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

Read More

Join the Neolithic Revolution!

*Note: Open image in separate tab to enlarge.

Join the Neolithic Revolution! This humorous David Steinlicht comic provides a detailed list of the advantages and disadvantages of plant and animal domestication. As stated in my previous post, I must reiterate that the cultivation and domestication of plants and animals did not develop rapidly as the word "revolution" implies. The agriculturalist lifestyle was a gradual change that developed over thousands of years. With that being said, here is an excerpt from the comic:

Your KEYS to a BETTER LIFE!

Harness Plant Power!

• Learn how the seeds you drop can become next fall's crop!
• Use seed selection to make future plants more production and easier to harvest!
• Preserve and store surpluses for hard times!
• Invent new ways of preparing and cooking plant foods!

Put Animals To Work For You!

• Learn which species are slow and submissive!
• Use food and fences to keep them around!
• Influence their choice of mates!
• Breed the best and eat the rest!

Disclaimer:

Plant and animal domestication can lead to overpopulation, deforestation, erosion, flooding, desertification, materialism, diminished nutrition, cavities, and television. Caution advised.

Your results may vary.

The advantages and disadvantages of adopting an agriculturalist lifestyle are clearly stated in the comic; however, why exactly did prehistoric humans feel the need to change their lifestyles? Were they pushed into it due to lack of resources, or were they pulled into it by observing the beneficial aspects of agriculture? 

Source:

1. Comic by David Steinlicht

Read More

Introducing: The Agricultural Revolution

The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1

This amusing and informative video provides a quick overview of the possible origins of agriculture, which is also referred to as "The Agricultural Revolution". However, it should be noted that agriculture did not develop rapidly, as the term "revolution" implies. Instead, it took over thousands of years to gradually develop and establish agriculture and the settled societies that came along with it. Hosted by John Green, this video investigates the effects of the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals. According to the video, the origins of agriculture resulted from the need to eat more, which allowed humans to create permanent settlements and sustain large families and communities of people. However, hunter-gatherers were much healthier compared to agriculturalists, and many of the health problems we see today would not have been present in prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies; moreover, the concept of preventable diseases appearing after the establishment of agriculture is also known as "mismatched diseases", which is talked about in Daniel Lieberman's text "The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease", (Source #1). Lieberman discusses how humans are maladapted to their modernized lifestyle, and I will be elaborating upon and referring back to his text and the concept of mismatched diseases in future posts. Returning to the Crash Course World History video, John Green lists the advantages and disadvantages of agriculture as follows:

Advantages:

• Controllable food supply
• Food surpluses
• Can be practiced all over the world

Disadvantages:

• Must radically change the environment of the planet
• Difficult; requires intense manual labor
• Cause of inequality, famine, etc.

In addition, pastoralism provides a steady amount of resources such as meat, milk, wool, leather, etc. However, herding requires constant mobility in order to properly supply the animals with enough food. An interesting fact presented in the video is that there is evidence of snail domestication in Franchthi Cave, which is located in Southern Greece. The people living here were selectively breeding these snails to be larger and more nutritious than the smaller snails. 

Sources:

1. The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1 on Youtube
2. Lieberman, Daniel E. (2013). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. New York, NY, USA: Pantheon.

Read More