NAME:_____________________________
COLOR: R Y G B
DATE:_____________
What were governments like during the Neolithic Age?
As places got more crowded, in the Neolithic or New Stone Age period, some
people began to live in larger groups. These villages were still not very big: maybe
ten or fifteen families, maybe a total of less than a hundred people. But still that was
enough people to make it hard to make decisions.
In some places, what happened was that one man or woman (but usually a
man) got to be able to tell the others what to do, and they would do it, most of the
time. Often this was because the "big man" was stronger or bigger than everyone
else and could beat them up, or she might have friends who would beat everyone
else up. Sometimes everyone just thought this was the smartest person around.
Sometimes they just were good at making friends and convincing people of things.
Or they might be better at hunting than other people. Somehow this man or woman
would get everyone else in the village to do what he or she said, most of the time.
What kinds of decisions were people making in the Neolithic Age?
They were deciding where to build their village, and how to build a wall
around it, and who should work on building the wall. They were making (and
breaking) trading agreements with other villages. They were deciding where to
plant their crops, and where to store them for the winter. They needed a war leader
in case people attacked, or in case they attacked other people. Probably the most
important thing was to decide who got the water, and what they did with it. Water
has always been scarce around the Mediterranean and in West Asia, and people
fight over whose garden will be watered. A big man or woman can decide that kind
of fight without anyone getting hurt.
Not all the people who had "big men" were settled down in villages, though.
Nomads also sometimes had "big men," if their group was big enough to need one.
Nomadic big men decided where the group should travel to, and when, and also
acted as war leaders and arranged trade agreements with settled people and with
other nomads, and agreements on the use of watering holes.
GUIDING QUESTION: What was one of the first types of government
used during the Neolithic Age? Where might problems arise from this
type of government? What could they have changed about the
government to make it including more people?