B. F. KIWALE
P.O BOX 774
IRINGA
© Kiwale, F. Brasto 2015
ISBN 9976 911 49 1
The first handout 2016, may. 28.
Printing and publishing consultancy by
Kiwale Associates/ TFC, P.O Box 326,
Iringa, Tanzania.
RUAHA CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY- IRINGA, TANZANIA
Introduction
Neolithic
revolution or New Stone Age, begin with the introduction of farming, dating
various from C 9000 BCE in the Near East C 7000 BCE South East Europe, C 6000
BCE in East Asia and even later in other regions. This is the time when cereal
cultivation and animal domestication was introduced (Violatti, 2014).
Neolithic
revolution, the most important technological development ever to occur in human
history was the domestication of plants (agriculture) and animals
(pastoralism). Together these developments are called the Neolithic Revolution
and they allowed the development of urban centers (towns and later cities),
trade and most of the other things we consider to be components of
“civilization” (Bottema, 1990:1).
Neolithic
Revolution was the gradual change from food collection to food production,
which takes several millennia. Methods of collecting food by hunting, fishing
and gathering plants or fruits were gradually replaced by animal husbandry and
agriculture. It goes hand in hand with a change from a nomadic way of life to a sedentary
lifestyle, initially half-sedentary
(Heise, 1996).
Generally,
Neolithic Revolution was the transformation of human societies from being
hunter- gatherer based to agriculture. The shifting from hunting and gathering
to agriculture led to permanent settlements the establishment of social classes
and the eventually rise of civilization. This process began around 10,000 BCE
and lasted the thousands of years with each building block along the way shaping
human lives today.
A short
history of
Neolithic Revolution
Prior
to 10,000 BCE, most of the world's inhabitants were nomads, foraging for food
with little or no structure to their communities. Early hunter-gatherers lived
in small groups, accumulating few goods, and moving from place to place in
search of food. Because of their constant movements family sizes remained
small. These people learned to hunt with
stone axes, use fire for cooking meat
and plants, and they also began to share what they learned with others creating separate cultures. Around 200,000
years ago, a new species emerged and they are called Homo sapiens. The Homo
sapiens eventually developed greater intellectual and linguistic capabilities
which allowed them to communicate more effectively, develop better tools,
weapons, and migrate farther. These changes were introduced by agriculture
which affected the way of living and how it used the earth including forest
clearance, root crops and cereal cultivation that can be stored for long
periods of time. Later the development of new technologies for farming and
herding such as plows and irrigation system (agriculture in general) became
intensive something implied food available for feeding population where social
and political organization as the population density of the village increased,
finally people left hunting and gathering to domestication of plants and
animals (Violatti, 2014).
The characteristics of
Neolithic Revolution (before and after)
|
Before
|
After
|
|
— People
were nomadic
— People
lived in small bands
·
People were either hunters or
gatherers
— Food
shortages
|
— People
settled down in one place
— Large
populations lived in villages
— People
farmed and had many specialized jobs.
— Food
surpluses (extra)
— People
domesticated animals
|
The following are the reasons of Neolithic
Revolution altered the environment consequently environmental destruction. As
it explained here under each;
Population
growth has triggered at the very point in time when societies adopted
agricultural mode of production (Petersen, 2010:14). It was when people
increased and food became scarce and people started to find the way how will
they get food to feed the population, where seems that food can be obtained
from the nature (environment). Therefore, people decided to start clearing the
trees around the environment in order to get land for agriculture where
environment started to be destructed. Also they set fires to the land, these
fires altered the soil and opened the land up to erosion by wind and water
because no trees which prevent soil erosion and finally area become desert or
semi- desert. For example, North India until this time is semi-desert and
Middle East likewise.
Growth
of towns and cities, Neolithic Revolution as a period of technological changes
by man that is from hunters and gatherers societies to agricultural societies
contributed much to the emergence of towns and cities like
Jericho (in the Jordan valley) and Catal Höyük in Turkey, which show the great
diversity of forms of inhabitation. Because of the long time span between the
building of these cities and the bloom of the city-states around 3000 BCE,
(Heise, 1996). Through it caused the increase in number of people
as the result of cities and towns, where altered environment by clearing the
trees in order to get area for settlement consequently led to the environment
destruction. Also people cleared trees in order to prepare area for
infrastructures like roads and other path ways something led to environmental
destruction due to that.
Mining,
smelting and casting, metals and metal ore were collected in Neolithic period
where after the tools became improved people started to extract minerals from
the land especially to area where trees has been cleared, something led the
area left with various holes and no vegetation which keeps environment
healthly. For example Simple copper artifacts (pins) have been
found in a Neolithic village in Turkey and dated shortly before 7000 BCE.
