Prehistoric Human Populations Prospered Before the Agricultural Boom, Research Suggests

[xchrom]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121018130834.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2012) — Researchers from China's Fudan University have found major prehistoric human population expansions may have begun before the Neolithic period, which probably led to the introduction of agriculture.

expansions in three continents may have begun before the Neolithic period -- around 15-11,000 years ago in Africa, from around 13,000 years ago in Europe and around 12-8,000 years ago in the Americas.

The findings are published in Scientific Reports.

The development of agriculture facilitated extensive human population growths and activities, but whether these major expansions began before or after the Neolithic era, a period during which humans started to grow crops and domesticate animals, remains controversial. Agriculture is thought to have first developed in the Fertile Crescent of West Asia around 12-11,000 years ago, and was then developed independently over the next few thousand years in other regions.

To compare global patterns of population growth, Li Jin and colleagues analyzed over 900 mitochrondrial genomes generated by the 1000 Genomes Project, representing 11 populations in Africa, Europe and the Americas. They identified the expansion lineages and were able to reconstruct the historical demographical variations. On all three continents, most of the major lineages coalesced before the first appearance of agriculture.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. Humans weren't completely nomatic prior to the discovery of crop rotation....

They would farm an area until the soil would no longer yield and then move on but they had their established places to go. It could even be that those other places were treated as outposts where a small group stayed there to tend to it so it would be ready for whole populations to move in.

It wasn't until the discovery of crop rotation that humans were able to settle in a place permanently. It would be interesting to see the order of domestic animals for transportation. Which came first, the ox or the horse? There is something about the ox that it seems more ancient as something to pull a cart or a plough.

[azurnoir]

2. Is there something more ancient? Dogs?

Dogs were used by Native Americans prior to the introduction of horse for pulling loads, in fact dogs were nearly the perfect animal strong, loyal, protective, sometimes hunters, and in a real pinch (and I know this sounds awful but) eatable themselves and they've been with us for around 30,000 years

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. Wolves were hunting with humans very early and all dogs come from wolves.