THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

Instructional Goal: Students will know the implications of the term "revolution" and understand the

precursors of civilization.

I. Introduction Between 9,000 BCE and 6,000 BCE a short transition period between Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic (New Stone Age) occurred which is known as the Mesolithic (Middle  Stone Age). It was characterized  by the following descriptors:

A.  Domestication of the dog (9,000 BC).

B.  Domestication of grains, specifically barley (9,000 BC)

C. Great sophistication in tool making such as fish hooks, sickles, etc.

D. Clustering into small villages no more than 100 people in size.

II. Definition of Revolutions

Neolithic Era began sometime around 6,000 BC and is still in existence today as evidenced by neolithic tribes such as Bushman of Kalahari and Aborigines of Australia. It is the  full transition from a food gathering to a food producing society. It is one of the three great revolutions in history as  cited by Alvin Toffler in his book The Third Wave. A fourth revolution has since happened.  The four revolutions are:

• A.  The Neolithic Revolution – humans settled down and began to cultivate

food instead of following their food source.

• B.  The Industrial Revolution of the 17th through the 19th century – humans harnessed the forces of nature to free

themselves from manual labor, thus allowing more time to think.

• C. The Technological Revolution which began in the  middle 20th century and is now affecting human society. – Systems of machinery and communications

devises were combined

• D.  The Information Revolution – occurred with the advent of computers and the

World Wide Web.

III.  Elements of Neolithic Revolution

• The Neolithic Revolution brought about changes in human society as marked by: A. Attempts to control environment in order to produce more food. B.  The domestication of new types of animals, specifically the sheep, pig and cow. C.  Creation of larger and more complex permanant settlements. – 1st Agricultural site was probably in present day

Palestine and was known as Shandidar. – The earliest continually occupied village was

Jericho in present day Palestine (8,000 BC to Present).

IV. Effects of Neolithic

• Several developments around 4,000 BC led to next step in societal development which was civilization.

A.  Division of Labor.   B.  Invention of Writing.   C.  Invention of pottery and sun-dried bricks.   D.  Invention of the Wheel.   E.  Invention of systems to handle communal necessities.