Paleolithic Vs Neolithic Research Paper

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3. Compare the Paleolithic Age (the Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic Age (the New Stone Age) in terms of means of subsistence and social organization. The Paleolithic age, or the Old Stone age, describes the time period from 2.6 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago. During the middle of this period, people lived in nomadic bands of anywhere from twenty to sixty people. At that time, they lacked any governments or states. For pastimes, like celebrations, groups would sometimes get together. On the other hand, during the Neolithic age, or the New Stone age, people lived in more permanent settlements, like communities, which consisted of a few bands together. The societies were much more hierarchical than those of the Paleolithic age. Some families specialized in politics. The invention of agriculture was what caused the more elaborate social patterns that are more recognizable. Also, it caused a huge increase of people. Agricultural people could build villages and houses. During the Paleolithic age, people had a nomadic lifestyle, and used the hunting and gathering system. One of the reasons they didn’t have large or elaborate societies was that hunting food and gathering berries couldn’t support large numbers. Two people…show more content…
Societies with agriculture are more patriarchal. During the Paleolithic age, women, who gathered food, provided much of the nutrition needed each day, and the meat that the men hunted was not vital to survival. So, there was significant equality between men and women based on common economic contributions. However as there was a huge population growth during the Neolithic age. This meant getting food became much more intensive and labor heavy, creating a division of labor. Men focused on doing heavy farm work and women took on the family duties. This in part led to the social norm of women moving to where the man lives when they get
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