When the agricultural revolution began the human population was literally at the peak of its capability within its environment. That is to say they really had it together as a species – being perfectly tailored for the way they lived things could hardly be made any better. Over a two million year period of evolving, Homo sapiens physiology became quite accustomed to the many flora and fauna that surrounded them in their day to day existence. Human beings made up a portion of the food chain and that does not mean they were the masters of it. Nevertheless, humans who lived some forty thousand years past were quite successful as a species.
During the process of evolution human beings were equally vigorous, equally as fit and healthy and equally as fertile and able to reproduce successfully as any of their rival animal species they lived amongst. When the agricultural revolution started around twelve millennia ago, all of that changed. Any advances that humans made as an agricultural society were negated by the disastrous biological results. Before agriculture reared its head, Homo sapiens were finding nourishment in the many hundreds of plant species and various types of animals as well as bird life and eggs they were living around. When it was found to be so much more convenient to cultivate and harvest these plants in one little area instead of walking about for miles on end searching and gathering, this was quite a coup.
When humans were able to start raising their own animals near their abode and keep them corralled so they were always there when needed, it beat the heck out of going out and hunting for them for days on end. The problems began when it became apparent that certain plants and animals were not about to make it easy for early man to become farmers. This meant that a wide variety was traded for handiness. Modern cultures today can get by nutritionally on the fewest of grain types and even fewer animal types for sustenance. Modern grocery establishments sell three varieties of animal meats for the most part, swine, beef and sheep, while chicken and turkey make up almost one hundred percent of the poultry/fowl that humans are consuming.
Farmers need to be in one place for their production to continue and this leaves them susceptible. Temporary and fixed living areas are left open to hazardous health conditions that hunter gatherer populations are never confronted with consistently – epidemics, pollution and famine due to drought and other localized conditions.
Regardless of the size of a living area, it must have a supply of fresh, potable water. Waste from the community would build up after a certain time period and contaminate water supplies in the settlements. Rather than the down pours of rain flushing it away or dissipation into larger bodies of water, microbial parasites and other tiny terrors would infest areas in untenable amounts that eventually infected humans of the day who were once able to just keep moving on staying ahead of any infection. As the settlements began to populate into larger villages and towns became cities, germs began to run rampant and the initial epidemics began to show up.
When tiny groups of hunters and gatherers became infected by some unexpected bacterium delivered by most likely a tiny animal, the group would likely lose many people if not the entire tribe, but the plague would extend no further. If the same contagion made its way into a city it would mean the death of thousands. This death toll would reach enormous heights later in history as civilizations expanded and empires ruled societies.
As our modern society is all too aware, today’s advances in science and medicine have not been able to do away with epidemics. Quite the opposite, today our societies actually smooth the progress of diseases. Modern air travel was the reason SARS was able to spread so quickly and efficiently from the Far East to North America in only a few hours. Other infectious diseases like West Nile Virus has been infecting more and more people in North America each year since making its way here from Africa a few decades ago. Both SARS and West Nile virus would have been considered pip squeaks during early man’s existence and had little or no impact.
In the more primitive times there was probably not a name for people starving to death like we have today – famine. There may not have been a time when food actually stopped being available to them. In Africa and the Mid East, later in what would become Europe and North America, knowledge passed on from one generation to the next made the discovery of food sources a given, even during times of drought. Just look at how well adapted many tribes are to this day even though they survive in desert like conditions or shrinking bush land. When explorers travelled worldwide they often starved though they were familiar with various indigenous plants and animals.
Famine happens when a culture relies upon only one crop. Potatoes in Ireland would be an example of this, rice in Asia and certain grains in different parts of the world meant that famine was a foregone conclusion at some point in time. In times of natural disaster due to flooding or drought these civilizations were devastated when their primary source of food disappeared.
Even more than famine, a lack of nutrition had an impact on the human conversion from gathering and hunting to agriculture. In each investigation of human society where farming and agriculture were the chief lifestyle, scientists learned that this meant a shorter life expectancy. There was sky high infant mortality, an under sized population in general and ongoing anemia.
Today we still make a point of undermining our evolutionary history. In the last century the milling of flour, refining of sugar, hazardous fats and heavily salted readymade foods are the new deadly plagues of modern society. They are stalking baby boomers the world over and going after their offspring as well. Short of something close to a miracle of modern science and medicine, the current generation of youth will actually attain a lower average life span than their parents have had. They can look forward to living a life filled with medical complications due to diabetes, heart disease and strokes, while suffering the debilitating effects of osteoporosis and the sad loneliness of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
No one is advocating for a return to a life of wandering for our next meal and picking at berries and nuts. We just need to pay attention to our diets and a good start would be to focus on the Mediterranean style diet and its high vegetable content, whole grains and fish as opposed to eating red meats, dairy items and so many harmful forms of sugar. Getting some exercise would be extremely helpful and this does not need to be excessive. Twenty minutes of physical activity daily would almost eradicate type two diabetes, osteoporosis and dementia, just like it has for the elderly in Okinawa and certain societies around the Mediterranean Sea like Sardinia. Many in these cultures are quite able to tend to their great grand children and actually remember all their names!
Roughly six hundred or so generations have gone by since humans began growing their own food and raising their own livestock. They took the easy way out back then and in the process shortened their lives. Maybe in the next six hundred or so generations we can start to make up for some of that damage. After all, we have come a long way from loincloths and stone axes. With a little cooperation from today’s humans, science and medicine can lead the way in improving our health and increasing our longevity.
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Health And Aging, Longevity
Thu, Aug 19, 2010
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Health And Aging, Longevity