-----Original Message-----
From: Eva Durant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: list futurework <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 1998 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: chimpanzeehood
>> Agriculture became a catastrophe because, according to Jared Diamond,
>> all evidence (skelletons and bones from humans) shows that before
>> agriculture was developed humans were never suffering from hunger and
>> malnutrition. But some time afterwards it became usual that there were
>> times in humans lives when they were starving so much that it is
>> possible for scientist to read it from their bones.
>>
>
>before agriculture developed the number of humans was
>probably comparable with apes. Agriculture was a success
>story in the amount of food and other human goods produced.
>The first massive population growth was the result of
>these early feudal civilisations.
>The problem - as I mentioned previously - was the divisive
>and hierarchical social structure
>
I'm not sure of the source of these notions came from, but there is plenty
of evidence that hunting-gathering peoples could as easily suffer from
hunger and malnutrition as anyone else, and perhaps even more so. Much
depended on factors such as where they lived, climatic conditions and cycles
in game populations. The most basic fact about hunting-gathering
populations was that they could never accumulate surpluses large enough to
tide them over periods of scarcity. Agriculture was invented to do just
that - to provide surpluses that would increase the chances of survival
during difficult times. Once agriculture got underway, and if the climate
remained favourable, larger populations could develop and the formation of
villages, towns and cities became possible. Larger populations and the need
to support urban communities that could not sustain themselves in turn led
to innovations and greater efficiency in agriculture.
One must not overlook that the age in which agriculture dominated economic
activity lasted a very long time. The earliest cities date back to about
the seventh millenium BC. They could not have existed without some form of
relatively complex agricultural base.
Ed Weick
