Re: Early farmers malnourished?

" (snip)I wonder if the question of who went hungry and who didn't
would require a
wishy-washy answer like, "It depends."

See: http://www.spelt.com/origins.html
(snip)"

Thanks, bookmarked that.

"Aren't most references to malnutrition and farming related to
historical
times in Europe? People were not meeting their growth potential
(height) due
to poor nutrition, and the food supply was inadequate to support the
population farming produced?


Jois "

Well, certainly, in the middle ages, the quality of nutrition varied
widely. According to a post by Tony Jebson (?), it improved steadily
after the fall of the Roman empire, until overpopulation in 1215, and
then again after the Black Death in 1348. The Little Ice Age had an
effect, too (something on the lDiscovery Channel about this.) Evidence
from wills, coprolites, and pollen give some idea.
Sauerkraut.
So, perhaps if people took up agriculture during the Little Dryas, it
wasn't because it led to a poorer life style, but in desperation to
keep from starving.
On the other hand, in the exploitation of resources, among people,
the principle of devil takes the hindmost applies, or in other words,
the Prisoner's Dilemma. People with mixed agriculture and hunting
might expand their population beyond the carrying capacity, where a
pure HG society wouldn't;. (We're seeing this overexploitation today,
too, of course.)
In other words, I'm pleased to be able to say I can give a correct
answer to the question, - "I don't know."
Regards
John GW

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