ABSTRACT
According to the modern reconstructions by anthropologists, the Neolithic revolution began in the Middle East at about 10,000 bce. It is defined as marking the change from hunter-gatherer groups to agricultural societies and brought about a drastic change in the nature of human diets, but, it is claimed, not in our genes. The shift to agriculture was a gradual one; however, by 7,500 bce, most people in the Middle East had switched to an agrarian way of life, and the first state was born by 5,500 bce. The Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century Europe brought about another major shift in human diets without any alteration in our underlying genetic makeup.
