Probably not.

Prehistoric societies, in fact, started out without any

form of sociopolitical system.

The human species are just co-existing to survive.

However, upon the advent of new social systems, development and

innovation of tools, and biological developments, the human species realized
the importance of a social system.

As such, progress in the field of politics began to emerge in unison with the
development of societies.
In this lesson, we will tackle the rise of sociopolitical systems
and the major events in history that shaped their development

From a hunting-gathering lifestyle to a Neolithic

society, major changes took place in terms of the
socio-economic areas of early human life.

Despite this drastic development, human lifestyle

continued to develop into more organized socio-
economic and political systems.
Early lifestyles have greatly been influenced by nature.

As such, developments in human life also occurred with the

influence of the natural environment.

• The Paleolithic period involved humans as hunter-gatherers

in society.
• They are nomadic people who transfer from one area to
another to hunt animals or gather plants for consumption
and survival.
• This has been the practice until around 12,000 B.C. when
humans started to domesticate animals and crops.
• This era of a newfound lifestyle is called the Neolithic
Revolution.
• From being hunter-gatherers or nomads, people
became farmers through domestication, the process
of increasing human control in breeding animals or
plants to regulate certain traits that will make them
useful for other human needs.
• The domestication of animals and plants implied that
humans stay in a permanent area to enable their
resources to grow and expand.
• Some plants and animals utilized for domestication
include wheat, barley, corn, nuts, cattle, goats, and
sheep.
• One of the first Neolithic societies recorded in
existence was Mesopotamia, which is at present,
the country of Iraq.

• It was believed that it existed in the same period

as other Neolithic societies in China, the
Americas, and Africa.
• The Neolithic revolution • Because of the • There was an
paved the way for the domestication of crops
creation of civilization increase in human
and animals, an population and life
through permanent
settlements dictated by abundant supply of food
and resources was
span across
reliable food supply.
• • Development of maintained. civilizations.
domestication • Introduction of a • People learned to
techniques and practices selective breeding play different social
allowed for a more
process of crops and roles apart from
complex society and the
possibility for animals that would allow being farmers (e.g.,
urbanization. for the development of craftsman, priests,
• • A form of social new species was
stratification was developed.
leader).
developed.
 •Artefactual evidence proves the
existence and success of the Neolithic
revolution in influencing sociopolitical
development. Here are examples of
pieces of evidence found to support the
existence of this era:
•The Neolithic revolution, through
the domestication of plants and
animals, paved the way for the
beginnings of early civilizations like
Mesopotamia
• Civilizations began to develop during the Neolithic period
when the early humans learned to settle in just one area to
domesticate plants and animals for survival.
• The first civilizations were found mostly in Asia, particularly
in China and Mesopotamia, now Iraq.
• The latter was part of the Fertile Crescent, an area in the
ancient Middle East that is believed to be “cradle of
civilization” and the birthplace of agriculture, urbanization,
writing, trade, and science due to its fertile land area.
• This area was the site of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates,
which became important resources for the early civilizations.
• During this period, civilizations were mainly agrarian
societies that treated both genders equally as the
primary tasks only involved farming, domestication,
and harvesting.
• Though this may be the case, social roles began to
emerge with some members of the community
becoming priests or priestesses, laborers, and
farmers.