1. Origins of Civilization (Prehistory-300 B.C.)
Lesson 2 The Neolithic Revolution

2. Origins of Civilization (Prehistory-300 B.C.)
Lesson 2 The Neolithic Revolution
Learning Objectives
Describe the skills and beliefs that early modern humans developed during the Old Stone Age.
Analyze why the development of agriculture is considered the start of the New Stone Age and the Neolithic Revolution.
Explain how the Neolithic Revolution dramatically changed the way people lived.

3. Origins of Civilization (Prehistory-300 B.C.)
Lesson 2 The Neolithic Revolution
Key Terms
Old Stone Age,
Paleolithic Period.
New Stone Age,
Neolithic Period.
nomads,
animism.
Neolithic Revolution
domesticate
Jericho
Çatalhüyük
surplus

4. Old Stone Age Skills and Beliefs
Historians have divided the long period of human prehistory into different ages. They call the earliest period of human history the Old Stone Age, or Paleolithic Period. This long period dates from the time that the ancestors of early humans began to make tools—about 2 million years ago—up to about 12,000 years ago. Historians have identified a second period as the New Stone Age, or Neolithic Period. This age began about 12,000 years ago and ended with the development of writing about 5,000 years ago.

5. Old Stone Age Skills and Beliefs
Strategies for Survival
Early Religious Beliefs

6. Old Stone Age Skills and Beliefs
Scholars believe that Stone Age hunters followed animal herds across a land bridge that once connected Asia and North America.

7. Old Stone Age Skills and Beliefs
In order to survive, early hominids had to create tools that allowed them to do a variety of tasks.

8. Farming Begins a New Stone Age
About 12,000 years ago, bands of nomadic people made a breakthrough that had far-reaching effects. They learned to farm. By producing their own food crops, people could remain in one place instead of hunting and gathering. Slowly, these early farmers settled into permanent villages and developed a whole new range of skills and tools. This change, from nomadic life to settled farming, ushered in the New Stone Age.

9. Farming Begins a New Stone Age
The Neolithic Revolution
The Domestication of Plants and Animals

10. Farming Begins a New Stone Age
Draw Conclusions Based on this illustration, what evidence would archaeologists use to learn about the interior of Neolithic houses?

11. Dramatic Change with the Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution enabled people to become food producers for the first time. It led to a growth in population, which in turn led to more interaction among human communities. No greater change in the way people lived took place until the Industrial Revolution that began in the late 1700s.

12. Dramatic Change with the Neolithic Revolution
Establishing the Earliest Villages
Settled People Change Their Ways of Life
New Technologies
The Neolithic Impact

13. Dramatic Change with the Neolithic Revolution
The ruins of the Neolithic village of Jericho.

14. Dramatic Change with the Neolithic Revolution
Analyze Charts Based on this chart, which statement would be correct? Paleolithic people were more advanced than Neolithic people; or Neolithic people were more advanced than Paleolithic people.

15. Quiz: Old Stone Age Skills and Beliefs
Why would Old Stone Age humans bury the dead with tools and weapons?
A. a belief in an afterlife that was peaceful and plentiful
B. a belief in a supreme being that met all their needs in the afterlife
C. a belief in an afterlife that was similar to this world
D. a belief in spirits but not an afterlife

16. Quiz: Farming Begins a New Stone Age
Which of the following might have been the main reason Neolithic farmers began domesticating plants and animals?
A. to keep a supply of food on hand for later use
B. to create a surplus of food to be used as barter
C. to develop settled villages and cities
D. to supplement hunting and gathering activities

17. Quiz: Dramatic Change with the Neolithic Revolution
In early Neolithic villages, farmers divided the workload among the sexes, which
A. allowed men and women equal roles in village life.
B. ensured women prominent roles in village political life.
C. allowed men to dominate a village’s economic and political life.
D. ensured farmers an elite role in village life.