How the Neolithic Revolution Laid the Foundation for Society

The Neolithic Revolution set the course for the world to become as it is today. The event is important because most of what a person experiences in his or her daily life would not be possible without the early human's development of agriculture. In order to better understand the significance of the Neolithic Revolution, we will briefly explore the various changes (political, social, and economic) brought on by the event with a focus on how they came to pass in the early complex societies of Mesopotamia and ancient India.

To understand why these changes happened, one must look at what exactly the Revolution caused that led to these occurrences. Very soon after the development of agriculture, two principal events take place: the concentration of population in urban areas (typically on rivers because both crops and people depend on water) and the development of a surplus of food. Both of these had never been previously experienced in quite this way before in human existence, and humans had no way of dealing with their effects. Governments would need to be created to compensate for this.

According to Niccolò Machiavelli, a city, and thus a government, is formed for one of two reasons: people living in an area find themselves in need of protection (Mesopotamia and Harappan) or the native people are conquered for the glory and use of the conquers (Aryan India). Prior to the birth of agriculture, a formal government would not have worked because hunter-gathering groups were much smaller, but now it was imperative for the new societies to function due to the population size and new-found wealth.

In Mesopotamia, the government was formed to provide order among the inhabitants, to organize work and public projects, to see that irrigation systems were built and maintained and for overall protection by means of a military and walls around the cities. These, or variances of the same needs, are essential to the operation of any city, and in Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, they would make or break the infant society.

The Harappan society that existed before the arrival of the Aryans in India also developed in much the same way as Mesopotamia. They settled on a river to pursue farming techniques and though the specifics of their government are unknown, evidence shows that their cities were walled and that they had also accumulated a great deal of wealth and population. Since this pattern seemingly mimics that of the Mesopotamian development, it's highly likely that they also had a central government that maintained order. So it's established that the development of agriculture eventually leads to a need for government.

The new wealth brought about many new economic ideas. The surplus in both Mesopotamia and in the Harappan society allowed for trade, although some controversy exists as to the economic value of this practice at least as it applies to Mesopotamia. Marc Van De Mieroop claims that the importance of trade in Mesopotamia may have been overstated because the region lacks many raw materials and because goods from abroad simply were not as necessary as some scholars claim. Still, whether or not it affected the society's economy in a immense way, even small-scale trading was a new and significant concept since prior the hunter-gatherer societies did not have the extra goods to trade nor the place to store the acquired materials.

Another new economic idea that emerged in Mesopotamia was the concept of property and land ownership. A man was now able to accumulate wealth throughout his lifetime, and after he died it could be passed to his children. This, however, helped shift the society toward patriarchy and put women in a subordinate role.

Life in the ancient agriculturally-dependant city was rough. Even today nature often acts devastatingly bringing floods and droughts that destroy crops, fields and those dependant on them. That fact was no different back then. Also, when population migrates to urban areas and people are in close contact with one another, the foundation for the emergence of epidemic disease is laid. This left people pondering the question of death and the afterlife. Thus, religion comes to the scene.

The Mesopotamian Gods reflected the happenings in nature. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, they seem to have more humanly qualities than those of today. The god Enlil causing a great flood to kill all of man for no apparent reason other than his not being able to sleep because of "The uproar of mankind" says a lot about this culture that was living at the mercy of weather that too often would turn on them through no fault of their own.

Back in India, following the decline of Harappan society and the Aryan conquest, a religion emerges for another reason. Instead of merely being a response to the question of life after death and why bad things happen, this religion embraced the idea of a social hierarchy that stabilized and provided order for the people much like the government did for the people of Mesopotamia.

The final change that developed from the Neolithic Revolution, and perhaps the most significant one, is social stratification. Because there was a surplus, it is apparent that not everyone in the society necessarily had agricultural occupations. People were now able to pursue different careers. This marks the beginning of labor division. Labor division brings about class distinctions. Even today what you do determines who you are and vice versa.

The new and useful jobs in Mesopotamia consisted of bronze and iron metallurgy, defense, and ship and other transport device building. Though these helped the society to grow culturally, these were not women's jobs. This fact along with the previously mentioned property ownership system eventually placed women on the bottom tier of society reducing them to mere property of their husbands. In The Judgments of Hammurabi this is best illustrated by law number 129: "If the wife of a man is found lying with another male, they shall be bound and thrown into the water. If the husband lets his wife live, then the king shall let his servant live...". Clearly, the husband had a great amount of control over the affairs of his wife if he has the power to decide if she lives or dies.

Another example of the Mesopotamian social hierarchy that can be found in this text is the purposeful distinctions between the punishments for the peasants and for those of the upper class. The laws allow for much harsher treatment of the individuals of lower social status and for less reimbursement for crimes against them, and this is even more so if the crimes are committed between different ranking classes. The elite would, in effect, get more and pay less for transgressions than the peasant.

These societies and others like them laid the groundwork for the modern age. The religion that was introduced to India by the Aryans has developed into what today is known as Hinduism. Trading and sales still go on. The wheel and other inventions of Mesopotamian origin are the ancestors of the technology of the present. Society may not be as it is now without these early civilizations and they would not have existed as they were if not for the Neolithic Revolution.

Sources:

Marc Van De Mieroop The Ancient Mesopotamian City (1997 and 1999) Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius

Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler Traditions and Encounters 2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education

The Code of Hammurabi

The Epic of Gilgamesh