Paleolithic Society and Neolithic Revolution

2.5 million - 10,000 BC

Hunter/Gather - Mobile - Small sized - Relative gender equalty - Relative social equality - Awareness of Natural environment

10,000 BC - 6,000 BC

The Neolithic Era was the first time humans transitioned from hunter gatherer societies to settled down agrarian societies

- Grow crops - Raise domesticated animals - Villages formed around 8000 BC

- Permanent settlements - Food surplus -> population growth -> specialised labor (pottery, textiles, metallurgy) -> trade - Gender INequality - Social classes - Religious (deities associated with helping weather and crops growth)

60,000 years ago -> ice ages cooled the earth's temperature which lowered the worlds sea levels exposing straits and bridges of land connecting to inhabited areas of the world - New Guinea - Indonesia

- No social distinctions on wealth - They lived on egalitarial lifestyles - Paleolithic society didn't encourage one sex to be more dominant

Hunters were technical/didn't search aimlessly for food - They fashioned tools to attack large mammals

Some abandoned nomadic lifestyle and established permanent settlements - Natufian Society (collected wild wheat/had herds) -> ISRAEL - Jomon Society (harvested buckwheat) -> JAPAN - Chinook Society (wild berries, acorns) -> NORTH AMERICA

- First type of people to show spiritual rituals - Lived closely with homo sapiens

Stone Blades

Diet with shellfish

Catching fish from deep waters

Necklace/Bracelets

Bow and Arrow

Represented conscious and purposeful activity of a higher order

Women most likely began systematic care of plants (nurture instead of just collecting) Men captured animals instead of killing (domestication)

9000 BCE - Southwest Asia - wheat barley sheeps and goats

9000-7000 BCE - Africa - sheeps, goats, sorghum

8000-6000 BCE - Sub Saharan - Yams, okra, black eyed peas

6500 BCE - Rice

4000 BCE - Mesoamerica - Beans, peppers, squashes, tomatoes

Catal Hüyük - pots, baskets, textiles, leather, stone, beads, jewelry, metal tools, wood carvings

- Specialization of labor triggered accumulation of wealth

- Paleolithic worshipped Venus figurines in hopes of fertility -> NEOLITHIC: Venus + Deities of Life, Death, Regeneration, etc

1. Larger - more complex Catal Hüyük -> specialized crafts, administrators, professionals, tax collectors 2. Cities specifically influenced the political, economical and cultural life of large regions

1 Malnutrition 2 Starvation 3 Disease 4 Social Inequality 5 Gender Inequality