Necessary Steps

The Neolithic Revolution was a necessary step on the climb to civilization.  Bringing new technology such as agriculture and animal domestication, this event enabled humans to advance in all directions.  The Neolithic Revolution created the basis for human progress and civilization.

Prior to 10,000 BCE, survival dictated the lives of humans.  They lived in small hunter-gatherer groups that moved according to their resources.  They had to migrate with the animals and move to where food grew in each season.  The Neolithic Revolution allowed humans to grow their own food and raise their own herds of living meat.  This partially eliminated the risk of starvation and allowed humans to settle down.  Once people did not have to be constantly on the move, they had the chance to think and progress.

It was not until the Neolithic Revolution that humans established the building blocks to become more successful than any other species because settling down enabled humans to advance in most ways than just staying alive.  Human populations rose because more people could be supported by the food production.  Along with more people came more occupations.  There were spare people to focus on science, arts, and religion.  Trade became important.  People learned how to work with metal, the substance of the future.  They also came to a deeper understanding of their surroundings.  These different roles helped create the hierarchy that organized society.  Humans had a ruler to lead them, which meant that they could head in a concrete direction.

Had the Neolithic Revolution never happened, humans may have died out or been overpowered by some other species.  If humans continued to rely on hunting and be at the mercy of the weather for good plants, the human population never would have reached high numbers.  Without the large numbers, there most likely would not have been enough people to focus on subjects other than survival.  It was the advances first made in the Neolithic Revolution that allowed humans to beat evolution.  They became a successful species in more ways than any other.