Humanity needed a change. We were known as hunter-gatherers and we would simply move where the food would. People were not living for long periods due to the amount required from each person during the Paleolithic era. The Paleolithic ear is also referred to as the “Old Stone Age”. This was because of the multiple rudimentary stone tools that were used during this period. The Homo sapiens would crack stones so they could use the sharp edge to chop materials. This period is considered the first time where tools were actually used to assist Homo sapiens. This period has been divided into the Lower Palaeolithic, with the earliest forms of mankind and the presence of hand-axe industries, ending c.80,000 bc, the Middle Palaeolithic (or Mousterian), the era of Neanderthal man, ending c.33,000 bc, and the Upper Palaeolithic, which saw the development of Homo sapiens from c.50,000 years ago (A Dictionary of World History, 2006). During the Upper Palaeolithic the early human population increased and formed larger communities, displaying a faster rate of cultural change than in the Middle Palaeolithic. Distinctive regional groups appeared for the first time (A Dictionary of World History, 2006). By Late Paleolithic or Old Stone Age times, human groups survived by combining hunting and fishing with the gathering of fruits, berries, grains, and root crops that grew in the wild. They had created a considerable number of tools to assist them in these critical endeavors. Tools of wood and bone have perished; thus surviving stone tools are our main evidence of the technology of this epoch. These tools had advanced considerably by the late Old Stone Age (A Dictionary of World History, 2006).

As with everything that has occurred since the beginning of time evolution took place. With the growth in brain size and the aspiration to become better the Homo sapiens then began to develop technology that would shift them from a nomadic style of living to a more collective society. There were two major technological advances that forced a shift and they are the introductions of metallurgy, which is the process of using fire to shape metals. With this advancement trade began to flourished, long-distance trading networks evolved. These networks provided the basis for the meeting and blending of different groups of peoples and different cultural assumptions and ideas (Levak, Muir, & Veldman, 2014, Chapter 1). Another was the introduction of the plow that was being used in the Mesopotamian. By using plows it require less people to cultivate the heavy soils in Europe (because of their colder temperatures). According to (Levak, Muir, & Veldman, 2014, Chapter 1), it was because of these advances in technology that the social structure within European villages became more stratified, with growing divisions between the rich and the poor. From the evidence of weaponry buried in graves, we know that the warrior emerged as a dominant figure in these early European societies.

The Neolithic era is referred to as the New Stone Age. During this period people would still continue to use stone tools however, we began to enhance our ability to craft the stone and make it more useful. With the climate becoming more temperate the domestication of both animals and crops became possible. This meant that people could remain in the same area for longer periods of time. According to Hand Tool, “Wood began its broad role in human life with the ground and polished tools of the Neolithic. Home and fire, furniture and utensils, cradle and coffin were products of the ax, adz, and chisel, which could fashion wood intricately and with precision. This kit of tools turned wood into an almost universal building material, for a host of new things was now possible, such as dugout canoes of oak, paddles and framing for hide-covered boats, sledges, skis, wooden platters and ladles, as well as other household gear.” With the enhancement in tools, cultivation, and people remaining in the same area then they would be able to create a more stable living quarters for them. Finally, with all of the growth this would also mean that there would be our first look at the new social standings in society. There would begin to be a larger separation between the rich and the poor.

With the changes that occurred from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic era the main key need for everything was water. This is where both the Mesopotamian and Egypt would flourish. For the Mesopotamian Tigris and Euphrates are unpredictable water sources, prone to sudden, powerful, and destructive flooding. Sumerian villagers first built their own levees for flood protection and dug their own small channels to divert floodwaters from the two great rivers to irrigate their dry lands (Levak, Muir, & Veldman, 2014, Chapter 1). IN addition because of Sumer’s cities in the Mesopotamian trade became a large market because traders from all over would be able to use the newly developed wheeled cart to transport their goods. Egyptians were also originally hunter-gatherers who slowly turned to growing crops and domesticating animals. Small villages, in which people could coordinate their labor most easily, appeared along the banks of the Nile between 5000 and 4000 B.C.E. By 3500 B.C.E., Egyptians could survive comfortably through agriculture and herding. Small towns multiplied along the Nile, and market centers connected by roads emerged as hubs where artisans and merchants exchanged their wares (Levak, Muir, & Veldman, 2014, Chapter 1).
References

A Dictionary of World History. (2006). Paleolithic (US Paleolithic). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Hand tool. (2015). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://academic.eb.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/EBchecked/topic/254115/hand-tool

International World History Project (2015). Human Life In The Era Of Hunters And Gatherers. Retrieved from http://history-world.org/paleolithic2.htm.

Levak, B., Muir, E., & Veldman, M. (2014). The West. Encounters and Transformations Combined Volume (4th ed.). Retrieved from he University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.