The term “Neolithic revolution” was introduced in 1949 by the English archaeologist Gordon Child, who was close in his conceptual preferences to Marxism and proposed the term by analogy with the Marxist concept of “industrial revolution”. This revolution, according to Child, “transformed the human economy, giving man control over his own food supply,” thereby creating the conditions for the emergence of civilization. Since the concept of “industrial revolution” by the mid-20th century. had already become generally accepted, the term “Neolithic revolution” quickly gained popularity. Other names for this historical event (for example, “revolution in food production”, “agricultural revolution”) did not receive the support of specialists.

Currently, the Neolithic Revolution is considered one of the three main revolutionary changes in the economy - along with the industrial and scientific and technological revolutions.

Table 1. Modern periodization of the development of primitive society based on the material of tools

Table 1. MODERN PERIODIZATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMITIVE SOCIETY BY MATERIAL OF TOOLS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AGES		CHRONOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
I. Stone Age
1. Paleolithic	lower	1500–100 thousand years ago
	average	100–40
	upper	40–14
2. Mesolithic		12–8 thousand years BC
3. Neolithic*		8-5
II.Copper Age*		5–3
III. Bronze Age*		3–1
IV. Iron Age*		from 1 thousand BC to the present day
* In Europe and Asia

The terms “industrial revolution” and “scientific and technological revolution” contain an indication of the main features of the changes that have occurred (accordingly, the transformation of industry into the main sphere of the economy and the increase in the knowledge intensity of the technologies used). In contrast, the term “Neolithic revolution” indicates only the archaeological era when revolutionary changes occurred, but does not specify what these changes actually were (Table 1). This is not accidental - the fact is that discussions about the main content of the Neolithic revolution continue to this day.

Neolithic revolution as a change in technologies for the production of material goods.

G. Child himself considered the main content of the Neolithic revolution transition from appropriating farm(hunting, gathering, fishing) To producing farm(agriculture and cattle breeding). Previously, people took nature’s gifts (wild edible plants, animals, fish), but now they began to produce something that did not exist in nature before (selection of cultivated plants, breeding new breeds of livestock). It was this change in the main types of production activity that led, according to G. Child, to the development of social differentiation, the archaeological indicators of which are monumental architecture, hierarchy of settlements and developed art.

The study of archaeological materials (especially in America) and the life of surviving backward peoples showed, however, that a strict connection between social stratification and the transition to a productive economy is by no means found everywhere. There are known peoples who continued to engage in appropriative farming, but had already moved far away from primitive equality. For example, Alaska Indians of the 18th–19th centuries. They were mainly engaged in fishing and hunting, but by the time the Europeans arrived they already had such institutions as chiefdoms, wars between tribes, and patriarchal slavery.

To explain this contradiction, one should pay attention to the most general features of a producing economy, identified by the Soviet historian V.M. Bakhta:

sedentism;

creation and storage of stock;

interval in the sequence of work;

cyclical nature of work;

expanding the range of activities.

Of these five signs, only three are sufficient for the development of social stratification - the 1st, 2nd and 5th. The most important is sign (2): it is the accumulation of rare material goods (primarily food) that gives rise to the division into rich and poor. Therefore, the Soviet historian V.A. Bashilov back in the 1980s proposed to understand the Neolithic revolution as transition from the production of a subsistence minimum to the stable production of a surplus product regardless of the specific forms of economy in which this transition occurs.

The logic of V.A. Bashilov’s concept is as follows. Before the Neolithic Revolution, the production of surplus food was haphazard and unsustainable because there was no technology for long-term preservation of scarce food. When methods of long-term storage of food reserves are discovered (smoking, salting, etc.), a powerful incentive immediately arises not to immediately eat all the prey, as happened in early primitive society, but to accumulate it for a “rainy day.” Owners of a larger reserve can guarantee a stable standard of living not only for themselves, but also for their loved ones. Therefore, they acquire a higher social status. The accumulation of wealth stimulates predatory raids on neighboring tribes to take away their savings. Thus, sufficient conditions may arise for the formation of social stratification even if the appropriating economy is preserved.

Bashilov's concept does not refute, but complements G. Child's concept - it considers the transition to a producing economy (the Neolithic revolution in the narrow sense of the word) as a special case of the emergence of technologies for the production of surplus product. If the Neolithic revolution in the narrow sense of the word, according to Child, includes all five signs of a productive economy, then the Neolithic revolution in the broad sense, according to Bashilov, includes only three (1st, 2nd and 5th).

The very fact of the existence of a direct relationship between the strengthening of social stratification and the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one (especially agriculture) is beyond doubt. Its illustration is, for example, a matrix of the relationship between types of economy and the level of class stratification compiled by the modern Russian historian A.V. Korotaev based on the database of J.P. Murdoch (it reflects the ethnographic characteristics of 165 peoples of different countries and eras) (Table 2 ). It shows that for classless societies an appropriative economy is typical (although there are classless agricultural peoples), and for societies with high class stratification (3rd level in the table) developed agriculture is typical.

It should be taken into account that in different regions of the planet the Neolithic revolution occurred asynchronously and with different regional specifics. There are three ancient primary foci:

Western Asia (the territory of modern Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan), where by 7-6 thousand BC. an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy developed (growing wheat, barley and peas, raising goats) and the first cities of the planet appeared (Chatal Guyuk, Jarmo, Jericho);

Mesoamerica (the territory of Mexico), where by the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. an agricultural economy based on the cultivation of maize developed; territory of Peru, where by the second half of 2 thousand BC. The economy of settled agriculture (maize cultivation) is being formed, while fishing remains of great importance.

The Neolithic revolution in each of the primary centers took a long time, over 2–4 millennia. When the new producing economy began to spread from these centers to the surrounding regions, the adoption of already accumulated production and social experience sharply reduced the transition time. In the modern world, backward peoples who did not survive the Neolithic revolution survived only in remote corners of the planet with special natural and climatic conditions.

Neolithic revolution as the formation of the institution of property rights.

The thesis about the stable production of surplus product can be perceived as an indication of an increase in the level and quality of life during the Neolithic revolution: before it, people lived on the verge of starvation, and after that, as a result of the transition to more progressive technologies, life became more abundant. This understanding was widespread until the 1970s, when American anthropologist Marshall Sahlins proved it wrong.

In his monograph Stone Age Economics(1973) M. Sahlins, summarizing ethnographic and historical information, formulated a paradoxical conclusion: early farmers worked more, but had a lower standard of living than late primitive hunters and gatherers. The early agricultural peoples known in history worked, as a rule, a much larger number of days than those who lived until the 20th century spent on obtaining food. primitive hunters and gatherers. The idea of ​​the hungry life of backward peoples also turned out to be very exaggerated - among farmers, hunger strikes were more severe and regular. The fact is that in an appropriative economy, people did not take from nature everything that it could give them. The reason for this is not the imaginary laziness of backward peoples, but the specificity of their way of life, which does not attach importance to the accumulation of material wealth (which, moreover, is often impossible to accumulate due to the lack of technologies for long-term food storage).

A paradoxical conclusion arises, which is called the “Sahlins paradox”: during the Neolithic revolution, the improvement of agricultural production leads to a deterioration in living standards. In this case, can the Neolithic revolution be considered a progressive phenomenon if it lowers the standard of living? It turns out that it is possible if we consider the criteria of progress more broadly, without reducing them only to average per capita consumption.

What exactly was the progressiveness of the Neolithic revolution can be explained according to the model proposed by the American economic historians Douglas North and Robert Thomas ( cm. rice.).

In early primitive society, common property dominated: due to the small population, access to hunting grounds and fishing grounds was open to everyone without exception. This meant that there was a general right to use the resource before it was captured (whoever was first would grab it) and an individual right to use the resource after it was captured. As a result, each tribe, collecting prey from the next area to which it migrated, was interested in the predatory consumption of public resources “here and now”, without caring about reproduction. When the territory's resources were depleted, they abandoned it and moved to a new place.

