S t am fo r d P ubl i c S c hoo l s
G r ade 6
Pe r f o rman c e A s s e s smen t : Un i t 2
Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple
Common Core standards and subject-specific objectives. Performance tasks are used to measure
capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis.
Performance Task: Neolithic Revolution
Type of Performance Task: Informative-Explanatory
Content Standard(s):
H6-8.1 Change, Continuity, and Context: examine historical events at a particular moment in time for their
significance; also connect those events to preceding events and succeeding consequences, there by building
understanding of the process of historical continuity and change.
H6-8.3 Historical Sources and Evidence: Expand their knowledge through the use of primary sources by
classifying, evaluating it relevancy, detecting flaws in analysis and supporting their claim with evidence and
identifying further areas of inquiry and/or additional sources.
Common Core skills that are assessed in the Performance Task:
Key Ideas and Details - RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources.
Key Ideas and Details - RH.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary
source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
Text Types and Purposes - WHST.6-8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of
historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
Production and Distribution of Writing - WHST.6-8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
Issue: Throughout history, many changes have occurred in the way food is produced. Some of the
major changes occurred during the Neolithic Revolution. These changes in food production had
political, social, and economic effects on societies and regions.
Directions: Read the documents and answer the questions. Using the information from the
background reading, documents and your knowledge of global history, write an essay in which you:
• Describe why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in history
Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Background
During the Paleolithic Period, which lasts from the beginnings of human life until about
10,000 BCE, people were nomads. They lived in groups of 20 -30, and
spent most of their time hunting and gathering. In these groups, work
was divided between men and women, with the men hunting game
animals, and women gathering fruits, berries, and other edibles. These
early peoples developed simple tools such as, spears and axes made from
bone, wood, and stone. Human beings lived in this manner from earliest times until
about 10,000 BCE, when they started to cultivate crops and domesticate animals. This is
known as the Neolithic Revolution.
The Neolithic Revolution was a fundamental change in the way people lived. The shift
from hunting & gathering to agriculture led to permanent settlements, the establishment
of social classes, and the eventual rise of civilizations. The Neolithic Revolution is a major
turning point in human history.
Great Discoveries
About 10,000 BCE, humans began to cultivate crops and domesticate
certain animals. This was a change from the system of hunting and
gathering that had sustained humans from earliest times. As a result,
permanent settlements were established. Neolithic villages continued
to divide work between men and women. However, women's status
declined as men took the lead in most areas of these early societies.
Villages were usually run by a Council of Elders composed of the heads of the
village's various families. Some of these villages may have had a chief elder as
a single leader. When resources became scarce, warfare among villages
increased. During war, some men gained stature as great warriors. This usually
transferred over to village life with these warriors becoming the leaders in
society. Early social class divisions developed as a result. A person's social class
was usually determined by the work they did, such as farmer, craftsman, priest,
and warrior. Depending on the society, priests and warriors were usually at the
top, with farmers and craftsman at the bottom.
New technologies developed in response to the need for better tools and
weapons to go along with the new way of living. Neolithic farmers created a
simple calendar to keep track of planting and harvesting. They also developed
simple metal tools such as plows, to help with their work. Some groups even
may have used animals to pull these plows, again making work easier. Metal
weapons were developed as villages needed to protect their valuable resources.
Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Effects
The Neolithic Revolution changed the way humans lived. The use of
agriculture allowed humans to develop permanent settlements, social
classes, and new technologies. Some of these early groups settled in the
fertile valleys of the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Yellow,
and Indus Rivers. This resulted in the rise of the great civilizations
in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India.
Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Part A - Short-Answer Questions
Directions: Analyze the documents and answer the short-answer questions that follow each
document in the space provided.
Document 1
1. Based on this time line, identify two ways that people’s lives changed during the Neolithic
Revolution.
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Document 2
My name is Ogg, and I am a hunter. I usually walk a great distance each day to find my food. . . . I continue to hunt for a
living, even though many of my friends have given up. They have learned to plant crops and keep animals. They live in
houses made of brick, stone, and grass. One day, while returning from the hunt, I happened to pass the field of my friends
Ulana and Lute. . . .
