First let's review what the Neolithic or New Stone Age was. It was a period of time after humans learned to farm but before they figured out how to make tools out of metal
instead of stone. Life was easier than it was before farming, but it
was still difficult. Neolithic societies were not really true
civilizations yet.
Imagine you are a Neolithic person.
You likely hunt for your meat, but you also grow wheat, barley, corn,
or rice as your main food. As a result of having a more steady food
supply from farming, your population goes up. That's great, but now
you need more food to feed the growing population!
Now, let's define “domestication of
animals.” Civilizations that domesticate animals tame and train
animals for their own personal use. One example is having dogs for
pets, personal protection, or hunting. Dogs that are domesticated
are accustomed to being around people and can be trained by humans to
do a lot of different things. Another example is the domestication
of herd animals such as cattle and sheep. These animals are kept for
their wool, skins, meat, and milk. Large animals can also be used to
do physical work like carrying things or plowing the field.
Okay, now imagine you are a Neolithic
person with domesticated animals. You have a nice corn patch to
provide the main part of your diet, but you also have dogs that make
hunting easier, and you have a herd of sheep that you can use for
food as well. If you have a horse or other animal that you use to
plow your field, you can produce even more crops than before! You
have more food now, and your society can continue to grow.
At some point, your society is
producing so much food that the population can keep growing, and you
still have food left over. When this happened in the Neolithic Age
it had huge effects. Neolithic people with domesticated animals
could spend even less time producing food. More people could focus
on other things like developing writing, government, and religion,
inventing wheels and other technologies, and figuring out how to make
things out of the shiny stuff that comes out of the ground.
In other words, the combination of
farming and domestication of animals helped humans advance to the
Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and beyond. Animal domestication
was another step on the road to civilization. It's amazing what
humans can do when they don't have to spend all of their time
searching for their next meal!