Neolithic Village Research Paper

Over 5000 years ago, magnificent civilizations emerged in places such as Mesopotamia, Egypt,China,and the Indus Valley that rose from the small Neolithic villages that were never before seen in the history of mankind. From the, A number of changes are seen between the Neolithic villages and the First Civilizations in economy,government, social order,and culture that were caused by the needs ofthe urban societies of the early civilizations. To start with, the Neolithic villages economy was limited to small-scale subsistence farming,that changed into the complex economies of the urban cities of the First Civilizations.The Neolithic village’s economy consisted primarily of farming what was needed for the survival of the village,along …show more content…
First of all, there was gender equality in the Neolithic villages, as women and men were both doing important tasks that provide for their subsistence farming.For example, women were seen as being associated with horticulture and farming ,whereas men were usually seen hunting.However, this equality faded away over time as cities developed,which caused more strong,male labor to be needed to plow fields to increase agricultural output,that would feed the burgeoning population ,coupled with the fact that women increasingly became relegated to the home by the larger number of offspring needing to be taken care of. As the divisions between the roles of men and women sharpened,the women became the inferior in the patriarchal society of the First Civilizations. Men became associated with the ‘’superior’’ and held numerous rights and privileges that women did not enjoy. An example of this is the fact that only men were entitled to property, in some civilizations such as in Mesopotamia,while women were not. This gender inequality represents a large change from the Neolithic villages in the way that women went from being on par in terms of equality to being the subordinate being by the time of the First Civilizations. In addition, the social order in terms of class also changed. People living in the Neolithic villages generally were equal and the same in terms of possession and social standing. They would often have only enough food for themselves. On the contrary though, as the state and labor specialized, divisions in class became apparent. On the top of this new scale was the monarch,who enjoyed great power and a lavish lifestyle in monumental palaces. Just below the monarch was the upper class that consisted of higher ranking