Diamond need to identify a time before equality. When people were living the same way. He had to turn back the clock before the first civilisations. Back into prehistory. 13,000 years ago, the ravishes of the ice age were over. The World was becoming warmer.
People were striving in the middle east. The middle east had more forests, leaves and plants. They were frequently on the move, making shelters wherever they could find food. They'd live in the shelters for weeks and months as long as they could feed themselves. They would move on each season. To a new valley looking for sources of food.
Instead of just reading about this lifestyle, Jared was lucky enough to live in that lifestyle. He got to find out how they got food. You have to be smart to be a hunter. 13,000 years ago people hunted in the middle east the same way they hunt now. The thing about hunting though is that it isn't a productive way to find food. With a bow and arrows there is no certainly to find food.
Traditional societies have relied more on gathering. The gathering is done by women. Gathering is more productive way of finding food. However it still doesn't find enough food. One tree yields about 70 lbs of sago. Sago is low on protein. Can't be stored for a long time. You have to find a productive environment.
In the middle east, barley and wheat grew in between the tress. Far more plentiful than sago. 12 and a half thousand years ago the temperatures dropped and ice age conditions returned. The world became colder and dryer. The middle east suffered and environmental collapse. Herds of animals and plants died off. The drought lasted for more than 1000 years. They had to look harder to find food. Despite the conditions they would somehow survive and prosper.
Ian Kite is someone who specials in the middle east. He is a co director of the dig and works with archaeologist. They believe that where they were digging was a small village. The oldest and most advanced in the world. The village first emerged 11 and a half thousand years ago. They found a granary. A place where they are able to store grain collectively. At some point during the drought in the middle east, people started growing their own food. They would stay as close to any water they could find and plant barely around them.The people of the stone age were becoming farmers.
People would breed plants. Its a big concept but its not so different from what people were doing thousands of years ago in the middle east.
In china people grew rice. And in the Americas they grew corn. Wherever farming was usually civilations would follow and excell. However in New Guinea, that didnt happen. People had been farming in New Guinea for almost 10,000 years.
People aroudn the world who had acces to crops became the best farmers.
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