“Look how well we live,” Ulana replied. “We have a steady supply of meat, milk, vegetables, and wool. In fact, we have
everything we need.” . . . “We are not afraid, nor are we hungry. We all work together and help one another. Some till the
soil. Others care for the animals. Still others make weapons and tools. We trade goods with people in other villages. You
should give up the hunt and join us, Ogg. You will have a better life.” . . . I left Ulana and continued to hunt for my food.
But last week I returned from the hunt empty-handed every day. I was cold, tired, and hungry. . . .
Source: Henry Abraham and Irwin Pfeffer, Enjoying Global History, AMSCO
2. Identify one way that progress during the Neolithic Revolution helped Ulana and her friends.
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Document 3
Then, about 6000 B.C., and somewhere in the Near East (as far as we know), the Neolithic way of life began. It is still called
“Neolithic” (New Stone Age, as Mesolithic means Middle, and Paleolithic means Old Stone Age), because the older
anthropologists saw everything in the light of stonework, and thought of this “period” as the age of polished stone axes. But
it means, rather, a state of culture in which food is planted and bred, not hunted and gathered — in which food is
domesticated, not wild.
If we had to choose the greatest single change in human history right up to the present, this would be it. I mean, of course, a
change by cultural evolution, as distinct from a biological change like standing erect, or gradually becoming able to use
culture and language in the first place. And I do not mean that the change was sudden, or dramatic to those who were
changing, as though a light were being switched on. It was dramatic, but long after, in its consequences, because everything
else we have achieved flowed out of this as a beginning. . . .
William Howells, Back of History, Doubleday &Co.
3. Based on this document, identify one important result of the Neolithic Revolution.
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Document 4
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Life Expectancy: Life Expectancy:
Preagricultural Postagricultural
Community
Community
Source: George Armelagos Study
1. Based on George Armelagos study, what happened to life expectancy after the adoption of farming?
Why?
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Document 5
6. Based on these images, state one advance that occurred as the
Mesopotamian culture developed a stable food supply.
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Part B – Open response
This question is based on the accompanying documents (1–5). The question is designed to test your
ability to work with historical documents. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source
of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document.
Historical Context: A “turning point” is defined as a period in history when a significant change occurs.
Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of history, answer the following
question in one well-written paragraph.
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Guidelines:
In your paragraph, be sure to:
• Have a thesis statement that includes the restated question and three main points you will use to
support your thesis.
• Use information from the documents in the body of the essay (USE DIRECT QUOTES—IN
QUOTATION MARKS)
• Use relevant outside information
• Prove your thesis with relevant facts, examples, and details
• Have a logical and clear plan of organization
Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Open Response:
Thesis (3 main points)
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Main point #1 ________________________________________________________________
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Support for main point #1
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Main point #2 ________________________________________________________________
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Support for main point #2
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Support for main point #3
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Conclusion (reverse and restate)
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Neolithic Revolution DBQ
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Rub r i c
Rubric for a 4-point CR: Citing Evidence and Analysis Within or Across
Various Sources Types
Exemplary
Adequate
Partial
Minimal
No credit
An exemplary response:
• Gives substantial evidence of the ability to cite specific textual evidence to support analysis
of primary and secondary sources
o Includes specific citation(s) that make clear reference to the text
• Gives substantial evidence of the ability to analyze the relationship between a primary and
secondary source on the same topic.
o Fully supports the analysis between a primary and secondary source with clearly
relevant details from the text
An adequate response:
• Gives sufficient evidence of the ability to cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources.
o Includes some specific citation(s) that make clear reference to the text that make
reference to the text
• Gives sufficient evidence of the ability to analyze the relationship between a primary and
secondary source on the same topic.
o Adequately supports the analysis between a primary and secondary source with
clearly relevant details from the text
A partial response:
• Gives some evidence of the ability to cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources.
o Includes general citation(s) that make few references to the text
• Gives some evidence of the ability to analyze the relationship between a primary and
secondary source on the same topic.
o Partially supports analysis between a primary and secondary source with few
relevant details from the text
A minimal response:
• Gives limited evidence of the ability to cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of
primary and secondary sources.
o Includes citation(s) but they are not explicit or make only vague references to the
text
• Gives limited evidence of the ability to analyze the relationship between a primary and
secondary source on the same topic.
o Supports the analysis between a primary and secondary source with at least one
detail but the relevance of that detail to the text must be inferred
A response gets no credit if it provides no evidence of the ability to cite specific textual evidence to
support analysis of primary and secondary sources, includes no relevant information from the text,
or is vague.