Consequences of Humans Switching from a Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle to a Farming Lifestyle - Essay Example

Some of the present hunter-gatherer communities include the San of the Kalahari, Pygmy of Congo Forest, Hadza, and Okiek of East Africa.

Hunter-gatherer communities have some of the following features that make them unique in modern society. The community greatly depends on subsistence technology; in which their food is not processed or stored but consumed and the remainder left to rot. The hunter-gatherer community has no fixed settlement patterns or dwellings but consists of small groups ranging from 10 to 30 persons. The community has no social obligations, norms, as rules are set by the whole group, and a person can leave whenever they want. There is also no property ownership and they live an egalitarian life whereby, a person's food and property are for the whole community (Stiles 8).

A biological consequence caused by a change to agriculture is the rise of health cases and diseases among the hunter-gatherer. These diseases are caused by the narrow resources available for farming making humans use chemicals and genetically modified foods for consumption. These foods have low nutritional value compared to the naturally occurring foods, which were present for the traditional hunter-gatherer (Khatry 6). The rise of agricultural activities has had both positive and negative consequences to the biological and social activities of the hunter-gatherer communities. The shift to agricultural activities has increased dependency on cultivated and domesticated plants and animals for food. This contrasts the hunter-gatherer nature whereby they follow the course of nature (Khatry 3-4), who gathered naturally growing plants and wild animals for food. Farming has encroached natural habitats to clear more land for farming activities limiting hunter-gatherer activities.

The rise in civilization has also caused a biological imbalance in the physical environment, as humans change from egalitarian hunter-gathering to farming, which requires surplus food for food security increasing pressure on the land. This leads to the loss of the biological habitat of food and animals as more land is cleared by humans for farming activities. Farming led to the growth in civilization as settlements develop in areas, which have high food productivity. This growth of population increases demands for food resources making hunter-gatherers adopt animal husbandry and plant growing to cater for their increasing number, over a limited geographical area (Habu 1). The increased pressure causes massive vegetation clearance by humans, which results causes climatic changes in some areas.

Population pressure from other communities living in the same geographical areas as the hunter-gatherer led to the assimilation of the other cultures. This implies that with the increased interaction between the hunter-gatherer communities with the others, they learn new social cultures and develop social norms, which did not exist before (Stiles 2). Dressing codes and social interaction of the hunter-gatherer communities have changed with foreign cultures presented by other farming communities. This interaction with other communities that practice agriculture has made the hunter-gatherer communities learn new languages. This means that their natural language influence reduces as more communities join them to practice farming in the land (Stiles 6).

Agriculture increases pressure for land ownership between the hunter-gatherer and other communities leading to the emergence of property rights and social stratification (Weisdorf 13). Traditional hunter-gatherer societies have no social stratification and everyone is equal in the group, and all activities are done as one unit. The rise of farming increased the demand for cultivable land and made the hunter-gatherer own land to farm or be forced to relocate to other parts.

Hunter-gatherer communities have clearly defined roles for all the members of the social unit in that, adult males were to do the hunting and women the gathering and take care of the children (Weisdorf 16). The elders are supposed to remain in the village and coordinate the activities, protect the young ones, and share food. Agriculture has changed this by introducing interfamily exchange, in that all the members of the unit have to participate in the process. This is because children and adults are expected to participate in farming activities and activities are undertaken by both females and males. In conclusion, as much as Neolithic agriculture is attributed to the rise of civilization and the modern way of life of man, the hunter-gatherer way of life provided the best means of ecological balance between man and his environment.