This situation, when each user is concerned with maximizing his personal short-term benefit without caring about the future, is what economists call the tragedy of the common property. As long as natural resources were abundant, problems did not arise. However, their depletion due to population growth led approximately 10 thousand years ago to the first ever revolution in production and in the social organization of society.

According to Sahlins' paradox, hunting and other types of appropriative farming provided much higher labor productivity than agriculture. Therefore, while the demographic load on nature did not exceed a certain threshold value (in the figure - the value of q d), primitive tribes did not engage in productive farming, even if there were suitable conditions for this (say, plants suitable for cultivation). When, due to the depletion of natural resources, the labor productivity of hunters began to fall, population growth required a transition from hunting to agriculture (in the graph - from an initially higher level of VMP h to a trajectory of a lower VMP a), or the extinction of hunters from hunger. In principle, a third way out is also possible - to stop demographic pressure at a critical limit. However, primitive people rarely resorted to it due to a lack of understanding of environmental laws.

To move from hunting to farming, fundamental changes in property relations are necessary. Farming is a fundamentally sedentary activity: for many years or constantly, farmers exploit the same piece of land, the harvest from which depends not only on the weather, but also on the actions of people. Fertile land becomes a rare resource that requires protection. There is a need to protect cultivated lands from attempts to seize them by outsiders and resolve land conflicts between fellow tribesmen. As a result, the state begins to emerge as an institution whose main economic function is the protection of property rights.

D. North and R. Thomas proposed to consider the main content of the First Economic Revolution (as they called the Neolithic Revolution) the emergence of property rights that secure exclusive rights individual, family, clan or tribe to the ground. Overcoming the tragedy of common property made it possible to stop the decline in the marginal product of labor and stabilize it.

The progress of social development during the Neolithic revolution is thus manifested not directly in the growth of the average per capita standard of living, but in an increase in population density and size (Table 3). It is estimated that the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture allowed the population density to increase hundreds of times. Since this transition did not occur in all regions of the planet, the growth of the total population of the planet occurred more slowly - not hundreds, but only tens of times.

LECTURE No. 3§ 2. Neolithic revolution and its consequences.

What is the Neolithic Revolution . For millions of years, people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering. Man “appropriated” the gifts of nature, which is why this type of economy is called appropriating . People were entirely dependent on nature, external conditions, climate changes, the abundance or scarcity of prey, and random luck. About 11-10 thousand years ago, the relationship between man and nature became radically different. Agriculture and livestock breeding began. People began to independently produce the products necessary for life. Dependence on the environment has greatly decreased. This type of farming is called producing .

The productive economy still remains the basis of human existence.

The transition to a productive economy among a number of tribes and peoples began during the Mesolithic period and ended in the Neolithic.

The emergence of a productive economy radically changed the life of mankind, relationships within human communities, and the order of management in them.

Historians called these changes neolithic revolution .

Causes of the Neolithic Revolution. About 12 thousand years ago, the last major glaciation of the Earth ended. In a relatively short period of time, the tundra and part of the territory where eternal ice lay were covered with forests. It seemed that such changes would make life easier for people, but during the melting of the ice, mammoths and many other large animals, which primitive people were used to and knew how to hunt and which provided them with food, skins, and bones for making various objects, became extinct. I had to master hunting small game and birds, and pay more attention to fishing. Now tribal communities in search of prey were often forced to move to new territories.

During this period, bows and arrows, various traps, and traps were invented. Another invention was the boomerang, which had the property of returning back when thrown unsuccessfully (not hitting the prey). People built boats and rafts on which they sailed not only along rivers and lakes, but also went out to sea.

The melting of the glacier had dire consequences for the communities of Western Asia (the territory of modern Turkey, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Iran and some other countries). During the Paleolithic period, wild sheep, wild boars, goats, bulls were hunted here, and cereals were collected - wheat, barley, millet. In the wild, these plants grow only in the mountainous regions of Western Asia.

To cut the ears of cereal crops, people invented a special tool - sickle. A groove was hollowed out along the inner surface of a curved wooden stick or bone, and sharply ground pebbles 1-2 cm in size were inserted into it close to each other ( microliths) and fixed everything with resin or concrete. If one of the microliths broke or fell out, it could easily be replaced with another, since they were made the same, in the form of trapezoids or triangles. Later, microliths began to be used to make composite knives, swords, axes, and spears.

After the end of glaciation, a terrible drought began in Western Asia, which led to the death of many animals and plants. The environmental crisis has forced people to look for new sources of livelihood. A solution was found in artificial breeding of plants and taming (domestication) of animals.

The emergence of a productive economy . Grain gatherers noticed: if a grain is buried in loose soil and watered with water, then an ear with many grains grows from it. This is how it was born agriculture . Only the best grains were selected for sowing each year. Over time, the appearance and many beneficial properties of wheat, millet, barley and other grains have changed.

Due to the drought, wild sheep, goats, cows, and pigs began to enter human settlements in search of water. Community members often caught them alive, kept them in pens and ate them as needed. Some animals were already born in captivity. Over time, such animals began to be fed, grazed, and the calmest and largest were selected for breeding. Gradually, domestic animals began to differ from wild animals in habits, character, and even anatomical structure. Happened animal domestication. Appeared animal husbandry (cattle breeding).

They were first domesticated in the 10th - 9th millennia BC. sheep and goats, in the 7th millennium BC. tamed a pig and a cow. In ancient times, the cat was also domesticated to save grain supplies from rodents. (The dog was domesticated by Paleolithic hunters).

The first plants to be grown were wheat, barley, millet, and lentils. Later they learned to grow fruit-bearing trees - plums, pears, peaches, apricots, apples, grapes, etc.

The oldest site with traces of agriculture, discovered in northern Iraq, dates back to the 10th - 9th millennia BC.

When the climate became more humid, agriculture spread throughout almost all of Western Asia and some neighboring territories (Egypt, southern Europe, Central Asia, etc.). New species of cultivated plants and animals were bred on new lands. Thus, in Central Asia the camel was domesticated.

In a number of places, agriculture arose independently, without connection with Western Asia. America, of course, belongs to such places, where they began to grow corn and tomatoes. Rice was “domesticated” in India and China. Cattle may have been independently domesticated in Europe. However, the “ancestors” of most domestic animals (sheep, goats, cows) and plants (wheat, barley, millet) are considered to be wild animals and plants that existed only in Western Asia.

Cereal crops and domestic animals obtained by the ancient inhabitants of Western Asia still remain the main sources of food for humanity.

Consequences of the Neolithic Revolution . Following the advent of agriculture, many more discoveries were made. People learned to produce wool and linen fabrics. The most important invention was ceramics(the first products made of baked clay date back to the 8th millennium BC). Appeared Potter's wheel. Bricks used in construction were also made from clay.

To irrigate the fields, they began to build canals and pools, gradually irrigation (irrigation) structures became more and more difficult. The fields began to be cultivated not only with a hoe, but also plow And plow m. Over time, bulls began to be used for plowing.

At the settlement of farmers and pastoralists at the turn of the 8th - 7th millennia BC. The most ancient products made of native copper were found in Chayonyu-Tepesi in Asia Minor. From the V - IV millennia BC. a period is coming in the Middle East Chalcolithic - Copper-Stone Age (transitional from the Stone to the Bronze Age). In Europe, the beginning of the Chalcolithic dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Bronze Age began in the Middle East at the end of the 4th - 3rd millennium BC, and in Europe in the 2nd millennium BC. Iron products ( iron age ) began to be manufactured from the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in Western Asia and in the 1st millennium BC. in Europe. After the development of mass production of iron ore products, stone tools finally disappeared.

