Comparing Lifestyles

Caveman comic by Baloo!

This is the go-to post to identify the pros and cons of the hunting-gathering and agricultural lifestyles. I have taken the advantages and disadvantages from my previous posts and other websites (which will be cited below) and compiled them all into one list. If you would like to contribute, please comment below and I will update the list. Thank you!

Hunters and Gatherers:

Advantages:

• Nutritional quality of food was high; high in fiber, plant sterols, and vegetable proteins. (Source #4)
• Constant physical activity good for hunter-gatherers' health; obtained vitamin D through sun exposure. (Source #4)
• Evidence that a Palaeolithic diet promotes low levels of systolic blood pressure, weight, and BMI. (Source #4)
• Energy-filled hunter-gatherer diets led to an increase in brain size. (Source #3)
• Increase in brain size prolonged life history periods and added a stage of childhood. (Source #3)
• Hunter-gatherers lived in groups with low population densities; they cooperated with one another and shared their hunt. (Source #3)
• Consuming sweet foods beneficial to survival. (Source #5)
• Exploited as many resources as possible instead of relying on a few. (Source #6)
• Large, communal knowledge of their range and the food sources, dangers, and opportunities which exist within it. (Source #6)

Disadvantages:

• Unreliable food supply. (Source #1)
• Main occupation was hunting for food; left no free time to refine skills. (Source #1)
• Must gather and consume more calories in order to maintain their larger brains, slower developing bodies, and dependent offspring. (Source #3)
• Low child-to-adult ratios. (Source #6)
• Privacy is nonexistent. (Source #6)

Agriculturalists:

Advantages:

• Controllable and reliable food supply. (Source #1)
• Supports growth of human populations. (Source #2 and 3)
• Food surpluses; feasting leads to social networking. 
• Development of larger, stratified societies. (Source #2) 
• Can be practiced all over the world.
• New occupations (sewing, building, etc); refining skills. Specialization in work othe than agriculture resulted in new occupations and technologies. (Source #1)
• Allowed trade to occur between different groups.(Source #1 and 3)
• Pastoralism and agriculture become mutually dependent. (Source #6)
• Pastoralism: Use animals to transport resources. (Source #1)
• Pastoralism: Breeding animals for consumption, resources, etc. (Source #1)
• Organized warfare emerged and became common; this can be both an advantage and disadvantage. (Source #6)

Disadvantages:

• Nutritional quality of food decreases; enriched in high glycemic index carbohydrate sources, animal products, meat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.(Source #4)
• Requires more effort and energy in order to plant, tend, and harvest crops.
• Must radically change the environment of the planet; consequences such as deforestation, erosion, flooding, desertification, etc. (Source # 3)
• Greater dependence on a smaller variety of food. (Source #6)
• Cause of inequality, famine, overpopulation, materialism, etc. (Source #3)
• Communities lacked proper sanitation which resulted in the promotion of diseases and plagues. (Source #3)
• According to Daniel Lieberman, the effects of agriculture and rise in technology promoted the appearance of "mismatched diseases" such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, osteoporosis, rickets, etc. (Source #3 and 5)
• Trade among agriculturalists spread bacteria and microbes that provoked diseases onto other communities. (Source #3)
• Agriculturalists are prone to height reduction, shorter lifespan, higher child mortality rate. (Source #3)
• Consuming sweet foods detrimental to survival; sweets are superabundant and deteriorate health. (Source #5)
• Greater vulnerability to weather. (Source #6)

Please comment if I left out a particular advantage/disadvantage!

Sources:

1. Early Humans Unit: From Paleolithic to Neolithic - Identifying Changes in Daily Life
2. The Exploitation of Plants and People by Nicholas Malinak
3. Lieberman, Daniel E. (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. New York, NY, USA: Pantheon.
4. Jew S, AbuMweis SS, Jones PJH. 2009. Evolution of the Human Diet: Linking Our Ancestral Diet to Modern Functional Foods as a Means of Chronic Disease Prevention. Journal of Medicinal Food, 12 (5): 925-934.
5. O’Keefe JH, Cordain, L. 2004. Cardiovascular Disease Resulting From a Diet and Lifestyle at Odds With Our Palaeolithic Genome: How to Become a 21st-Century Hunter-Gatherer. Mayo Clinic Proc, 79: 101-108.
6. Hunting and Gathering - Stetson University
7. Image Source on Anthonycolpo.com

Categories: advantages, agriculturalists, disadvantages, hunter-gatherers, lifestyles, pastoralists