The term Agricultural Revolution is commonly referred to the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering societies to settled agrarian ones. This revolution is also known as the Neolithic revolution occurred in various independent prehistoric societies 10, 000 years ago. At that time people elaborated a new way of livelihood in various parts of the world. Crops cultivation replaced people’s mere reliance on nature. This enabled people to provide themselves with vegetable foodstuffs and to domesticate animals.
When sedentary food production replaced hunter-gathering people realized that it was more profitable to breed animals close at hand. Animals were brought to people’s settlements, they were chosen according to their abilities to provide products, to work (plowing or towing), or to serve as a source of food. Besides, animals could provide leather, wool, and hides. People learned how to use such factors as animals’ size, temperament, feeding to get more profit. Fourteen species of animals became domesticated for agricultural purposes. Domestication of animals was an innovation that influenced the whole way of living.
Over two or three millennia people became accustomed to various climatic changes as they had supplies of wild plant food. They were settled now as they did not have to be continually on the move as before. Settled people could live in the same places year after year, their former rough camps were modified into permanent village settlements with a greater population. In these settlements, people stored foodstuffs in stone and accumulated several sophisticated stone tools. Gradually, people managed to combine the low workloads that distinct foraging societies with the achievements of fixed village life.
The invention of the plow made agricultural production more efficient than before as far more lands were farmed by fewer people. This resulted in extra food and gave people an opportunity to get involved in other types of work.
The agricultural revolution could not but have social changes as its consequence. Hunter-gatherers could not carry more than one child at a time which led to spacing the children for four or more years. A settled way of life enabled people to have more children. The death rates decreased. The birth rate increased and social classes emerged. Familial wealth was passed from one generation to the next.
During the period of the agricultural revolution, stratification became a typical characteristic of social life. Food surpluses led to the emergence of the social elite who were not involved in agriculture, industry, or commerce but dominated their communities differently and monopolized decision-making.
The social elite gained control of food resources and defended their status with arms. The power and resources were centralized which led to the development of the state because the rich and powerful people developed this institution to further consolidate their profits. Other classes that stratification of society created are the class of slaves, exploited workers, the hungry, and the poor. Social classes meant inequality. Therefore, the agricultural revolution can be considered both as the period of great achievements and great sufferings that social inequality brought.