Neolithic revolution on the territory of modern Russia . In the steppes of the Southern Urals and Volga region, archaeologists found bones of domestic animals (cows, goats, sheep), which began to be bred 8 - 7 thousand years ago. These are the oldest traces of a productive economy on the territory of Russia. Domestic animals were brought here by settlers from the southern lands.

People who once lived in the Southern Urals also contributed to the Neolithic revolution. It is here that the world's oldest bones of domesticated horses were found.

The appearance of domesticated horses dramatically accelerated the course of history. Horses facilitated communication between different peoples, which contributed to their mutual development. It is no coincidence that in regions where it was not possible to tame a horse, development proceeded slowly (America, Australia).

Social division of labor. The origins of crafts and trade . The economy in the first communities of farmers and cattle breeders was complex. Growing cereals, fruits and raising livestock complemented each other. However, differences in natural conditions very soon led to the emergence specializations .

On fertile lands, the main occupation becomes agriculture and associated livestock raising. Farmers led a sedentary lifestyle. The tribes that found themselves in the steppe regions completely switched to cattle breeding, which, after the domestication of the horse and the development of the wheel, acquired nomadic character .

The so-called happenedfirst major social division of labor - separation of agriculture and cattle breeding into separate economic complexes.

In the settlements of farmers, people began to appear who specialized in the production of various products from stone, metals or clay, in the manufacture of textiles, etc. ( artisans). Over time, many began to live exclusively from crafts.

Happened second major social division of labor - separation of crafts from agriculture and cattle breeding.

The social division of labor contributed to the development exchange . Craftsmen supplied farmers and cattle breeders with their products, receiving food from them. Farmers and herders also exchanged their products. This is how it was born trade .

The beginning of the formation of nations. With the development of the manufacturing economy, differences in the pace of development of different regions of the world have increased. Where there were favorable conditions for farming and the development of crafts, development proceeded faster.

Natural and climatic conditions influenced the formation of peoples who spoke different languages.

Scientists suggest that once upon a time the ancestors of speakers of related languages ​​represented single communities and lived in one place. Then individual groups separated, mixed with other tribes, and differences in languages ​​​​appeared and intensified.

In the scientific world, the debate still continues about which peoples lived on the territory of Western Asia during the formation of the productive economy. Undoubtedly, both there and in North Africa in ancient times there lived tribes that gave rise to Semitic-Hamitic languages. These languages ​​were spoken by many ancient peoples: Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians.

There is a point of view that in some areas of Western Asia there lived tribes that laid the foundation for peoples speaking Indo-European languages. Nowadays, Indo-European languages ​​are used by a significant part of the world's population. In particular, Russian belongs to the East Slavic group of Indo-European languages.

The question of the time and place of the appearance of the Indo-Europeans has also been the subject of debate for more than two hundred years, since the kinship of the languages ​​distributed over vast areas from India to Western Europe was established (hence their name). Most scientists believe that the Indo-European community began to take shape in the 4th - 3rd millennia BC, but there are opinions about an earlier period (VI - 5th millennium BC).

Previously, it was believed that the ancestral homeland of the Indo-European peoples was Southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany. Currently, this point of view has no supporters among scientists. The most widespread theory is the Balkan-Danubian ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans. The version about the southern Russian ancestral home (Eastern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, Volga region, Southern Cis-Urals) is also popular. Finally, an opinion is expressed about the Eastern Anatolian ancestral home (north of Western Asia).

The main occupation of the Indo-European tribes for a long time was cattle breeding. However, mastering the secret of making bronze weapons made the Indo-Europeans very warlike. Separate groups moved in different directions, trying to capture the best lands. Mixing with other tribes and passing on their languages ​​to them, the Indo-Europeans settled almost all of Europe, Central Asia, Iran, India and other lands.

Evolution of social relations. Neighborhood Community . The Mesolithic and Neolithic periods were a time of change in communities.

As farmers improved their tools and used draft animals, the individual family became an increasingly independent production unit. The need for joint work disappeared. This process was enhanced by the introduction of bronze and especially iron tools. The clan community gave way neighboring community .

Housing, tools, draft animals in the neighboring community became property of individual families. However, arable and other land continued to remain in communal ownership. As a rule, members of one family worked on the arable land, but clearing the fields and irrigating them were carried out jointly by all members of the neighboring community.

Among pastoralists, clan relationships lasted longer than among farmers. The herds remained the common property of the clan for a long time.

Over time, equality within the community became a thing of the past. Some families became wealthier than others and accumulated wealth.

At the origins of statehood. The highest governing body in communities and tribes remained the assembly, in which all adult members took part. Elected by the assembly for the period of hostilities leader depended on the support of his fellow tribesmen. The elders formed the council of the community, the tribe. All relations within society were regulated by customs and traditions ( customary law ). The organization of power in primitive communities and tribes can be called self-government.

As material inequality developed, inequality in governance also increased. Wealthier members of the community began to exert increasing influence on management. In the national assembly, the word of such people becomes decisive. The power of the leader was now maintained during periods of peace and gradually began to be inherited. In conditions of growing inequality, many customs and traditions ceased to effectively regulate life. The leaders had to resolve disputes between their fellow tribesmen and punish them for offenses that could not have happened before. For example, after individual families acquired property, theft arose, which was unknown before, since everything was common.

The development of inequality was facilitated by an increase in the number of clashes between tribes. During the Paleolithic period, tribal wars were quite rare, but since the beginning of the Neolithic revolution they were fought almost constantly. Individual communities and tribes, in a productive economy, could accumulate significant food reserves, which other tribes sought to appropriate.

For successful defense and attacks, the tribes united in tribal unions led by a military leader. The best warriors rallied around the leaders.

In many ancient societies, leaders also acquired and priestly functions: only they could communicate with the gods and ask them for help for their fellow tribesmen. The leader-priest led the rituals.

Over time, members of the community (tribe) began to supply the leader and his associates with everything they needed. Initially these were voluntary gifts, signs of respect. Then the donations moved into the category obligatory taxes, similar to taxes. The material basis for this phenomenon can be considered success in economic development. It has been calculated, for example, that the primitive farmer of Western Asia provided himself with food for a whole year in two months of work; the rest of the time he gave what he produced to the leaders and priests.

After a successful raid on their neighbors, the leader and especially distinguished warriors received the best part of the booty. There were also prisoners among the booty. Previously, they were either released, sacrificed to the gods, or eaten. Now the prisoners began to be forced to work for the victors (again because the person could already produce more than he himself needed). This is how they appeared slaves.

The growth of wealth of leaders and nobles as a result of wars further increased their power over their fellow tribesmen.

Tribes united in alliances were usually not equal to each other. One tribe dominated the alliance, sometimes forcing others to join it. It became common for one tribe to conquer others. In this case, the conquerors had to develop new control mechanisms. The leaders of the conquering tribes became rulers, and their fellow tribesmen - assistants in managing the conquered.

The structure created was in many ways reminiscentstate , one of the main features of which is the presence of bodies for managing society, separated from society itself.

At the same time, the traditions of self-government persisted for a very long time. Even the most powerful leader convened a people's assembly, where important decisions were discussed and approved. The assembly elected a new leader after the death of the old one, even if he was his son.

The first states arose where leaders and their assistants also became leaders of economic life.

This was the case in those places where farming required the construction and maintenance of complex irrigation structures.

The birth of cities. Some villages of farmers turned into large settlements. Stone walls were built around them. Such settlements resembled cities. Cities became the seat of tribal leaders, from where they ruled the area under their control. In the center of such a city there was usually one or more temples, which were considered the dwellings of the gods. The gods of the sun, wind and rain, who were believed to control natural phenomena on which the lives of farmers and cattle breeders largely depended, were held in special esteem.

