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3. Revolutions

The second great revolution is often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution, or the Agricultural Revolution.

Early man

The Neolithic Revolution occurred around 10,000 - 8,000BC. By this time, 'modern humans' - Homo sapiens sapiens - had emerged. This era saw the beginning of agriculture - the deliberate cultivation of food crops for the first time, and the domestication of animals. It was the basis for a fundamental shift from a hunter-gatherer to a more sedentary human population. Permanent settlements began to develop, based on the more dependable and locally available food supplies. Agricultural surpluses meant that not everyone was needed on the land, and this provided conditions for the development of a more broadly based civilisation. Further divisions of labour took place, and a substantial built environment was created with the construction of monumental architecture (such as tombs for the dead). In low rainfall areas, the capacity for substantial technological invention was demonstrated with the organisation of large-scale irrigation. Society had managed not only to coax greater productivity from nature, but in so doing had also become further dependent on its control and manipulation.

What were the main environmental characteristics of the neolithic revolution?