Compare the lifestyles of hunter-gatherers with those of settlers of early agricultural communities.

the neolithic revolution describes the

Toward the end of the last ice age, some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, a few of the human communities that were most favoured by geography and climate began to make the transition from the long period of Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, savagery to a more settled way of life depending on animal husbandry and agriculture. This period of transition, the Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age, led eventually to a marked rise in population, to a growth in the size of communities, and to the beginnings of town life. It is sometimes referred to as the Neolithic Revolution because the speed of technological innovation increased so greatly and the social and political organization of human groups underwent a corresponding increase in complexity.