One of the oldest settlements (VIII millennium BC) was discovered in the city of Jericho in Palestine. Around ancient Jericho, in which about 3 thousand people lived, walls of stone up to 3 m thick were built. An even larger urban settlement of Chatal-Huyuk (Chatal-Huyuk) existed in the 7th - 6th millennia BC. in Asia Minor. Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks were built close to each other, there were no streets, and the doors were on the roof.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. What is a producing economy? How is it different and what are its advantages over the appropriating economy? Make a comparison table.

2. What is the Neolithic Revolution? Where and why did it start?

3. What new appeared in people’s lives during the Neolithic Revolution?

4. How did the Neolithic revolution spread on Earth? What was the contribution to the Neolithic revolution of the ancient inhabitants of the territory of modern Russia?

5. What are the first and second social divisions of labor? What were their consequences?

6. Name the main points of view on the problem of the origin of the Indo-European peoples.

7. Compare the neighboring community with the ancestral one. What changes in people's lives are associated with the transition from a tribal community to a neighborhood one?

8. What are the reasons for the transition of tribes from a system of self-government to a system of individual power?9. How did the birth of statehood take place? What role did wars play in this process?

From the most primitive activities (gathering and hunting) to the reproduction of food products. The term itself appeared in the middle of the last century and denoted the process as a result of which Stone Age hunters and gatherers learned to independently grow edible crops and domesticate useful domestic animals.

Process Time Frame

The Neolithic revolution, that is, the transition from an appropriating to a producing economy, did not occur simultaneously on Earth. The region where this transition first took place is Asia. This happened around the 9th millennium BC. In many other regions, including parts of Europe, the Neolithic revolution did not occur until the 4th millennium BC. This evolutionary stage was so important that it was it that allowed the birth of the first civilizations of the planet.

Neolithic Revolution and its consequences

In addition, the increase in population and the complication of social stratification leads to the emergence of the first managers: elders, leaders - around whom, over time, a military force was formed to protect against neighboring tribes; it was also used as a coercive apparatus for collecting tribute from fellow tribesmen.

From prehistoric society to the first states

Thus, the Neolithic revolution from primitive tribes of hunters and gatherers created the first, earliest state formations. Since initially this process began to progressively develop in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates, it was here that by the 3rd millennium BC. and the first states of Sumer, Akkad, and later Babylon and Assyria were born. Here, for the first time, man created writing, with the advent of which (in this case, cuneiform) historians associate the end of the prehistoric, primitive era and the beginning of the ancient history of the world. A little later, other civilizations in India, China, and Egypt followed a similar path.

NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION. The expression “Neolithic revolution” was coined by G. Child to designate the process of the emergence of “self-sufficient societies producing food.” This term expresses the idea developed by G. Child that, in comparison with the previous period of savagery based on hunting and gathering, which took about half a million years, the successful development of food production (including the domestication of animals and plants) occurred in a revolutionary way suddenly.

Some researchers, recognizing the importance of the transition to food production and admitting its suddenness, find the definition of “Neolithic” in the expression “Neolithic revolution” unfortunate. It was previously noted that the word “Neolithic” in the second half of the 19th century. introduced by J. Lubbock, who used the modern Greek term meaning “new stone age”. Lubbock simply gave a name to a period known from the discovery of stone tools of a certain character, different from the tools characteristic of the previous stage, in Lubbock's terminology - the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), when they were processed exclusively by the technique of beating. The further development of archeology did not add clarity to the term “Neolithic”, and some scientists call for abandoning it altogether. In fact, its content in typological, chronological and semantic terms changes when it is applied to different regions. In this section we will look at the sudden emergence in southwest Asia, some 10,000 years ago, of a social organization based on efficient agriculture, and the subsequent spread of this way of life to Europe and other regions adjacent to its area of ​​origin.

The importance of food production. About 10,000 years ago, the influence of the last phase of glaciation ceased to affect all territories inhabited by humans. Modern climate, flora and fauna have acquired (if this has not already happened earlier) their current geographical boundaries. People acquired all the biological characteristics of modern man, and it can be assumed that humanity was divided into those branches that are usually called races. As for culture, it seems that people in all inhabited regions of the Earth were able to adapt to the natural environment of the post-glacial era. There is growing evidence that man of that era became increasingly adaptable to his surrounding conditions and increasingly sought new ways to exploit these conditions.

10,000 years ago, cultural adaptation to life in post-glacial natural conditions resulted in increased gathering activity, which occurred everywhere, with the exception of South-West Asia. It was here that the practice of breeding animals and cultivating plants first arose and became widespread. (It should be noted that the formation of a productive economy also occurred in other regions - for example, in the New World and, perhaps, in the Far East - but, apparently, later.)

New developments in Southwest Asia had significant cultural consequences. When food production became widespread enough and people had permanent supplies of it - crops in bins and livestock in barns - society was able to move on a large scale to a stable sedentarism. People no longer have to think every minute about how to satisfy their hunger, constantly follow herds of wild animals in their seasonal movements, or depend on the timing of the ripening of wild plant fruits.

With the transition to food production, people received the free time necessary for new types of activities. R. Linton once noted that man by nature is incapable of inaction and idleness. It is not surprising, therefore, that with the advent of an efficient productive economy, which was characterized by periods of calm between sowing and harvesting, a whole series of new types of craft arose. G. Child believed that the emergence of a productive economy was the first “industrial revolution,” and this is basically true. Attempts at building primitive huts or creating polished stone tools had been made before, but actual house building and many new forms of stone tools appeared only after the emergence of the productive economy. The production of pottery, weaving, the manufacture of new types of tools from obsidian - volcanic glass, which began to be imported in large quantities from other regions, and the beginnings of metallurgy - these are some of the new types of crafts that are attested by the archeology of this era. Within a relatively short period of time (in contrast to the previous period of savagery of half a million years), the wheel and the plow were discovered, draft animals began to be used, and trading cities appeared. By 3500 BC in the zone of alluvial soils of Southern Mesopotamia, an urban way of life arose, the first states and royal power, monumental art and architecture, and writing appeared; therefore, we can talk about the emergence of civilization.

True civilization would never have arisen if it did not have a foundation - an effective productive economy. But as soon as this foundation appeared, the formation of civilization began to proceed with exceptional speed. There is strong evidence that 7000 B.C. on the slopes of the hills of the Fertile Crescent, a sedentary lifestyle of agricultural communities was established, and by 3500 BC. A civilization of city-states developed in Mesopotamia.

Previous stages. Archeology clearly states that the grassy hillsides of the Fertile Crescent (the foothills of the Lebanese-Taurian-Zagros mountain range) included the area where the first attempts at food production and the first steps towards the development of a sedentary agricultural lifestyle were made. This geographical and vegetative zone is characterized by a unique concentration of all the most important plants suitable for cultivation (primarily wheat and barley) and domestication of animals (especially sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and donkeys), which formed the basis of the diet in the economic model that was destined to become a cultural tradition of the West.

It is known that this hilly area was long inhabited by Pleistocene foragers. The succession of its inhabitants in the ancient Stone Age is reflected in archaeological materials from caves in the Syrian-Palestine region and Iraqi Kurdistan and ends with various flint industries that mastered the production of tools from blades and microliths. Of these, the most fully studied industries of the Late Paleolithic include Kebar in Northern Palestine and Zarzia in Kurdistan.

It has been established that the people who made tools of the Zarzian type settled both in open sites and in caves. What is certain is that the cultural complex that replaced the Zarzian tradition in Kurdistan comes from open sites such as Karim Shahir, Malefaat and Zavi Chemi, and dates back to approximately 8700 BC. It is essential that this tradition is older than the time (c. 8100 BC), which is now commonly used to date the boundary between the Late Glacial and Post-Glacial periods in the northern regions of Europe and North America.

