that are necessary for maintaining individual and common lives have been performed by persons who have been clever at fabricating, hunting, speaking; namely particularly expert in a domain. The authority conferred upon those specialists by their manual dexterity or intelligence naturally encouraged their contemporaries to appeal to them for performing specific tasks that, therefore, caused a labour specialization. The latter is a corollary of the adoption of agriculture because cultivation and breeding produced surpluses of foodstuff. Accordingly, less people were required to provide enough supplies for the whole community and the people freed from that daily drudgery were available for undertaking other activities.
Third, researchers have found at Çatal Hüyük, an archaeological site in modern Turkey, several "religious shrines housing figures of gods and goddesses", as observe Duiker and Spielvogel.4 The presence of housings especially dedicated to the adoration of supreme divinities is highly significant. On the one hand, that attests of the emergence of religious beliefs, along with fixed rituals and practices for worshiping. On the other hand, the fact they have fabricated numerous representations of diverse gods and goddesses emphasizes the existence of polytheism. Neolithic people were aware that their dependence towards the yields, in terms of both quantity and quality, generated an important source of worry despite agriculture provided them with profuse supplies of food, generally at a stable rate contrary to the foraging subsistence pattern. The arousing of such disturbing emotions led the Neolithic people who experienced anxiety about their terrestrial condition to search supernatural means for predicting or controlling the future, which gave rise to a religious commitment.
On the other hand, changes in the economic model of Neolithic societies provoked some individuals' augmentation of political power because status differences emerged in Neolithic societies, whose main subsistence pattern was agriculture, and gave birth to political rulers. In the words of Duiker and Spielvogel, a start of social stratification appeared between genders because "men came to play the most dominant role in human society" and between groups of individuals because "kings and an upper class of priests, political leaders, and warriors dominated" those Neolithic societies.2 Therefore, the passage from a foraging to a true agricultural system entailed, on the one hand, the creation of dominant ranks and favoured classes in terms of political power of economic benefit, and on the other hand the gradual vanishing of the previously prevalent egalitarian system. That is the consequence of the disappearance of an obligate foraging way of life that prevented humans from storing abundant quantities of food resources. Agriculture supported the storage of food resources that were the key elements for the surfacing of some individuals' wealth, bestowing them an influential social status within their groups and the possibility to exercise authority and power that, thus, allowed them to gain political influence.
The Neolithic revolution happened around 10,000 years ago in the wake of gradual changes that took place at the end of the last ice age, around 40,000 years ago, and lasted around 30,000 years. Its main feature is an alteration of the human subsistence pattern that has evolved from food-collecting to food-producing societies. That transformation brought a stabilization of alimentary resources and a diminution of geographical peregrinations. Furthermore, to manage the requirements of an increasing population density, Neolithic societies developed elaborate social structures. Besides, economy proved to have unexpected profound effects on politics due to their tight links. Finally, surprisingly enough, mundane material changes provoked the emergence of forms of spirituality. It seems that the early anatomical modern humans, in their endeavours to alleviate the considerable pressures exercised by the selective agents present in their ecosystems, succeeded in ameliorating their food-acquiring pattern what, in the end, turned out to be highly detrimental to the constancy of the homogeneity of their groups and challenging because of their dependency to their agricultural productivity. The adoption of agriculture during the Neolithic period has still consequences hitherto such as, for instance, the enjoyment of permanent inhabitations, fixed and highly sophisticated labour specializations, and a convoluted social stratification. Finally, the cultural and material intricacy that has followed the Neolithic agricultural revolution is the result of collective interpretations and responses of societies to their natural environment that above all underlines a momentous change in Homo sapiens sapiens' worldview.
