Paleolithic Vs Neolithic Essay

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of changes brought by the shift from Paleolithic to Neolithic era. The changes influenced not only the economic sector through the conversion from hunting prey and gathering food to farming plants and domesticating animals. It affected almost all of the spheres of human life including social organization and culture. The changes introduced were due to the economic factor that changing people’s core activities largely influenced their worldview, reproducing arts, culture as well as social and familial life. The transition from the appropriating economy (gathering, hunting, fishing) to generating or transforming economy (agriculture, cattle breeding) caused the emergence of new areas of material culture such as, for …show more content…
The first myths were presented in a form of the rituals with dancing, which played out scenes from the life of distant totemic ancestors of the tribe or clan, who were portrayed as half-animal half-people. Descriptions and explanations of these ceremonies were passed from generation to generation, gradually turning into myths in the contemporary understanding of the genre tales about the life of totemic ancestors. The shift from Paleolithic to Neolithic was followed by the social changes as well. Whereas earlier hunters and gatherers considered the food and other assets they bagged to be common to all the members of the tribe, in the Neolithic era, it became gradually distributed between groups or individuals. The appearance of residues of food enabled the emergence of a kind of military caste and other groups that were not directly involved in the process of hunting for food. As a result, the emergence of surplus product stimulated the processes of the social structuring and stratification of the population. In the Neolithic period, the change of human major activities caused the change of familial roles from matriarchy to patriarchy.