In Northern Palestine and Syria, the Kebar industry is replaced (according to archaeological data, i.e., perhaps not directly) by the Natufian culture, evidence of which can be found in both cave and open monuments.

Today it is generally accepted that the Karimshahir-Natufian complex can be correlated with the initial stage of the processes of domestication and domestication of animals and plants. If this is true, then the named complex is associated with a fundamentally new phenomenon: it is not an adaptation to post-glacial natural conditions based on gathering, which occurred in all other regions, but a breakthrough into a new quality, which subsequently had significant cultural consequences. The bones discovered at the monuments of the Karimshahir and Natufian circles, according to zoologists, belong to domestic dogs; and although the remains of cultivated plants have not yet been discovered, quite typical are the finds of flint inserts for sickles and stone graters, which were clearly used for grinding grains. These monuments of the Karimshahir-Natufian circle testify to attempts to erect primitive round structures on a stone foundation; many elegant small objects made of bone and stone were also found on them.

It is quite obvious that the interpretation of data on the initial phase of agriculture will always present special difficulties for the archaeologist. In connection with the emergence of a new - producing - economy, the appearance of numerous new forms of tools and new crafts, as well as obviously domestic species of animals and cultivated plants, occurred gradually.

The formation and spread of a sedentary way of life, based on growing plants and then breeding animals, is found in the settlements of Palestine, Syria and southeastern Turkey in the 9th–8th millennia BC. Somewhat later, it is recorded in the north of Iraq and in the Zagros mountains. Gradually, they move from round dwellings to rectangular ones, and sometimes small rooms, possibly storage rooms, are built in the bases; living quarters were located above them. Ritual buildings were found in a number of settlements (Jericho, Nevali-Chori). A characteristic feature of Early Neolithic cultures is the special treatment of the skulls of the dead, whose facial features were “reconstructed” using a special mass, as well as the production of stone and clay figures, probably mythologized ancestors. VI millennium BC - the time of widespread distribution in Western and partly Central Asia of an important indicator of historical and cultural processes - ceramic vessels. Already in the Neolithic, the first experiments were carried out on the processing of native copper and even its smelting.

A striking monument of the Neolithic of Western Asia is the settlement of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, where houses with numerous and varied multi-colored murals and relief images of animals and mythological patrons in the form of female creatures, burials with unusually rich grave goods for this time, and various products testifying to distant times were excavated. exchange connections.

Neolithic Europe. Archaeological stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates convincingly indicate that agriculture was established in Western Asia much earlier than in Europe, where Neolithic forms of agriculture penetrated from the outside in a fully developed form. With the exception of the wild ancestors of einkorn (one of the varieties of wheat) and millet, the growing zone of which was limited to some areas of the Balkan Peninsula, Europe did not know the cereals on the basis of which the main grain crops were bred; and although wild oxen and pigs roamed the European forests, the sheep was undoubtedly brought here from outside. Moreover, such elements traditionally associated with the culture of ancient farmers of Europe, such as harvesting knives with flint inserts, saddle-shaped grain grinders (hand mills), polished axes made of various types of stone and utensils, are completely identical to those found in much more ancient settlements of Western Asia.

Adaptation process. The Neolithic culture of Europe can in no way be considered as simply the culture of Western Asia spreading to a new territory. First of all, the difference in natural conditions mattered. The Mediterranean, from this point of view, is in many ways similar to the regions that became the ancestral home of a new type of economy; but the relatively humid climate, extensive outcrops of glacial clay and, most importantly, deciduous forests that predominated in the vegetation of the temperate zone - all this prevented the rapid spread of the new type of farming. It is not surprising that the first farmers who penetrated into Central Europe gravitated primarily to the zone of easily cultivable loess soils or farmed based on a slash-and-burn system, which required frequent relocations. Driven into the temperate climate zone of Europe, Neolithic people had to conquer patches of cultivated land and meadows from virgin forest. To the north of the deciduous forest zone, the spread of agriculture was generally impossible, and the primitive inhabitants of most of Scandinavia, including almost all of Finland, as well as vast areas of Northern Russia, covered with coniferous and birch forests, continued to depend entirely on hunting and fishing until the beginning of the Iron Age, having adopted farmers only engaged in some crafts - such as the manufacture of ceramics, and somewhat later bronze metallurgy.

In those areas of Europe where the new form of farming penetrated, Mesolithic hunters and fishermen lived. Some areas - for example, the Balkans and a number of regions of Central Europe - were sparsely populated, others - for example, the Western Baltic and the British Isles - were relatively densely populated. From the beginning of the 8th to at least the beginning of the 5th millennium BC, and much later, a number of local cultures existed on the northern periphery of the European continent, the difference between which was determined by the search for ways to most successfully adapt to the natural conditions of the post-glacial period. As already mentioned, these attempts to adapt to the external environment for the sake of survival were still made within the framework of the appropriating economy. Some forms of gathering that developed in local centers provided quite a decent standard of living, and the people involved in it, apparently, were in no hurry to abandon ancient habits for the sake of a productive economy that was not yet fully adapted to European conditions.

This situation is fundamentally different from that which has developed in the American border regions. After all, the technological level of the economy of the American frontier settlers was much higher than that of the natives they encountered here. The equipment of the people who brought communal farming to Europe - at least the oldest of them - was not much superior to that used by the native bearers of the traditions of intensive gathering. It was also not like the development of virgin lands: the local population was either displaced and forced to occupy territories that were not very attractive to farmers, or, out of necessity, adapted to a new way of life.

The bearers of the new culture had to adapt their usual economic techniques to a different natural environment. In this regard, the history of changes that occurred with oats as a grain crop is indicative. In the wet fields of Western Asia, wild oats were a completely useless plant, moreover, a malicious weed. As agriculture spread northward in Europe, it reached the limit beyond which climatic conditions were unsuitable for growing wheat; but the weed that accompanied it—wild oats—grew splendidly in the new conditions, and therefore they began to breed it as a cultivated plant.

The above allows us to understand, firstly, the reasons for the relatively slow spread of Neolithic culture across Europe, and secondly, the reasons - despite the general similarity of the economic model of Neolithic Europe and Western Asia - of significant differences both in the sphere of production and in the cultural appearance of these two regions.

There are three main ways of penetration of the communal agricultural way of life into Europe. The first involved coastal navigation, bypassing Greece, to southern Italy and Sicily, to the territory of France and up the Rhone or to Spain, and then to the Atlantic coast. The second route went through Northern Greece or Thrace to the Danube, and then up the river, branching along tributaries. The third route, starting in Iran, skirted the Caucasus or the Caspian Sea and ultimately reached the Baltic Sea through Eastern Europe.

There is still little accurate information about how long the process of spreading Neolithic culture in Europe was. According to the results of radiocarbon dating, agriculture was established in Central Europe by the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, but in such colonization zones as the foothills of the Alps and the Western Baltic, cultivation of the land did not take place until 2700 and 2600 BC. respectively.

Types of cookware. It is possible to accurately identify the Asian origins of ceramic ware characteristic of a particular Neolithic culture in Europe only in individual cases; As a rule, European tableware is clearly distinctive, and sometimes the influence of non-ceramic prototypes is quite obvious. For example, it was noted that some vessels from the Sesklo culture in Greece resemble vessels made from birch bark in their design; Danube dishes, decorated with a spiral meander, resemble a pumpkin in shape; Middle Neolithic pottery from central Germany and Denmark dates back to wicker baskets; finally, some Western vessels reproduce the shape of leather containers. This suggests - apart from the Mediterranean pottery decorated with jagged shell impressions, distributed from Syria to the Western Mediterranean, or the proximity of early painted pottery from Greece to Anatolian and northern Mesopotamian - that the Neolithic cultures of Europe were formations quite distinctive, although they emerged under the influence of an external impulse. In fact, it has been established that the Neolithic manufacturing economy penetrated into some regions of Europe during the pre-ceramic stage, and that when farmers in various areas mastered the production of ceramics, they used as models the various non-ceramic containers familiar to them. Among the various inhabitants of Neolithic Europe who made pottery, one can distinguish groups - among them the Danube - whose economy was almost exclusively productive, or groups - for example, inhabitants of the region of Switzerland - which continued to depend largely on hunting and fishing, and also those sub-Neolithic inhabitants of Scandinavia and Northern Russia who had already mastered the production of ceramics, but were unable to master agriculture.

