Neolithic Farming

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.” This statement is very relatable to the situation mankind was in before the neolithic age. Farming was a mystery to mankind, most men and women were hunter-gatherers and did not understand the value behind or how to farm. Typically the men hunted while the women gathered, this gave both genders had a similarly equal role in their lives. The daily life for mankind had always included hunting animals and gathering fruits or even insects and mankind had survived for millions of years off of these tactics alone, so why worry about changing the game now? The repeated cycle was about to get an upgrade …show more content…
It has been said that the first farmers appeared during the Neolithic Revolution were most likely women because men were the designated hunters and due to the fact that women were gatherers they had obtained the knowledge of which seeds were edible. The first crop to be planted is said to be wheat due to its abundance. Many records from the period suggest that women originated in farming and that became their main job. With the development of farming also came the development of actual societies, mankind were no longer nomads. The once small groups expanded to become small villages centered around farming. Farming allowed more food to be easily accessible which lessened the need of full time hunter/gatherers. The cultivation of crops also let to the domestication of animals like cows and sheep. With the lessened need for hunter/gatherers mankind also gained the opportunity to establish political views. Farming caused a lot of territorial issues between different villages and leaders were necessary to help resolve these dilemmas. Even with all the benefits to farming, the down side was just waiting to immerse itself into mankind’s …show more content…
Many skeletons found from the Neolithic Revolution show signs of abuse and diseases compared to hunter/gatherer skeletons from the period before that had less disease and were healthier. Domesticated animals provided an easier food source but along with this gift came deadly disease. Mankind lived extremely close each other and their livestock and these close quarters brought on deadly diseases such as influenza, smallpox, and measles. These close quarters and warfare caused the life expectancy for mankind to drop from an average of 30 to around 20 years of age. Many children died extremely young and most of their skeletons were found almost entirely in tact. Farming was not the complete nightmare it seemed, even though life expectancy declined, mankind gained social skills that remain intact today. Mankind learned how to defend their villages through the violent ways of warfare and they developed the skill of speech. Small “armies” were constructed which would eventually lead to modern day armies. A trade system was also established, many villages would trade what they did have to get what they did not have. The Neolithic Revolution established the first reconstruction of human affairs that had been seen in