The Neolithic Revolution as The Purpose of Humans Settling Around The World

“People settled around the world because of the Neolithic revolution.” I agree to a certain extent with this statement. There are many factors that someone would have to consider with this theory such as the Out Of Africa theory or about Kontiki and Beringia. I personally believe the Neolithic Revolution isn't the sole purpose of humans settling around the world. The Neolithic revolution, also known as the new Stone Age, is stated to be the first-ever agricultural revolution. It was a slow but progressive change from a period of time where nomadic hunting was big to a time where hunter-gatherers learnt to farm and could halt constantly moving from place. This period of time was a “revolutionary” change because it changed the way of life of many people around the name, hence the name Neolithic Revolution. Moving onto the domestication of plants, people first domesticated plants about 10,000 years ago, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia (which includes the modern countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria). The first domesticated plants in Mesopotamia were wheat, barley, lentils, and types of peas but were not only domesticated for food.

Domestication in plants started when people of Mesopotamia planted the seeds of wild plants in areas where the plants could get a sufficient amount of sunlight. Weeks later, when the plants started to blossom, they would harvest the food crops. One place that has been found used in domestication in the Middle East was the Fertile Crescent. The first foods to have been domesticated were wheat, barley, lentils and certain types of peas. About the same time they domesticated plants, people in Mesopotamia began to tame animals for meat, milk, and animal skin. Animal skins were used to make clothes and to cover their tents. It is said that Goats were the first animals to be domesticated. They were domesticated so farmers had easy access to meat and milk.

Later, people began domesticating larger animals, such as oxen or horses, for ploughing and transportation. These are known as beasts of burden. A beast of burden is an animal that is used for transporting goods. The easiest animals to domesticate are herbivores that graze on vegetation because they are easiest to feed. They do not need humans to kill other animals to feed them or to grow special crops. Cows, for instance, are easily domesticated. Herbivores that eat grains are more difficult to domesticate than herbivores that graze because grains are valuable and also need to be domesticated. Chickens are herbivores that eat seeds and grain. Some animals domesticated for one purpose no purpose. For example, some dogs were domesticated to assist people in hunting. There are hundreds of species of dogs that are domesticated. Most of them are used as pets. The domestication of plants was a huge moment in human development. This meant that humans no longer had to migrate for crops and animals as the crops could grow within their civilizations. The crops growing meant that animals would be attracted towards where they live.

Agriculture, the act of cultivating of domestic plants, allowed fewer people to provide more food. The stability that came with mass food production led to an increase in population. This lead to specification. This meant that not everyone had to do other jobs. People could become a priest of the town and that is their job for most of their lives. The world's first current villages and cities were built near places of domesticated plants growing fields. Plant domestication also led to advances of tool production. The earliest farming tools made were manual tools made of stone. People later developed metal farming tools, and eventually used ploughs pulled by domesticated animals to work fields. Migration helps in many factors of human civilization. It helps to improve the social life of people as they learn about new cultures, customs, and languages which helps to improve brotherhood among people. Neolithic farmers travelled mostly by sea to reach Europe. Neolithic farmers had moved into Europe and they introduced their ideas and genes to the native Paleolithic people, who had migrated into the continent 30,000 to 40,000 years before.

Migration was important since it allowed people to branch out and claim territory and work with other tribes to form what is now called a country. If humans never migrated, a lot of resources used in the modern era would have never been found for example the diamonds in Africa to the rice in Asia. Recently scientists have confirmed the hypothesis of the Out Of Africa theory as being true since researchers have produced new DNA evidence that almost certainly confirms the theory that all modern humans have a common ancestry based in Africa. This would mean that all humans originate from Africa and have spread across the world. How would they have travelled to the United States and South America since they are far from land? This is where Beringia and Kontiki come into play. The Beringia theory is about a former land bridge between Russia and the United States. Scientists have led to believe that this theory is true because there was exposed flooring of the Bering Sea between and around Siberia and Alaska. The Bering Strait was part of Beringia, and it connected the two landmasses of Siberia and Alaska. Historians theorize that our ancestors crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia into Alaska during the last Ice Age.