Types of settlements. The formation of hills, or tells, due to long-term human habitation in one place is a common phenomenon in Western Asia, but it is also attested in certain areas in southeastern Europe: Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary. In other areas, people, as a rule, changed their habitats, although after some time they often returned to their previous settlements. Houses in most of Europe were rectangular in plan, had a log frame and a gable roof. In Central Europe, among the early farmers of the Danube region, such houses could have a length of 45 m or more and almost certainly included both housing and storerooms and premises for livestock. In loess soil, log buildings can only be traced by footprints in the ground; but in southern Germany and Switzerland, along the shores of ancient lakes in a humid environment, entire tiers of buildings are well preserved. As a rule, the villages of Neolithic farmers consisted of a whole set of buildings. At first, they often did not have fortifications, but as the struggle for territory intensified, it became necessary to surround the village with a rampart, ditch or palisade.

Guns. From a formal point of view, the first agricultural communities can be considered Neolithic for the reason that the main tools and weapons were still made from flint and other types of stone, although these communities, of course, existed simultaneously with civilizations that had already mastered metal, and sometimes purchased metal objects from them. The farmer needed a stone ax and adze to cut down trees when clearing a field, to prepare logs for construction, etc. Although economic life was still subordinated to the task of survival and was characterized by a weak degree of division of labor, and each community provided products mainly for itself, the need for tools for cutting down trees and processing wood was so great that in some areas of Europe in mines or mines specially they mined flint or other stone and made blanks of axes and adzes, which they sold to distant regions hundreds of kilometers away. Similarly, the shells of the mollusk Spondylus Gaederopus, the use of which as personal adornment was firmly rooted in the culture of the Danube region, came from the Eastern Mediterranean far to the west - to Northern Italy, the Rhine Valley and Central France.

Burials. During the early Neolithic era, the inhabitants of Central Europe buried their dead in individual dirt graves, usually in a cemetery adjacent to the settlement. The oldest Neolithic burials of the High-Necked Beaker culture, who lived in Northern Germany and the Western Baltic, are also individual, although the graves were sometimes lined with stone slabs or pebbles and arranged in rows or corners, reminiscent of the layout of houses.

Over time, many Neolithic tribes of Western and Northwestern Europe adopted the practice of collective burial, first developed by the metal-using inhabitants of Mesopotamia. The tombs, which in many regions were megalithic structures, took the form of long galleries and connected chambers with an entrance corridor, the entire structure being covered by a mound. Megalithic collective tombs were widespread in the Iberian (Iberian) Peninsula, France, Ireland and the western and northern parts of the British Isles; Such tombs were also erected in the Western Baltic. The labor invested by Neolithic farmers in the construction of huge tombs is indisputable evidence of the existence of religious motives. Other evidence of their existence can be seen in cult monuments discovered in the British Isles and including ritual pits arranged in a ring or horseshoe, surrounded by ramparts and ditches. At the same time, artistic creativity was in deep decline and was manifested mainly in the creation of ornaments on dishes and the manufacture of religious objects, including figurines.

Materials from the encyclopedia “The World Around Us” were used.

Introduction 3

1. Characteristics of the concept of “Neolithic revolution”. 5

2. Agriculture and cattle breeding. 6

3. Everyday life. Organization of power 9

4. Prestigious economy 11

5. Craft 13

Conclusion 17

References 19

Introduction

By the end of the Paleolithic, people had populated the entire Earth, except for areas covered with continental ice and remote islands in the ocean. Upper Paleolithic settlements were found on the Tibetan Plateau, Chukotka and Alaska, the island of Tasmania and near the Arctic Circle on the Pechora River.

The population of that time, according to various estimates, ranges from 3 to 10 million people: residents of a large modern city, scattered throughout the ecumene.

10,200 years ago the ice age ended and the Holocene– geological modernity. Landscapes were changing: the dry polar steppe filled with water and became tundra, forest was advancing on it, and the belt of forests from the south was crowded out by the steppe. The sea flooded the coasts, burying river mouths, coastal plains, and penetrating deep into the valleys. Large animals disappeared, others became fewer. Humanity is faced - not for the first time - with a serious environmental crisis, which required new solutions from people in the struggle for survival. If earlier cold weather forced people to retreat to the south, resettle, and improve hunting tools, then at the turn of the Holocene such opportunities were exhausted for many communities. Residents of mountain valleys and oases surrounded by desert found themselves in a particularly difficult situation. Even with minimal population growth, the balance between man and nature was disrupted. Hunting became unproductive, and the role of gathering grew.

All these and other related circumstances, including such an important factor as the accumulation of experience and knowledge, led to a radical revolution in the system of material production - the Neolithic revolution, i.e. the transition of human communities from primitive hunter-gatherer economies to agriculture based on cropping and/or animal husbandry.

1. Characteristics of the concept of “Neolithic revolution”.

In 1939, the English archaeologist Gordon Child, based on the study of Western Asian antiquities, introduced the concept of “Neolithic revolution”: the process of transition to agriculture and cattle breeding, which radically transformed life.

The Neolithic Revolution, according to G. Child, led to sedentarization, a significant increase in labor productivity with the receipt of a regular surplus surplus product and, as a result, an increase in population size and density, social division of labor, the development of social differentiation of society, new ideas and views. The emergence of civilization directly followed from it: cities, states, writing.

The Neolithic is characterized primarily by significant improvements in stone processing techniques. Stone processing operations have become more complicated - drilling, grinding, sawing and other operations have appeared. With their use, completely new specialized and highly productive types of stone tools, as well as tools made of wood and bone, were created. Technology for the production of textiles and pottery was invented. Primitive means of transport (sleighs, skis, boats) appeared and were improved. Labor productivity has increased significantly.

The meaning of this revolution in the system of material production was the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one, i.e. from hunting and gathering to farming and herding. People learned to sow grain, which provided uninterrupted food throughout the year, to raise livestock, which regularly supplied people with meat (in addition, milk, cheese, hides, leather, wool, etc.). The environmental (and economic) crisis has been overcome. The life of the tribal community has become more prosperous and stable; people became less dependent on the natural environment, and social welfare increased significantly. The Neolithic Revolution was the first link in a chain of successive transformations of the system of social life, as a result of which civilization ultimately arose, and with it science.

According to archaeological data, the domestication of animals and plants occurred at different times independently in 7 - 8 regions.

The most ancient and powerful in its influence center of origin of agriculture and cattle breeding arose in Western Asia; it gave humanity wheat, the main food crop; all major domestic animals: cows, sheep, goats, pigs and, as a result, the most ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean. The center was formed from centers stretching from Palestine, through the mountains of Lebanon to the north of Iraq - the “Fertile Crescent” and a number of centers in Anatolia (modern Turkey). Perhaps in the north the center included Transcaucasia.

The development of the producing economy resulted in a significant increase in the total population: at the turn of the 5th-4th millennium BC. e. About 80 million people already lived on Earth, and the population density for populated areas ranged from 10 to 100 people. per 1 km2.

