Neolithic Vs Essay

Submitted By Hopedenton
Words: 777
Pages: 4

While Paleolithic and Neolithic societies were similar for the reason that the cultures shared the polytheistic belief of life after death, the civilizations differ due to the fact that Neolithic's population had inequalities between genders and a division of people by wealth while the Paleolithic people lived an Egalitarian life. Hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era moved from place to place depending on food supply and lived a nomadic lifestyle unlike Neolithic societies who built shelters and lived in permanent small villages near water sources and rich soil. In Paleolithic times, while women would gather grains, nuts and berries, men would be off hunting game. While hunting for one week out of the month did not provide the majority of the meals in prehistoric times, it did allow for cooperation between the sexes. Men and women relied on each other's skills before, during and after the hunt and worked together equally. Although men were leaders of the clans, women were treated fair within the group. Neolithic civilizations were not so appeasing to women. Men became the dominant workers in agriculture while women were limited to taking care of children and domesticated animals. This transition took place because with the start of agriculture, it took more labor to tend to the land. Since men were able to physically keep up with the demands of farming, women became subordinate in the roles of the Neolithic society. The population of the Neolithic people became dependent on agricultural farming and domestication of plants and animals to accommodate their growing populations, needs of barley for alcohol, and further advancements of domestication. What started the inequality of women in their social roles started after the Paleolithic era, and began in Neolithic times with division starting when patriarchy and social class were introduced. The hunter-gatherers of Paleolithic times, in contrast, did not have a set rule of government, as it would often just depend on the family or tribe. Neolithic peoples used chiefdoms where patriarchal political organization was based on kinship, and in which formal leadership was taken by a legitimate senior member of a select family or 'house'. The elites would then form ethics relative to the general group. Wealth was also a factor when it came to division in social classes in the Neolithic period. If more livestock was owned and more produce was grown in one family to the point where they had some left over to store and trade for other goods, it created power within the unit and resulted in more wealth. The possession of the natural resources led to inherited gaps between the relative wealth of families. The hunter-gatherers did not care for wealth or social roles because their worries in life were to survive each day and tribes would usually only consist of a family or two so one would not dominate the other. The Paleolithic people also did not care for social status of wealth because they did not store their resources. Instead, they used whatever came to them and would not use the resources in trade. The men in the Neolithic become dominant over the