<P> The Middle East served as the source for many animals that could be domesticated, such as sheep, goats and pigs . This area was also the first region to domesticate the dromedary . Henri Fleisch discovered and termed the Shepherd Neolithic flint industry from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon and suggested that it could have been used by the earliest nomadic shepherds . He dated this industry to the Epipaleolithic or Pre-Pottery Neolithic as it is evidently not Paleolithic, Mesolithic or even Pottery Neolithic . The presence of these animals gave the region a large advantage in cultural and economic development . As the climate in the Middle East changed and became drier, many of the farmers were forced to leave, taking their domesticated animals with them . It was this massive emigration from the Middle East that would later help distribute these animals to the rest of Afroeurasia . This emigration was mainly on an east - west axis of similar climates, as crops usually have a narrow optimal climatic range outside of which they cannot grow for reasons of light or rain changes . For instance, wheat does not normally grow in tropical climates, just like tropical crops such as bananas do not grow in colder climates . Some authors, like Jared Diamond, have postulated that this East - West axis is the main reason why plant and animal domestication spread so quickly from the Fertile Crescent to the rest of Eurasia and North Africa, while it did not reach through the North - South axis of Africa to reach the Mediterranean climates of South Africa, where temperate crops were successfully imported by ships in the last 500 years . Similarly, the African Zebu of central Africa and the domesticated bovines of the fertile - crescent--separated by the dry sahara desert--were not introduced into each other's region . </P> <P> Despite the significant technological advance, the Neolithic revolution did not lead immediately to a rapid growth of population . Its benefits appear to have been offset by various adverse effects, mostly diseases and warfare . </P> <P> The introduction of agriculture has not necessarily led to unequivocal progress . The nutritional standards of the growing Neolithic populations were inferior to that of hunter - gatherers . Several ethnological and archaeological studies conclude that the transition to cereal - based diets caused a reduction in life expectancy and stature, an increment in infant mortality and infectious diseases, the development of chronic, inflammatory or degenerative diseases (such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and multiple nutritional deficiencies, including vitamin deficiencies, iron deficiency anemia and mineral disorders affecting bones (such as osteoporosis and rickets) and teeth . Average height went down from 5'10" (178 cm) for men and 5'6" (168 cm) for women to 5'5" (165 cm) and 5'1" (155 cm), respectively, and it took until the twentieth century for average human height to come back to the pre-Neolithic Revolution levels . </P> <P> The traditional view is that agricultural food production supported a denser population, which in turn supported larger sedentary communities, the accumulation of goods and tools, and specialization in diverse forms of new labor . The development of larger societies led to the development of different means of decision making and to governmental organization . Food surpluses made possible the development of a social elite who were not otherwise engaged in agriculture, industry or commerce, but dominated their communities by other means and monopolized decision - making . Jared Diamond (in The World Until Yesterday) identifies the availability of milk and cereal grains as permitting mothers to raise both an older (e.g. 3 or 4 year old) and a younger child concurrently . The result is that a population can increase more rapidly . Diamond points out that agriculture brought about deep social divisions and encouraged gender inequality . </P>

A consequence of animal domestication and plant cultivation was