The reasons for such a sharp increase in the Neolithic population were an improvement in the quality of life and a decrease in mortality, an increase in the birth rate and a reduction in the intervals between births. For the first time in the history of mankind, there was a desire to have many children. In addition, from that time on, the previously very significant gap in life expectancy between men and women began to decrease. The population of the Earth has increased, despite the fairly frequent epidemics that have become common since the Neolithic period; epidemics were caused by the transition to sedentism and overcrowding of people.

2. Agriculture and cattle breeding.

According to current evidence, the first grain that people domesticated was probably barley. In the X-VIII millennium BC. it had already been sown in Asia Minor, on the western slopes of the Iranian Plateau and Palestine. In the Asia Minor cultural complex of Çatalhöyük (second half of the 7th - first half of the 6th millennium BC), 14 plant species were cultivated, among which wheat, barley and peas played the main role. But in mountainous conditions, farming is not very productive. Only as a result of migration movements into the river valleys of the subtropical zone did agriculture gain scope for its victorious development. Over 4,000 years, agriculture spread throughout the western part of the Old World.

The main tool of ancient farmers was first a digging stick for loosening the soil. Later (but not everywhere) the hoe was added to it (stick-hoe farming). Cattle breeding developed 2000 years later, but nevertheless agriculture was probably never the only form of economy; in the early stages of its development it was combined with hunting. A dog, domesticated in the Upper Paleolithic, served as a human assistant in hunting.

The transition of primitive communities to agriculture and cattle breeding is a fairly long process, associated with a significant change in lifestyle - the transition to sedentism. It is natural that at first new forms of economy (agriculture and cattle breeding) were combined with old ones (hunting and gathering), occupying a subordinate place as a secondary way of life. The duration of such coexistence of two structures (appropriating and producing) was determined by the natural-geographical and social situation in which the clan community lived and worked. The transition to a productive economy occurred faster where there were unfavorable conditions for hunting and gathering, where crisis situations and high population density did not allow limiting oneself to hunting and gathering and forced people to radically change the circumstances of their life.

The forms of primary farming systems varied in different regions due to different natural and socio-cultural conditions. The most productive was estuary agriculture, the development of which led (in the 7th millennium BC) to irrigation agriculture. In Mesopotamia, under conditions of artificial irrigation, the barley yield was stable and quite high - up to 1200-1400 kg/ha. (In Ancient Sumer, a harvest from 1 hectare could feed three families for a year, and processing such an area took only 40-50 working days.) Rainfed farming also developed (when sowing was done on the eve of the rains). In some regions, to increase fertility, grass and shrubs were first set on fire - this was the beginning of fallow farming, which later led to slash-and-burn farming in forested areas.

The further development of agriculture was associated with its intensification - the development of new farming techniques (alternating sowing of various crops, the use of fertilizers, improving soil loosening, the emergence of vegetable gardening, horticulture, etc.), the transition from stick-hoe farming to arable farming (V-IV thousand . BC.). The increasing complexity of agricultural technology and all agricultural production led to a wider participation of the male part of the community in it. Child labor began to be used more intensively.

In parallel and in close connection with agriculture, cattle breeding developed. In the early stages, it was apparently characterized by the maintenance of small populations of mainly small animals (goats, sheep, pigs, etc.), and later larger ones (buffaloes, llamas, cattle). Caring for livestock was kept to a minimum; livestock were mainly left to graze freely. Later, stabling of livestock appeared; and already relatively late - nomadism (nomadism).

In the era of domestication of animals and plants, their removal from natural habitats, ancient breeders intensively accumulated and widely and fruitfully used a variety of knowledge about the anatomy, physiology, and ecology of animals and plants. At first unconsciously, and then consciously, they used artificial selection, mastered its patterns and requirements (leaving the best animals for the tribe, selecting the best plants for sowing, etc.).

The domestication of animals contributed to the development of transportation. If even in the Mesolithic, boats became a universal mode of transport, waterways were mastered, skis and sleds were widely used for transportation, then in the Neolithic, domestic animals began to be used to move sleds and drags (the horse was domesticated in the 4th millennium BC, and camel - in the 5th millennium BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. With the advent of wheeled carts, an essentially revolutionary revolution in means of transport took place. The speed of movement of large groups of people increased almost 10 times (from 3.7 to 35-38 km/h), thanks to which long-distance migrations of significant masses of people and even entire ethnic groups became possible, and the preconditions appeared for the emergence of developed forms of nomadism. This revolutionary revolution was reflected in the mythology of the nomads - mythological images of a chariot drawn by horses appeared (the Sun as a symbol of the wheel, the chariot - the Sun God, etc.).

3. Everyday life. Organization of power

In the Neolithic, the type of settlements itself gradually changed - it was increasingly a permanent village built according to a specific plan in which one community lived. Residents of a community are no longer only relatives, but also neighbors, and the community itself turns from a tribal community into a neighboring, or territorial one. The average size of the community is estimated at several hundred and even thousands of people.

In the Neolithic, the way of life of farmers and their way of life changed significantly: the settled way of life became stronger, house-building improved - houses became more durable, durable, and well-equipped. Already in the 7th millennium BC. (Jericho A cultural complex) the interior of the house, built of mud brick, consists of several parts separated by partitions. Some of them are intended for housing, others play the role of household warehouses and bins. The floor of the living quarters is plastered, often painted or even covered with paintings, and often covered with mats woven with bone tools. The walls are painted in different colors. Between the houses there were small courtyards where the hearth was located and food was prepared. Figures of people and animals were sculpted from clay, which had a cult character and decorated homes.

There have been significant changes in the position of the sexes. The foundation for this was the new order of division of labor between men and women, determined by the specifics of the development of the most important sectors of the manufacturing economy.

At the beginning of the Neolithic, the increasing complexity of production activities led to increased specialization of labor based on gender and age. Making tools was a man's job, caring for children, cooking, delivering water and fuel was a woman's job. Men also took part in agriculture and cattle breeding - they did the heavier work, and women did the most painstaking work, requiring patience and accuracy.

Over time, the situation changed: women's participation in agriculture and cattle breeding was increasingly limited. At the end of the Neolithic, their sphere of activity became mainly the household, and in it - serving men and children. All the main means of production are transferred to the disposal and then into the ownership of men, which entails an economically dependent, disadvantaged position for women.

An important element of social organization were either men's unions or men's houses, which grew out of the natural separation of men and women. In men's houses, all adult men of the community discussed current affairs, including economic affairs, made decisions, and elected leaders. Women were not allowed to attend such meetings.

During this period, a special type of leader is formed - in modern international historical and economic literature they are usually called big men. These were men who nominated themselves, standing out from the crowd with their personal talents, knowledge, wealth and generosity. It was from this layer that the male part of the community chose the leader.

The leader was required to know and be able to do more than ordinary members of the community knew and could do. It was easier to pass on this knowledge, skills, and experience to a son, nephew, or brother than to strangers. A relative of a chief had a better chance of being “trained” to become a chief than others. The result of these processes was the formation of privileged layers of society of the first nobility, emerging from the tribal elite. These were leaders, priestesses, and also the most successful in economic activities.

The end of the Neolithic, apparently, dates back to the emergence on a mass scale of such a phenomenon as property inequality, which was superimposed on the natural inequality that had existed in the human community since ancient times, based on the various mental, intellectual, and physical abilities of people. The foundations of private property are being laid and deepened as a comprehensive, permanent phenomenon, illuminated by historical tradition.

Private property included individual housing, household utensils, clothing, jewelry, household equipment, tools, livestock, boats, and other movable property.

Another type of property was collective (tribal or communal) ownership of land. Within a collective, individual people or families owned plots of land - they could be cultivated, but could not be transferred to another person for use.

