Consequences Of The Neolithic Revolution In Mesoamerica
Today, modern humans live in large cities, are able to live in one place for a very long time and are able to go to the grocery store and buy food that would take months to produce, or might not even be in season, in just a matter of seconds. The ease of life today has been a result of the advancement during the Neolithic Revolution that happened around 11, 000 BC. Mesoamerica is located in modern day Mexico stretching along the gulf of Mexico, close to the present day city Veracruz, home to The Olmec (Rubber People) and The Maya and many other smaller civilisations. One of the greatest advancements during the neolithic revolution in Mesoamerica is the change of subsistence practices. Before the Neolithic Revolution Mesoamerica mostly foraged for their food, in small groups of about 20 people looking for wild plants such as been and maize. But there are many reasons that Mesoamerica started changing its subsistence practices during the neolithic revolution and move towards a more sedentary lifestyle.
Around 12, 000 years ago, when the temperature started to rise a lot of the larger Ice Age animals started to die off, leaving numbers of smaller species such as turkey. These animals flourished in the expanding forests giving home to more animals. As the temperature started to rise so did the water level increasing the numbers of aquatic life in more shallow lakes, giving easier access to hunting and fishing. . The environment was changing to be more suitable for sea and land animals to flourish giving easier and more plentiful access to the people of Mesoamerica. This led to a more food security since they didn't have to move to where hunting was most effective and helped give them a more sedentary lifestyle. This sedentary lifestyle allowed the population to increase dramatically. Eventually humans developed agriculture techniques and domestication of plants and animals. This incredible breakthrough laid the groundwork for life as we know it today. With the advent of farming, around 10, 000 BCE, humans could stay in one place longer since they didn't have to forage for their food anymore. Over thousands of years, humans developed their farming practices and improved the production of domesticated plants until around 9, 000 BCE when they had increased dependence on crop production for their food. These changes during the neolithic revolution made life substantially easier than before since there was easier access to food, increase population size and the ability to settle in one place.
Food production in Mesoamerica started taking place around 8000 BC but did not totally replace foraging until around 1000 BC when the populations in Mesoamerica started depending majorly on agricultural practices. Foraging was still a large part of the sustenance practices, it was only around 6000 BC that Mesoamerica began to develop large scale agriculture techniques that included plants like corn and beans as well as domesticated animals such as dogs and turkeys. Plant and animal domestication took place over a very long period of time, it wasn't just a discovery, developing these agricultural practices took a long time. Specifically, “teosinte”, a grain comparable to modern corn or maize took approximately 5, 000 years, around 2, 000 BC, to produce large enough grains to compete with foraging practices.
Around 1900 BC, with large amounts of food being produced, reduced workload and a sedentary lifestyle due to the agricultural practices and increased food security, there is a large population increase. This lead to large feasting and use of ceramic pots that they would store food in for leaner months or produce alcohol in from plants such as maize and cocoa. But with these large changes in demographic, population size and sustenance practices, there was also changes in how humans interacted with the world and each other. Land was no longer free to everybody, with the advent of farming land ownership became an import part of life. In previous foraging societies land ownership was a rare concept. There were many consequences of the neolithic revolution in Mesoamerica but it was mostly war and disease. They maya were organized into sections, the largest were the Tikal with a population of about 40, 000 people. The different section would try and capture other tribes people in order for sacrifice to the gods.
Another problem was the disposal of human and animals waste since there was a shift to a more sedentary lifestyle. Before, when a nomadic lifestyle was common, they would leave their waste where ever they spent the time and then move on as they followed their game or as they moved with the weather.
Another consequence of the Neolithic Revolution was the mice and rodents that were attracted to the stored food. With the excess of food that was stored in pots, mice and rodents quickly found there way to the food. These rodents were infested with diseases and as the humans stay in one place for longer the more people were getting sick. Since a large amount of people lived in close proximity to each other diseases were easily spread and reinfect each other. When the populations in Mesoamerica were foraging they could easily move away from the diseases greatly reducing the spread. The Neolithic Revolution had lasting impacts on life as we know it today. Specifically in Mesoamerica the sustenance practices can still be seen today. But with these advancement were also consequences such as war and disease.
