ABSTRACT

The great civilizations that emerged from the Neolithic Revolution were all centered on a single staple food. One of the most important materials to the Neolithic Revolution was flint, from which ax heads and other tools could be fashioned. The first consequence of the Neolithic Revolution was felt in the number of humans on the Earth. The transition to agriculture had both negative and positive consequences for population growth. Most scholars of the neolithic believe that the agricultural revolution occurred first and the resulting food surplus made possible the rise of villages, towns, and eventually the first cities. The Neolithic Revolution—;;agriculture, bulk flow technologies, and the rest—;;did not resolve humankind's dilemma, first because the urban population grew faster than did the agricultural productivity of the land around the cities, and second because the costs of population concentration placed new demands on the environment.