4. Prestigious economy

On the borders of tribes with different economic orientations, and subsequently within the tribe, exchange developed more and more intensely. This economic phenomenon was the most important consequence of the specialization of economic activities and progress in the evolution of productive forces. Nomadic - shepherd and sedentary - agricultural tribes exchanged their goods - live cattle, meat, skins, grain, fruits. Over time, exchange became more and more intense and became the basis for the development of commodity circulation.

The most important feature of economic development during this period was the emergence of the so-called prestigious economy - the Neolithic version of gift exchange. As before, gift exchange existed both within and between different communities. Gifts included a wide variety of items - from livestock to useless bird feathers. Regardless of what exactly a person gave, he acquired social prestige. The economic result of gift exchange was contradictory: on the one hand, it contributed to the development of production, since certain plants were specially grown for gifts and livestock were bred; on the other hand, the gift exchange procedure was accompanied by abundant feasts, when too much was eaten and drunk in vain. Unproductive spending hampered the development of society. It is characteristic that the desire to give more than to receive in return gradually increased: the giver acquired a certain power over the taker of material values. Thus, the prestigious economy contributed to social stratification and played a major role in deepening inequality in society and shaping institutions of power.

The development of a prestigious economy with its counting of gifts stimulated the accumulation of mathematical knowledge. The first, still primitive, counting systems appeared - these were bundles of straw, bundles of shells, ropes with knots tied on them. In primitive Europe, stones were usually used for counting: the words “calculator” and “calculation” go back to the ancient Latin word calculus - stone.

The growth of agriculture and increasingly intensive land work contributed to the development of geometric knowledge. The first geographical maps were compiled. At the very end of the Neolithic, the wheel was invented and the development of wheeled transport began. At the same time, another event of exceptional importance occurred - the first written language in human history appeared. This became the boundary separating primitive history from the era of civilizations.

5. Craft

The oldest craft was pottery. It was based on the invention of a pottery forge - a furnace for firing clay products, the temperature of which reached - 1200 ° C, and a potter's wheel - a special device for giving shape to clay products. The main thing in pottery was the production of earthenware, which made it possible to significantly improve the methods of food production and the conditions for its storage. Improving food technologies is becoming an important factor in economic development.

Another ancient craft was weaving - making fabric on a handloom. To do this, people grew flax, nettles, and other crops, split the fibers, twisted them, spun them, and made ropes and threads. Thin and coarse fabrics were made from threads for the production of clothing and household needs, and bags and bags were sewn.

Stone processing technology advanced significantly, reaching perfection during the Neolithic period. Along with the old ones, new, harder rocks of minerals began to be processed.

Almost jewelery grinding and polishing techniques were used to process them. At the end of the Neolithic, some tribes, having completely mastered the stone technique and learned all the possibilities of stone, began to use new materials for the manufacture of tools - metals, primarily copper and bronze. And although the first experiments in the development of metal were very few, difficult and not always successful, they subsequently largely predetermined progress in the development of productive forces.

The use of metals in material production, in everyday life, in means of transport, and in military equipment was the greatest, essentially revolutionary, revolution in human technical equipment. In the history of the development of metallurgy, there is a lot that is still not entirely clear, there are many controversial issues. Nevertheless, in general terms this process can be represented as follows.

Even in the Paleolithic (about 20 thousand years ago) in Kostenki, during the production of dark cherry paints, iron was obtained as a by-product by firing iron nodules from local sands in a fire. But the public need for metals had not yet developed. The first metal that man mastered was copper. Historically, the first form of copper development was the processing of native copper, first by cold forging, and then by hot forging and annealing. The next stage is the extraction of copper from ores and casting. And only subsequently - the production of copper alloys, especially bronze.

The most ancient copper processing region recorded by archaeologists is Western Asia. Forging of native copper mined from the Ergani deposits (South-Eastern Anatolia) is recorded at the level of the 7th millennium BC. Starting from the middle of the 5th millennium BC. in the Middle East, in Iran, large cast copper products appear - axes, daggers, sickles, etc. Apparently, in the 5th millennium BC. The smelting of copper ores begins, the development of ore mining and the development of mines takes place. In the second half of the 5th - first half of the 4th millennium BC. Bronze foundry production developed (first arsenic and then tin bronzes). At first, copper and bronze were not used to produce household items (which would seem to be expected), but weapons and luxury and prestige items - beads, needles, piercings, etc. There was simply not enough metal for mass production of agricultural implements; In addition, at the stage of development of metallurgy, the prestigious use of metals was monopolized by the nobility.

The first iron objects recorded by archaeologists, made by forging from meteorite iron, date back to the first half of the 5th millennium BC. (Iran) and IV millennium BC. (Egypt). The development of iron ore dates back to the second half of the 4th - first half of the 3rd millennium BC. (Anatolia).

It is believed that ore iron could be a secondary product of copper metallurgical production, in which iron ore was used as a flux.

In the early days of the development of ferrous metallurgy, iron was highly valued, was considered a rare metal and was used only for the manufacture of luxury goods. Only after the discovery of the technology for carburizing iron, which made it much harder, were deposits of iron ore developed (late 2nd millennium BC, Eastern Mediterranean), and a transition to mass production of iron occurred. This, in turn, made it possible to radically transform technology and agricultural production tools.

The use of metal tools increased labor productivity several times. Iron axes made it possible to speed up man's advance into forests and facilitated the development of new spaces and lands. Based on the iron ploughshare, a real plow was created and agricultural production was intensified. In addition, handicraft production begins to play an extremely important role, as well as the development of mining, the origins of which go back to the Neolithic era, when silicon mining was established.

Metal production was not necessary for the emergence of early class relations. In many regions of the world (for example, in Polynesia) they developed on the basis of pre-metallurgical stone technology. The use of metals was a side, secondary aspect of the formation of a manufacturing economy, which did not take place everywhere. But the creation of ferrous metallurgy, mass production and widespread use of iron became an important factor in accelerating the processes of class formation.

Conclusion

The Neolithic Revolution is the transition of human societies from a primitive hunter-gatherer economy to an agriculture based on crops and/or animal husbandry.

The concept of "Neolithic revolution" was first proposed by Gordon Childe in the mid-twentieth century. In addition to the emergence of a productive economy, it includes a number of consequences that are important for the entire way of life of Neolithic man. The small, mobile bands of hunters and gatherers who dominated the previous Mesolithic era settled in cities and towns near their fields, radically altering the environment through cultivation (including irrigation) and storage of harvested crops in specially constructed buildings and structures. An increase in labor productivity led to an increase in population, the creation of relatively large armed detachments guarding the territory, division of labor, revitalization of trade, the emergence of property rights, centralized administration, political structures, ideology and new systems of knowledge that made it possible to transfer it from generation to generation not only orally, but also in writing. The appearance of writing is an attribute of the end of the historical period, which usually coincides with the end of the Neolithic and the Stone Age in general.

Shifts in human economic activity were extremely significant: for the first time, thanks to the productive economy, it became possible to obtain a surplus product regularly, and not episodicly, as before. The result of the Neolithic revolution was a change in the nature of work and the very structure of human society, profound changes in the lifestyle and psyche of people.

Thus, the emergence of a productive economy was the greatest achievement of the primitive economy and the foundation for the entire subsequent economic history of mankind.

The Neolithic Revolution also had negative consequences. The main one is the ecological crisis, caused by the fact that a sharp increase in the number of domestic animals and agricultural land occurred due to the burning of forests, reduction of their areas, and this in turn led to a decrease in the level of rivers, groundwater, and desertification of vast territories. (So, in the Mesolithic, the Sahara was the richest savanna. The uncontrolled development of cattle breeding turned it into a desert: rivers dried up, lakes disappeared, animals became extinct.) Humanity emerged from this crisis thanks to the movement to the north and the development of new territories freed up after the melting of glaciers, as well as the development irrigated agriculture in river valleys.

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