The world’s population is growing rapidly. It is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.9 billion by 2100. This rapid population explosion can be said to be a continuation of the Neolithic Revolution that took place 12,000 years ago.
Modern archaeologists try to figure out what kind of person you were in the tools buried 12,000 years later. If mankind reaches an era of colonies on many planets, the population will increase explosively, and technology and living standards may not reach unimaginable levels.
In this era, there is a possibility that one’s self-awareness about what kind of creature a man is. In an age when self-awareness has changed, archaeologists have no choice but to learn the self-awareness of humans in the past from the litter buried in the forest. This is a problem that future archaeologists may have. However, modern archaeologists have similar problems.
Modern archaeologists try to rebuild and solve the revolution that took place 12,000 years ago. The only clues to clarify the mystery are relics left by humans far past. In modern times, people can see through 4K quality images with color and sound. However, there was no video before, and it is only a picture or a picture that reflects the past. Since printing did not exist 500 years ago, textual information was reproduced by hand and the reliability of information was low.
Thucydides, known as the world’s first historian, was born around 400 BC. Before Thucydides, only traditions and murals such as historical epic and legend remained. And the only thing that teaches about humanity more ancient than the times where murals remain, is the pieces of relics left in the dirt. The original purpose of these relics is unknown due to the flow of the times.
However, there are a few things known about ancient humans. One of the things that is known is that humans have barely changed their lives for about 2 million years. But that change began 20,000 years ago. Twenty thousand years ago, there were only about one million humans in the world. Before 20,000 years ago, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, who were not the modern human species Homo sapiens, are considered to have died.
In addition to the intelligence to understand how to use tools, Homo sapiens had social intelligence to understand each other, language to explain abstract concepts, and creativity to create new concepts. Homo sapiens is mostly indifferent to humans today. They experienced pain and joy, were bored, cried or laughed.
This lifestyle was shared by dozens of people. They used fire, wood, stone, and bone tools, talked, mourned the dead, and engaged in artistic activities. Another tribe is said to have traded and moved around using obsidian and shellfish, hunted large prey, gathered plants, and fished.
This life was almost unchanged before 20,000 years. However, a slow change occurred 20,000 years ago, gradually accelerated, and reached the level of a revolution 12,000 years ago. One evidence of the rapid pace of change is in the region between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Mankind, who had lived in this area more than 20,000 years ago, realized that sowing wheat seeds on the ground would increase yields the following year.
This discovery creates early farming that is an excellent alternative for hunting and gathering. Bread and beer were also created using the wheat surplus generated by this discovery. With each generation, knowledge of these animals and plants continues, and mankind can manipulate animals and plants appropriately for themselves. Mankind very slowly inherited this knowledge.
The influence of knowledge inheritance could greatly reduce the land area required for survival even in early farming. By reducing the area required for this survival, humanity can settle in one area. It is the time when humans originated 12,000 years ago when such a small progress was piled up and a great revolution occurred. At this point, mankind began cultivating 15 kinds of grains and vegetables that support most of the calories required by modern mankind, such as wheat, rye, corn, and potatoes.
Such an event called the Neolithic Revolution did not occur in a single day. The slow accumulation of knowledge over several generations has resulted in a change that is so great that it can be called a revolution. Over the thousands of years after the Neolithic Revolution, humanity has expanded the scale of exploitation by turning the axis of life from hunting and gathering to farming.
The transition to farming was spread every time a group that was already farming moved. Meanwhile, the transition to agriculture also created problems. In the era of hunting and gathering, there were about 250 species of animals and plants that humans ate, and there was a variety of food.
However, due to the transition to farming, food diversity was drastically reduced, resulting in a lack of specific nutrients. In addition, shared life with livestock has become a hotbed for infectious diseases. Infections such as cholera, smallpox, measles, flu, chickenpox, and malaria are all diseases that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution. As a result, the mortality rate, especially infant mortality, has increased dramatically.
However, the number of children raised once increased as it became possible to settle through farming. The mortality rate increased, but the population continued to increase. The world’s population was almost constant before human origin, but has quadrupled in about 2000 years after human origin.
This population explosion has led to an increase in food demand, and as a result, humans cannot return to hunting and gathering with low calorie production per area. What is left is the question of why mankind has switched from hunting and gathering to farming. Living in nature, there were many options for food, but food choices were lost after agriculture.
The answer to this question is not fixed. Some studies indicate that climate change is the cause, while others indicate that external factors such as malnutrition and overpopulation are the cause. However, the most widely accepted idea is that the majority of humanity did it deliberately.
Perhaps they have switched to farming in order to live together, develop friendships, communicate with each other, and exchange knowledge. Some folklore scholars believe that the hunter-gatherer people were traveling long distances for festivals and ceremonies. It is not unlikely that knowledge sharing held at festivals and events urged a transition to agriculture.
As a result of humanity’s transition to agriculture, they lived together to celebrate each other and share objects and knowledge. Changes have occurred in the method itself, but modern humans live together, celebrate each other, and share things and knowledge.