How was life during the Paleolithic Age different from that in the Neolithic Age?

Paleolithic Man still lived as a hunter gatherer and thus had an entirely nomadic lifestyle; Neolithic Man developed agriculture, and domesticated animals,so could settle in permanent communities such as towns and cities.This meant that Neolithic Man could build up a substantial food surplus when possible - something nomadic Paleolithic Man could not.

Paleolithic people were hunter gatherers, and this is a relatively easy way to live, studies of surviving hunter-gatherer societies in the 20th century showed that they spent only a few hours a day hunting and gathering food, leaving them with plenty of leisure time to spend talking, singing, playing games, sleeping, etc. Normally in such societies, the men hunt while the women and children gather plant food and small edibles like eggs, insects, etc. As paleolithic people are nomadic, they do not accumulate many possessions, and they move on quite frequently following migrating herds of animals etc.

Neolithic people lived by farming, which is much harder work. Farming involves intensive labour and requires long hours of work. Women in agricultural communities often spend hours a day grinding corn to make bread for example, if they have not developed mills. But living in settled communities, as neolithic people did, enabled them to build permanent houses, and to develop crafts like spinning, weaving, pottery, etc. It also allowed a food surplus to develop, so that some people could devote themselves to specialised crafts and trades.

The Paleolithic Age

Paleolithic Age Lifestyle

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