The emergence of agriculture would have introduced new forms of inequality and power in human societies due to a variety of social, environmental and geographical factors that relate to the advancement of human technology and practices. The transition from a nomadic, forager lifestyle to sedentism 15,000 years ago saw great social changes in the way of life that humans lived. Population growth caused by sedentism put pressure to increase agriculture and other advancements construction of early towns and cities established an early form of social hierarchy.
The foraging lifestyle of humans was based on the system to “gather or hunt the resources they need, they do so armed with the information accumulated over many generations.” It is believed …show more content…
This community had established cemeteries which provided “evidence of complex communities with leaders and possible social hierarchies.” Evidence of this social hierarchy is seen through the clear process of ‘selected’ burial which only applied to a small minority of this community’s population. This selected minority were buried with “caps, bracelets, garters” which Christian indicates could be possible of status. Due to the increasing populations, as mentioned previously, sedentism communities eventually were confronted with the issue of overpopulation. This put an excessive amount of “pressure on the settlement that increasingly desperate attempts…were made to intensify crop harvests.” These new pressures and limitations would have required positions of power to be established, causing a tilt in the scales of equality. However, sedentism did also prove to be beneficial in providing new forms of power to these groups. The tools that these early societies used shifted to be of greater power and technological advancement. This is once again seen within the Natufian culture. According to Christian, “grain was also subject to far higher levels of processing than before. Standard mortars and grinding stones were supplemented by higher-volume bedrock
The foraging lifestyle of humans was based on the system to “gather or hunt the resources they need, they do so armed with the information accumulated over many generations.” It is believed …show more content…
This community had established cemeteries which provided “evidence of complex communities with leaders and possible social hierarchies.” Evidence of this social hierarchy is seen through the clear process of ‘selected’ burial which only applied to a small minority of this community’s population. This selected minority were buried with “caps, bracelets, garters” which Christian indicates could be possible of status. Due to the increasing populations, as mentioned previously, sedentism communities eventually were confronted with the issue of overpopulation. This put an excessive amount of “pressure on the settlement that increasingly desperate attempts…were made to intensify crop harvests.” These new pressures and limitations would have required positions of power to be established, causing a tilt in the scales of equality. However, sedentism did also prove to be beneficial in providing new forms of power to these groups. The tools that these early societies used shifted to be of greater power and technological advancement. This is once again seen within the Natufian culture. According to Christian, “grain was also subject to far higher levels of processing than before. Standard mortars and grinding stones were supplemented by higher-volume bedrock