Preview

Hunter Gatherers' Agrarian Shift

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3271 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hunter Gatherers' Agrarian Shift
The most important task in human history has been to find a way of extracting from the ecosystems in which people have lived, enough resources for maintaining life … the problem has been to balance their various demands against the ability of the ecosystems to withstand the resulting pressures. [Ponting 1991, p17]

The period that has come to be known as the Neolithic Revolution (somewhat erroneously so [see Ponting 1991, p37]) marked the most fundamental shift in human development seen since the first bipedal human-like species walked the earth. During this time and the brief era [see Ponting 1991, p18] that has followed it to the present, humans have made a multiplicity of social, cultural and technological advancements (inclusive of the political and religious realms), all of which began with an agrarian shift by an array of hunter-gatherer societies – a shift that marked the transition from ‘savage’ Palaeolithic man to ‘economic man’.
It is a frequently stated detail that the hunter-gatherer way of life was much less energy intensive than its successor and offered a relaxed, care-free lifestyle. Indeed, Marshall Sahlins contends that hunter-gatherer communities were “the original affluent societies” [Sahlins 1972, p1] who enjoyed a bountiful way of life “free from market obsessions” [Sahlins 1972, p2]. Why, then after ninety-nine percent of current human history had elapsed, were hunter-gatherers suddenly restricted to a smattering of groups across the globe? This essay will address this question and will then proceed to examine the multitude of effects (cultural, social, political; positive, negative) that this shift of modes of production had on world societies.

There exist several theories as to why the Neolithic Revolution took hold of hunter-gatherer societies, the least compelling of which is the extremely base notion that it was simply an inevitable, natural human progression into the agricultural mode of production. This ‘theory’ is tantamount to



Bibliography: 1. Bettinger, RL, Hunter-Gatherers: archaeological and evolutionary theory (Kluwer Academic/Plenum : New York : 1991) 2 5. Gowdy, J (ed.), Limited Wants, Unlimited Means: a reader on hunter-gatherer economics and the environment (Island Press : US : 1997) 6 7. Hamilton, C, Growth Fetish (Allen & Unwin : 2003) 8 9. Hawken, P & Lovins, A & L, Natural Capitalism (Earthscan : UK : 2000) 10 11. Landes, D, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (Abacus Books : 1998) 12 13. Mazoyer, M & Roudart,L, History of World Agriculture (Earthscan : UK : 2006) 14 15. Pirages, D & Cousins, K, From Resource Scarcity to Ecological Security (MIT Press Mass : US : 2005) 16 17. Sahlins, M, Stone Age Economics (Tavistock : London : 1972) 18 (Spring, 1993), pp. 39-71 19

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In this period, individuals were atrociously malnourished and the extreme issues of inequalities were alarming. In fact, Diamond offers a meticulous account of how distinct activities of hunter-gatherers as well as farming cultures changed in the modern period, the Age of Encounter. He provides incomparable data that mentions that the modern hunter-gatherer populations obtained food between 12 and 19hrs per week (Diamond, 1987). accordingly, I exceptionally agree with Diamond that the immense shift from hunter-gathering to agricultural activities was undeniably the nastiest mistake of the imperative human race because of its…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Objective: What is the link between food-producing revolution of the Neolithic era and the emergence of civilization? (The shift from hunting and gathering to farming and herding because it changed the way humans organized society.)…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The era of foragers, also known as the “Paleolithic era” deals with the lives of hunter-gatherers, who had survived for over 240,000 years. Their nomadic lifestyles of traveling and hunting has created a huge impact to the environment and their sophisticated technology, such as sticks and stones allowed them to settle adaptively across the globe with different climates. Succeeding foraging is the agrarian era, that lasted for almost ten thousand years. In this era, advancement with agriculture and pastoralism were a necessity as it allowed cities, states, and empires to form. Complex societies, especially hierarchy, followed along. The modern era is described to be the fastest out of the three eras proved that tremendous in population, innovation, and productivity in less than a millennium was possible. The industrial revolution was the next level of domination after agriculture and since has shaped the world through today where better sophisticated technology (such as the steam engine that allowed quick supply of cheap energy) was able to expand to all regions. After the main text, this book ends with the resource pages, periodization chapter, and the index. (need…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Neolithic Revolution: The succession of technological innovations and changes in human organization that led to the development of agriculture, 8500-3500 b.c.e.…

    • 2705 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    This paper will discuss the differences between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic eras. The scope of the discussion will center around the “human” experience. The discussion will draw comparisons and contrasts of how humans adapted to their environment and how they worked to improve their day to day lives. The discussion will also reveal how the humans saw their environment through their use of tools and art. This paper will also discuss how and what events precipitated the change from the “hunter-gatherer” of the Paleolithic to the farmer and animal domesticator of the Neolithic period.…

