The West: (A Work in) Progress

Beginning at about 10000 B.C.E, the foundations of what we now know of as “the west” began to emerge through the process of the Neolithic revolution. Despite being subjectively either good or bad, the revolution brought about major change to society. The transformation of this early Sumerian civilization included both positive and negative development, such as: agricultural innovation, violence, permanent residential areas, patriarchy, animal domestication, population growth, religious development, technological improvement, class divide and much more.  Due to the inevitability of the negative effects, the progress stemming from the Neolithic revolution was key to development in human history.

Regardless of the plethora of advancements from the Neolithic Revolution, the discovery of agricultural techniques through settlement set the cornerstone for other progress to burgeon. Prior to the revolution, during the Paleolithic era, the people lead an idyllic lifestyle; they roamed the land gathering and hunting for food. This gave them little time to innovate, and understand the world around them. Fortunately, when people began developing religious believes, and the climate grew milder, the hunter-gatherer’s began settling down instead of roaming the land. The early settlement grew as agricultural approaches were enhanced, blossoming into a larger civilization. After mastering agriculture, people of this era no longer needed to put all of their time into finding enough food. With this extra time, other jobs, such as the practice of metallurgy, became available. Soon, there was trade, artwork, a writing system, and ultimately major political and economic growth.

Unfortunately, along with the positive change, there were a large amount of negative effects that came from the revolution. One of these was an increase in violence. Although mild warfare occurred prior to the revolution, when territory and possession became an issue as a result of the revolution, the violence increased. Another problem was societal hierarchy. Not only did a male-dominated society form, but also class divide became evident. A third issue with the revolution was health; people’s bodies were worn down from work, stress, and disease. Understandably, there is one major factor that these three problems have in common: they all appear as inevitable when discussing change

Broadly, history is-to many people “progress,” so it is imperative that when discussing the Neolithic Revolution questions surrounding the significance of the negative effects are discussed. For instance: Why do the problems discussed about continue to be inevitable? Why do such problems still occur today? And finally: If “progress” creates problems, why do we have and continue to thrive on it?