<P> The Neolithic Revolution, Neolithic Demographic Transition, or Agricultural Revolution, was the wide - scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making possible an increasingly larger population . These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants to learn how they grew and developed . This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants . </P> <P> Archaeological data indicates that the domestication of various types of plants and animals happened in separate locations worldwide, starting in the geological epoch of the Holocene around 12,500 years ago . It was the world's first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture . The Neolithic Revolution greatly narrowed the diversity of foods available, with a switch to agriculture which led to a downturn in human nutrition . </P>

During the neolithic age the population was able to grow because