Therefore digging these minerals on the earth’s
surface destructed the soil by leaving it bare and easy to be eroded by agents
like water and strong blowing wind. Later on many environmental problems like
desertification, drought, floods occurred and changes the situation of the environment
because it involved various issues like clearing trees, digging holes,
channelization and others (Heise, 1996). All these keeps the environment necked
where the stored CO2 in that tree goes direct to atmosphere and the
emitted CO2 by human being goes direct also to the atmosphere which
contribute to the Greenhouse gases finally temperature increase on the surface.
The
establishment of permanent settlement, often led to rapid deterioration of the
local natural environment, through Neolithic Revolution they cause man or
people to settle permanently. Permanent settlement brought new ways of social
organization as the subsistence strategies of Neolithic communities became more
efficient, the population of the different settlements increased (Violatti,
2014). Therefore it
was a starting point to clear the trees to the land for construction of houses,
roads, dams and canals while these trees was much important to keep environment
healthly but became opposed and threatened the biodiversities found in that trees
(Swanson, 1994: 85). These were the major source of biodiversity loss and
erosion to the land because area was open for anything to take place. In
addition tree covers reduced by cutting of timber for fuel, for agriculture use
and for domestication of animals which prevents the regeneration of trees and
finally led to destruction of environment.
Animal
domestication, animals which domesticated by man was sheep, cattle pigs and dogs
around the environment where there was an availability of fresh grasses, this
because, by then man started to engage in keeping and domesticating animals as
a workforce, as the time goes these kind of animals increased and the rate of
destructing the environment increased too due to large number of animals with a
small area therefore land became eroded, also destructed the small trees
without growing further. Through that man was in position on destructing the
environment around him. In addition these kind of animals normally produces
methane gas which is included as among the Greenhouse gas which is playing the
role of destructing the atmosphere later on harmful sun rays starts to come direct
to the earth’s surface to change the environmental climate finally area become
desert, semi-desert, drought, flooded and also affects the growth of
vegetations. Therefore through these environments become in position of being
destructed either direct or indirect (Hermansen et all, 2011).
Crop
cultivation, it involves growing of crops such as sorghum, beans, wheat and
others, it occurred when an individuals
improved their tools which facilitated them to plant crops, harvest and store
crops more efficiently than during the period of hunting and gathering. They
were using metal tools and plow which enabled them to grow crops on large areas
of land, something makes them to clear vegetation in large quantity so as to
wide up their farms where the environment started to change in climate because
area is bare and erosion on soil taking place intensive. Also crop cultivation
facilitated population increase in size because food is available, more over
people cleared area for settlement. Therefore through these occasions
environment become destructed (Lewis, 2005: 55-60).
Generally,
population increase, development of cities and towns, extraction of minerals
and permanent settlement of people during Neolithic revolution did not occur
overnight, the transition from hunter-gather society to an agricultural society
took thousands of years to complete. Therefore Neolithic revolution is still
dominating our everyday lives and its impacts is still altering the
environments consequently environmental destruction, this lead to continuous
debate between environmentalist themselves toward the environmental conservation
and protections. Therefore we advice to plant trees around the environment also
implement all policies relating to environmental conservation in order to keep
the environment healthly than destructing it.
REFERENCE
AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE
Bottema,
R. (1990). Man’s Role in the shaping of
Eastern Mediteraninean landscape. Nethaland: State University of Groningen.
Heise, J. (Feb 17, 1996). Prehistory of the ancient near, East including: Neolithic,
Chalcolithic.
Hermansen,
J.E & Kristensen, T. (July, 2011). Management options to reduce the carbon
footprint of livestock products. Animal
frontier, 1(1), 33-39.
Lewis,
P. D. (2005). The Neolithic mind: consciousness cosmos and the
realm of the gods. New York: Thames and Hudson publishers.
Petersen,
M. B. & Skaaning, S. E. ( ). Ultimate
causes of state formation: the significance of biogeography, diffusion and
Neolithic Revolution. Denimark: Aurhus University.
Swanson,
T. (1994). The international regulation
of extinction. New York: New York University press.
Violatti, C. (August 05, 2014). “Neolithic,” Ancient History Encyclopedia. http://www.ancient.eu/Neolithic/.
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Heise, J. (Feb 17, 1996). Prehistory of the ancient near, East including: Neolithic,
Chalcolithic.
During
the Neolithic a ''revolution'' takes place, called the Neolithic revolution (the term was first used by V.G. Childe in
1936). Despite its name it is a very slow and gradual change from food
collection to food production, which takes several millennia. Methods of
collecting food by hunting, fishing and gathering plants/fruits were gradually
replaced by animal husbandry and agriculture. It goes hand in hand with a
change from a nomadic way of
life to a sedentary lifestyle,
initially half-sedentary”.
