Neolithic- Hypotheses

Neolithic- Hypotheses

1. The term Neolithic (new stone ) was used for John Lubbock (1865) to refer to the period in which people began to polish the stone.

   • Is the final division of the stone age (Also called the Agricultural Revolution).
     • This period is characterized by:
       • Domestication of plants (Agriculture)
       • Domestication of animals (livestock)
     • The first agricultural settlements date from 9000 BC (Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Indus)
     • Origins of agriculture (Hypotheses)
       • There are 5 hypotheses
         • Oasis hypothesis
           • It was advocated by Gordon Childe (1936). The climated changed (less rain), for that humans went to live in or near oases.
             • Also some and plants and animals lived there (it was a small step to domesticate some animals).
               • NOTE: climate data from the period doesn´t support it though
                 • For me, this theory (oasis hypothesis) is the most real, even when the climate data don't support it, because human is intelligent, but is not so ingenious to invent a new form to produce food (Agriculture). Human have always taken inspiration from the nature, in the ancient period and in the actual period. For that I think that this climate changes helped the human to develop the agriculture and domestication of animals (animal that stay near or in the oases for its survival)
         • Ideological hypothesis
           • Developed by Jaques Cauvin, he said that agriculture was the result of various processes and strategies of humans being
             • This hypothesis say that is related to their need for survival and not the result of environmental or economic determinisms
         • Social factor hypothesis
           • Developed by A. Testar, It start from the premise of the existence of nomadic hunter-gatherer droups and sedentary hunter-gatherer groups and accumulators
             • Members of the latter grouo would push to produce more, and that led to the discovery of agriculture
         • Nuclear zone hypothesis
           • Robert Braiwood claims that the Neolithic origin occurred in ecologically favorable areas
             • In those areas where plants and animal species already existed in a natural way
               • These zones would be located in the fertile crescent (the nuclear area)
         • Population pressure hypothesis
           • Developed by M. N. Cohen. The population was no longer sustainable by hunting and looking for food.
             • Agriculture began when population reached critical mass
               • Population required more food than habitat could sustain
     • In this period were stone tools were more advanced

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