    • 867 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Geo Assignment

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    SC1 – diverse climate, but specific magnitude and spatial distribution of human population and water removal levels from 1985…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lanchester explores how evidence from historical archeological studies allowed James C. Scott to reach two conclusions in his new book, Against the Grain. Firstly, the adoption of agriculture resulted in a degradation in human health. Secondly, agriculture encouraged the formation of states, as grains were easier to tax. Hence, the author writes, “it was the ability to tax and to extract a surplus from the produce of agriculture that, in Scott’s account, led to the birth of the state, and also the creation of complex societies with hierarchies, division of labor, specialist jobs, and an elite presiding over them” (Lanchester, 2017, para. 12).…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Neolithic Revolution existed as an elementary transformation in culture in the way people lived. It all started as an observation of planting a seed that spiraled into the development of agriculture. Once the realization of the planting of seeds was discovered the people began to form agriculture. The start of it was the slash and burn farming. The theory behind this was the soil would eventually lose all of it nutrients after a while, but if you burn everything down the ashes create a new soil that is good for farming. From there domestication of animals started. The goal was to domesticate animals into strong and obedient animals. Once they realized all the benefits of framing the people settled. This settlement meant commitment to…

    • 193 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In conclusion, the Neolithic Revolution has impacted the development of civilization and is one of many turning points in all of mankind. Community, writing systems, population increase, religion, and more contributed to humans lives in many ways, from the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution. The starting of homes happened and advanced things people still use today happened from the Neolithic…

    • 315 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    CAMERON, R. and NEAL, L. “Patterns of Development: The Early Industrializaers”. A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present, 4th edition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 219-244.…

    • 1867 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his work, “The Original Affluent Society” in “Stone Age Economics”(1974) –which is written as a counter to J.K. Galbraith’s “The Affluent Society”(1958)- Marshall David Sahlins opposes the idea of hunter-gatherers being primitive. Sahlin and Galbraith fall apart in the way they think of affluence. According to him, hunter-gatherers are affluent in their own way which he introduces as the “Zen Road”, meaning that the material wants are limited and the technical means to meet them are adequate; while the scarcity and industrial activity is emphasized in the Galbraithian Way. Sahlins explains the misconception about the life of hunter-gatherer and briefly lists the sources of the misconception that stem from western ethnocentrism. For him, the hunter-gatherers can be named as the “uneconomic man” to explain these misconceptions. “[The uneconomic man’s] wants are scarce and his means are (in relation) plentiful. Consequently, he is ‘comparatively free of material pressures,’ has ‘no sense of posession,’ shows ‘an undeveloped sense of property,’ is ‘completely indifferent to any material pressures,’ manifests a ‘lack of interest’ in developing his technological equipment”(Sahlins,1974). In hunter-gatherers’ life, the sense of “prodigality” comes from the contradiction between the mobility and the sense of property.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Neolithic is Greek for “new stone”. One of the most significant changes during the Neolithic Revolution was the “shift from hunting animals and gathering plants” to sustain their livelihood (Duiker and Spielvogel 5). They went from gathering fruits, nuts and berries to planting and cultivation of crops such as grains and vegetables. “The domestication of animals” added a supply source of milk, and meat as well as wool for clothing. This change gave humans more control over the environment and allowed them to settle down to live in a continuous home for more than a few months at a time. This new way of living spread quickly around Egypt, and Mesopotamia as well as…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Disruptive innovation

    • 3073 Words
    • 13 Pages

    For thousands of years, beginning around 10,000 BC in the Middle East, humankind embarked upon its first disruptive revolution. Until that point, humans had roamed the earth in hunter-gatherer societies, foraging for food. When ancient humans discovered farming, and began settling permanently, in one place, advancements in agricultural technology led to a surplus food supply, which in turn, led to surplus time. The result was unprecedented innovation, and explosive technological, economic and social development — hallmarks of recorded history. Still, the neolithic revolution is not without detractors. Jared Diamond, author of the famous “Guns, Germs and Steel,” posited in 2009 that the move from hunter gatherers to farmers was “the worst mistake in history.” Indeed, 12,000 years after the fact, the neolithic revolution has some serious retroactive detractors. While objections to farming’s impact are unlikely to impact our dependence on it, Diamond’s comments illustrate an important point — no innovation, no matter how obviously beneficial it might be, is immune from fierce criticism. When detractors of disruptive innovation live to see them introduced, that criticism turns to active opposition. Throughout history, the forces of the status quo have conspired to impede progress, and prevent radical innovations from claiming market space.…

    • 3073 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are two phenomena that are related to the natural resource curse which I will seek to explain, examining them with more detail later in the text. The first is that of rent seeking. Rent seeking implies that some individuals or government sectors seek to maximize their own profit without making productive activities or producing output (Fischer, 2006). For…

    • 4904 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    • Ayres, R. (2008). Sustainability economics Where do we stand? Ecological Economics , 67, 281-310.…

    • 2053 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics