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Colton Dudley
4/4/18
4A

Advancements of Human Civilization

“identify and explain two of the most important advancements in moving

human society forward from hunter gatherers, to farmers, to complex
civilizations”

Before the Neolithic age, humans lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This

lifestyle ended due to two major factors, The first being Agriculture, and a
system of Social Hierarchy (The Big Man Theory). The reason agriculture
was so important is because it made it feasible for the hunter-gatherers to
settle down in more permanent locations. The reason they could settle down
was that they had a constant food supply and the ability to renew said
supply, They no longer had to move from space to space depending on the
amount of food available because the food supply was now technically
infinite. They took this a step further, eventually farming and herding
animals. However to effectively grow crops and farm animals, they needed
one thing, a constant supply of water, This lead to the creation of Irrigation,
or the controlling and channeling of water, once they had the ability to
channel a constant stream of water there was no longer any reason to move
locations. Humanity had finally obtained the 3 things needed for a survivable
community, these three things being water, shelter, and food.
Once they had the ability to sustain a community in one location Social
Hierarchy started to naturally form, once certain families started growing a
surplus of food, they could then share said food with the others and start
“collecting favors” eventually they could start “cashing in those favors”. They
could then start controlling the food distribution, control the armies, have a
rode and wall system built, contract certain families to do certain jobs.
Eventually these small villages with “leaders” would evolve into more
complex societies like the ancient Egyptians and other European countries.
The reason these leaders came into power is because of their ability to
control the distribution of food and other resources, once someone can
control the distribution of food or water, they can control the life of the
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people, everyone needs basic things to live and once those are controlled
civilizations like the one we live in today are created.
The mastery and natural discovery of Agriculture and Social Hierarchy
pushed humanity into the neolithic and early civilization age. The importance
of these two factors still affect societies in the modern age, The United
States still farms, still uses a government body.

Requirements
✓ Construct a MEAT paragraph which answers the prompt; “identify and explain two (three for
honors) of the most important advancements, inventions, or elements in moving human society
forward from hunter gatherers, to farmers, to complex civilizations”
✓ CP provide two pieces of evidence and two pieces of analysis, honors provides three pieces of
evidence and three pieces of analysis
✓ 500 words
✓ Include a Tie-up sentence
✓ No grammatical or spelling errors are present
Rubric

4 3.5 2 1

The MEAT paragraph goes The MEAT paragraph The MEAT The MEAT
beyond the project answers the prompt paragraph paragraph
requirements by identifying accurately and contains missing shows little
and explaining extra effectively with proper or inaccurate thought, effort,
advancements using evidence. evidence (from the evidence and/or or
The paragraph links the classwork) and analysis. analysis. Some understanding.
advancements in a way that The paragraph is free misconceptions
helps the reader better from spelling and are evident
understand the topic. grammatical errors.