by Katy Lee & Joelle Kilcourse
Around 10,000 BC, the course of human history was changed forever during the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution. Up until then, humans had wandered the world as hunters and gatherers. These early people were always on the move and never settled down in one place for too long. Around 10,000 BC, however, humans in the Fertile Crescent began settling down in the region to build permanent farms and communities. This culture experimented with agriculture and discovered how to grow grain. There were many benefits to living in large, permanent farming communities during the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution, but it can be argued that there were negative consequences for humankind as well.
There were many positive consequences of the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution. As humans started to settle down and build farming communities in the Fertile Crescent, there was a chance to experiment with agriculture like never before. Humans became very knowledgeable about growing plants and grains. The discovery of grain in particular was very beneficial as it can be stored for many years in times of drought and famine. Humans also started to manage and breed livestock. These animals were used for food (cheese, milk, meat), clothing (fur, hide), and help on the farms. The creation of farming communities and small settlements meant that the population of mankind began to increase drastically. As the amount of people living in these settlements grew, individuals in these societies had the chance to become experts in many different fields such as agriculture, working with animals, and different art forms. Ultimately, the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution brought stability to humankind.
There were some negative characteristics which arose from the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution as well. Living very close to others for long periods of time often meant that humans living in these farming settlements became sick more easily with diseases like influenza, tuberculosis, bacterial infections, and smallpox. Living closely with animals also meant an emergence of diseases carried by animals and transmitted to humans. Some of the most problematic diseases in history, the plagues, emerged due to settled agriculture. These diseases are even connected with the eventual rise and fall of ancient empires.
The Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution changed food production, and humans suddenly had a much more limited diet. While hunters and gatherers had access to a multitude of different animals and plants on their journeys, farmers in the Fertile Crescent were limited by the few crops that they could grow in the early days of the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution. Unfortunately, this meant that early farmers were prone to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These farmers were often smaller and shorter than their ancestors. The height of settled farmers declined by an inch! Today, the average person has still not regained that lost inch from 2,400 years ago. The addition of much more grain into their meals also made their teeth rot more rapidly than diets consisting mostly of meat and plants. This meant that early farmers’ health and teeth weren’t as good as the humans who were hunters and gatherers. A recent study of the health of ancient peoples also discovered that the risk factors for heart disease increased with the development of farming. Interestingly, this same study also indicates that the development of agriculture also increased human intelligence.
The development of agriculture and farming also required lots of labor. Irrigation, plowing, and terracing, essential aspects of farming, were required to maintain the steady production of plants and animals. Someone had to organize and manage the many tasks farming required, and so complex social structures with some people ruling and others working were created. Previously, people lived in groups that were more egalitarian, which means they lived in groups that lacked these kinds of defined roles. These social structures also gave rise to a division of labor. Some people were farming, while others worked at crafts like pottery making, cloth making, and tool making. Craftspeople would trade their goods with farmers for food, and this marked the beginning of trade between different communities and groups.
The steady development of agriculture also produced increased populations. This new pressure to feed and shelter larger groups of people resulted in the first forms of organized violence. Neighboring communities sometimes seized valuable resources from one another, creating the need for settlements to build defensive structures like walls and to develop weapons.
Today, researchers and scholars are still debating the consequences of the Neolithic/Agricultural Revolution. Many see the transition to farming as an essential part of human progress, while others suggest agriculture fated the majority of people to lives of crushing labor.
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