Effect of The Neolithic Revolution on Ancient Egypt

The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of Civilization

The Neolithic Revolution, also known as the Agricultural Revolution, marked the emergence of mankind into civilization as humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer communities to more permanent settlements due to agricultural surpluses beginning around 10,000 BCE. This era was a turning point where humanity began to band together to create civilization. In Africa, different tribes started to establish themselves across the continent, with prosperous establishments of people along the Nile beginning around 5500 BCE during the Neolithic Revolution as a result of agricultural and technological advancements. The Neolithic Revolution's surplus allowed Kingdoms such as Ancient Egypt to become established shortly after the revolution. These kingdoms thrived off farming alongside the Nile River’s banks with divine kinships at the top of the society’s social ladder. Being ruled by a single deity named a Pharaoh created a hierarchy and social classes that established specialized roles among different members of Ancient Egypt’s society. The skills humans acquired during the Neolithic Revolution to create agricultural surplus and civilization in Ancient Egypt ultimately contributed to the region’s rich economy and cultural impact on the world.

Effect of The Neolithic Revolution on Ancient Egypt

During the Neolithic Revolution in Ancient Egypt, "Between 5000 and 4000 BC permanent settlements of full-time farmers became established in the valley of the Nile, with their farming techniques adapted to the river's annual flood" (Shillington). This portrays the indigenous people’s ability to thrive off their land through agricultural surplus along the Nile banks, which in turn created local economies and regional governments to manage commerce and trade. Trade along the Nile between Upper and Lower Egypt promoted economic growth, with humans’ ability to communicate and merge relationships with other indigenous people for trading purposes being a skill acquired as they migrated across Africa during the Neolithic Revolution. Tribes constantly engaged in contact throughout this era. Thus, local economies along the Nile were able to sustain themselves by creating a surplus in goods while trading for goods not readily attainable locally, such as copper, wheat, papyrus, and gold. This diversification of local societies led to the adoption of divine kingships in Ancient Egypt. Egyptian society’s caste contained peasants at the bottom, who produced all the surplus, while the divine kinships were at the top, directly benefiting from the poor’s contributions to agricultural production.

Once pharaohs began ruling Ancient Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 BCE, the vast agricultural surplus accumulated by Egyptian societies was overseen by tax collectors and civil workers for the pharaoh. The development of large-scale agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution led to "Agricultural surpluses... kept in huge government stores and were used to support the pharaoh and his family in luxury and comfort. It also paid for a large civil service, supported priests and their shrines, and was traded abroad for luxury items or scarce raw materials." This effectively shows how the distribution of wealth as a result of surplus within Ancient Egypt was extremely inefficient, with those in the upper spectrum of the social ladder disproportionately benefitting from the poor’s labor. The poor also herded cattle to produce a surplus in livestock, where the domestication of certain animals for food was derived from the early people of the Neolithic Revolution to have a more stable source of food as opposed to the inconsistent nature of hunting.

Architectural Advancements and Social Inequality

The Neolithic Revolution was also characterized by architectural advancements that served as physical indicators of Ancient Egyptian culture, such as temples and tombs made through the use of tools for significant deities, royalty, the rich, or gods actively worshipped by their people. The nature of specialization and members having specific roles within civilizations as mankind continued to make agricultural advancements can be seen in Ancient Egypt when peasants were forced into labor to build the Great Pyramid in 2600 BC for King Khufu, a few centuries after the Neolithic Revolution. Pharaohs "employed many full-time craftsmen and artists in order to fill their tombs with beautiful examples of Egyptian craftsmanship: jewelry, fragile decorated pottery, and elaborate ornaments of gold." This esteemed individuals with artistic talent in Egyptian society due to their commoditized specializations. Inequality was a result of the revolution through its creation of social classes and a working class that contributed to the region’s rich architectural culture. These architectural achievements not only reflected the social hierarchy but also reinforced the cultural values and religious beliefs of Ancient Egypt, demonstrating how deeply intertwined these elements were with their civilization's identity.

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