Kim Woods

Please also write a 250 word response to these students answers

    How do the author of our textbook and the author of the websites view the momentous changes that occurred with the neolithic Agricultural Revolution? Which aspects of the Agricultural Revolution do they emphasize and what is their overall point about its importance and impact?

One web site seems to offer an opinion about agriculture becoming a way of life as a very slow process. The Stone Age humans didn’t appear to be eager about this change. Neolithic Revolution didn’t seem to take because of choice, but by changes in climates. This may have caused large hunting animals to migrate to other areas in the north leaving hunters in the Middle East with a minimal supply of game to hunt, and with no game to hunt this would mean no food for the family. This may have aided in the way new wild grains and their growing patters changed as well. With large animals not destroying all the natural growing grains there would be plenty of the wild crops to forage. Producing enough grains to feed small communities which later became planting and harvesting more crops which led to the growth of new populations. The website claims the Middle East is where agriculture got its first start, this would be feasible considering the hunters-gatherers needed to find new ways to feed their families after the hunting game moved on. The overall point seems to be, without the agricultural revolution things may not be what they are today. The spreading of farming, harvesting, and the domestication of animals was an important part of life and spread vastly to other parts of the world where humans prospered and new materials were made. The website on the Emergence of Agriculture written September 20, 2008, offers a different opinion, suggesting it was a longer process than first believed. The University of Warwick is using a “new mathematical model that shows how plant agriculture actually began much earlier than first thought.” (University Warwick). The author of our text book Kevin Reilly suggested “Agriculture created the first economy of abundance: the first economy where people could have more food than they needed to eat immediately, but this could come only through saving and planning.” (Reilly pg. 27). Reilly also inferred this would be done because of women having to “save and plan” for meals during times when food was not plentiful. Reilly seems to claim during the readings women were of importance to the growth of these times, a lot more than the men.

Reilly, K. (1997.) Men and Women: Hunters and Gatherers. In The West and the World: A history of civilization from the ancient world to 1700 (Vol. 1. pp 13.) Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener.

University of Warwick. "Emergence Of Agriculture In Prehistory Took Much Longer, Genetic Evidence Suggests." ScienceDaily.ScienceDaily, 20 September 2008.

The author, Kevin Reilly talked about the roles of men and women throughout the Neolithic and urban revolutions. Some of the key focuses throughout his writings where the impact women had during the agricultural revolution. The importance of woman seemed to be significant due to their natural ability to harvest and prep food.  Their importance allowed for many societies to lean towards matriarchy. Of course this is all speculative and not supported with enough facts. One example of a matriarchal society that was believed to exist was the Iroquois. Kevin Reilly stated that, Women appointed men to the positions of authority in the league, but they retained the right to veto the men’s decisions.” (Pg. 33). As agricultural improvements were made and the urban revolution began to take place men began to take over. More and more societies were showing signs of patriarchy. From what I understood, once men began to become more possessive Laws were changed and goddesses were suddenly being demoted. As stated by Kevin Reilly, “As men took over the most important work in the new field of agriculture and the patrilineal family replaced the matrilineal clan, men shaped the culture in their own image as well.”

Throughout the online readings the main focus was not the importance of men and women or Patriarchy and matriarchy in the Agricultural revelation. The author R.A. Giuseppe, talked of the importance of domestication in animals and possibly a shift in environmental hazards such as glaziers being a huge contributor towards the advancement of the Neolithic revolution. In the article submitted by the University of Warwick it talks of the importance of plant cultivation. The article stated that “Warwick HRI have found evidence that genetics supports the idea that the emergence of agriculture in prehistory took much longer than originally thought.” Clearly there are many different views on what was important during the Neolithic revolution. There seems to be many influences that contributed to the advancement of agriculture.