I agree with Jared Diamond that the worst mistake in history of thehuman race was transiting from hunters and gathers lifestyle to a life dominated with agriculture. There is no doubt that agriculture brought some good changes in man from time he was mere apes to what he is today. However, man fails to see how agriculturally based life destroys him in silence. Man is blinded by the good life he lives today, a life that he enjoys the benefits of agriculture starting from abundant and a variety of good foods, the best working tools, the best material goods to a healthy long life. Man also enjoys the protection that shelters provide and the energy they get from oil and machines. These benefits make man’s lives easier.
The traditional philosophers have made us believe that our past life as hunters and gatherers was full of misery.” It's a life that philosophers have traditionally regarded as nasty, brutish, and short. Since no food is grown and little is stored.”[1]well, it is true that hunters and gatherers had a lot of challenges getting their daily needs and had very little to store, but their lives were much better than ours. Proving this fact the world that is reaping the benefits of agriculture may be hard but with supporting evidence from reliable sources would help the man see the ‘worst mistake that they made in history.
Agricultural life requires many commitments. Farmers spent most of their times in their farms that make their life hard and less productive. On the other hand, hunters and gathers life was totally different from the latter.’ Like the Kalahari Bushmen, continue to support themselves that way. It turns out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard than their farming neighbors1. The evidence shows that hunters and gathers had plenty of time to rest, good sleeping and worked less hard than agricultural people. Another evidence is shown when archeologist report on the time both groups spend in producing food weekly.” For instance, the average time devoted each week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads ofTanzania.”[2]
Another consequence of agriculture in human life is nutrition. Hunters and gatherers diet was more nutritious than the agricultural foods. Bushmen diets contain a variety of wild plants and animals that provided enough calories and other nutrients.” Bushmen's average daily food intake (during a month when food was plentiful) was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people of their size.”[3]On the other hand, farmers only eat what their farms produce. These produce hardly meet their body daily requirements making them nutritionally unhealthy.
In the book, ‘The Egyptian Harkhuf on Nubia, ’pharaoh sent the Nubian boy and his father to lands of Sudan. The side ofSudan that borders Egypt is an arid area. A high possibility of hunters and gatherers or just the nomadic people to live in that area is high. When the Egyptian boy says that he returns to the country with many gifts from the area, shows that the people do not have to depend on agriculture In order to have gifts to give and goods to sell.
Agricultural era also has an effect on human’s normal growth curve. The growth curve analyses were obtained by paleontologist who analyzed skeleton from Greek and Turkey. The results showed that the average height of hunters and gathers males decreased from 5.9 inches to 5.5 inches after he changed his life to agriculture. Women skeletons also showed a decrease in height. The height difference was a result of poor diets provided by the agricultural produce.
Evidence given by the archeologist showed that the man who lived in farming era was affected with infectious diseases. “archaeologists had excavated some 800 skeletons that paint a picture of the health changes that occurred when a hunter-gatherer culture gave way to intensive maize farming around A. D. 112[2].This disease affected man during the maize farming error. This evidence was from the 800 Indian skeletons found in Illinois. These diseases seemed to affect man while he was transiting from one error to another.
The spread of infectious diseases has also been highlighted in the law book ofUrfi. These laws were enacted to prevent the spread of the listed diseases within the two different cultures.
And the members of which have thick hair on the body, or have piles, or are afflicted with consumption, indigestion, epilepsy, white or black leprosy. Let him not marry a maiden with reddish hair or having redundant members[1]. When a person trace back in history you see the rise of agriculture gave rise to such epidemics in our existence.
Another disadvantage of depending on firm products is that farmers risk going to starvation in case any of these foods goes out of season. Starvation would easily arise because farm produce are always limited and cannot feed each and every mouth when the weather changes. The other disadvantage of the farming era is that it drew people together to trade their produce. These gatherings made people spread and contracted infectious diseases. (Some archaeologists think it was the crowding, rather than agriculture, that promoted disease, but this is a chicken-and-egg argument, because crowding encourages agriculture and vice versa.”[3]All these evidence points to agriculture as a source of all these vices. Later epidemics would fall on people.
Agriculture era gave rise to the deep class divisions. Bushmen had very little to care about. Their belongings were few; they had little food and did not store as much food. They led a simple life therefore do not need kings and queens or greedy individuals who wanted power. Only in farming error that you would find there are royal people with large amounts of land who would want control the less fortunate people in the society. Paleontologist proved this was true when they found out that skeletons which belonged to people of a royal family were heavier and well developed. Then skeletons showed that individuals ate better food than commoners.
Farming also encourages inequality between the two sexes: males and females. During farming more labor was required in the firms, and pregnant women were forced to work despite their conditions. This character is also seen today in some countries like New Guinea where women are treated loads. One would see a woman walking with loads of vegetables and farm products while men walk empty handed.
With the idea of might supports rights, hunters and gathers later moved out and disappeared. Hunter’s numbers were decreasing tremendously and they hardly had anyone to live by.. (Population densities of hunter-gatherers are rarely over on person per ten square miles, while farmers average 100 times that.[4] The most surprising story is that they refused to fall to the pit of farming and decided to vacate the place. Some farmer’s propaganda said they were running away because they refused to accept change openly. This also shows that they are a strong group of people whose decision are not shaken nor changed.
In the book of ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ the author tries to explain that in this world nothing last forever and it gets to a time one moves on with his or her life.’ Utnapishtim said, “There is no permanence. Do we build a house to stand for ever; do we seal a contract to hold for all time? Do brothers divide an inheritance to keep forever, does the flood-time of rivers endure? It is only the nymph of the dragon-fly who sheds her larva and sees the sun in his glory. From the days of old there is not Permanence. This helps to show why the hunters and gathers left.
In conclusion, agriculture proves to be the worst mistake that the human race has made in history. The era might have brought a lot of good things, but also acts as a channel that destroys thehuman race in silence. Agriculture has brought man less unproductive life, inadequate intake of nutrients, diseases and epidemics, deep class of divisions and inequality between the two sexes.
Reference
Diamond, Jared. "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race." Discover Magazine, 1987: 64-68.
N. K. Sandars, trans. "The Epic of Gilgamesh." World Civilizations: Sources, Images, and Interpretations, 2007: 1.
"The law of Urfi." Urfi marriage, 2006: 1-2.
