Harlan's Crops and Man. H. Thomas Stalker
perform dances, and memorize legends. They harvest grass seeds, thresh, winnow, and grind them into flour. They do the same with seeds of legumes, chenopods, cucurbits, crucifers, composites, and palms. They dig roots and tubers. They detoxify poisonous plants for food and extract poisons to stun fish or kill game. They are familiar with a variety of drugs and medicinal plants. They understand the life cycles of plants, know the seasons of the year, and when and where the natural plant food resources can be harvested in greatest abundance with the least effort.
There is evidence that the diet of gathering peoples was better than that of cultivators, that starvation was rare, that their health status was generally superior, that there was a lower incidence of chronic disease (Lee & De‐Vore, 1968), and not nearly as many cavities in their teeth (Angel, 1984).
The question must be raised: Why farm? Why give up the 20‐hr work week and the fun of hunting to toil in the sun? Why work harder for food less nutritious and a supply more capricious? Why invite famine, plague, pestilence, and crowded living conditions? Why abandon the Golden Age and take up the burden?
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