Fields Recordings From The Sea

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TomBo T
TomBo Apr 20, 2004 18:23:43
Replying to nigelswift

but this just pushes the question further back... why raise wooden structures? the fact remains that people have not always made monuments, and then at some point they began to. in my view, there had to be a reason for this happening. that reason is probably the same thing that makes us different from animals, IMHO.

A Annexus Quamm
Annexus Quamm Apr 20, 2004 19:12:59
Replying to TomBo

There is ONE very important factor that must not be forgotten - the environment.

Not everyone adopted farming around the world for the same reasons and at the same time. The question why some did was, I strongly believe, almost entirely environmental. It is possible that people settled first where conditions (abundant supplies) were excellent, then the areas became occupied and organized (like Salisbury Plain in the Mesolithic to mention a familiar example), and finally population growth was so rapid that food became scarce.

Also, what I mentioned at the end of the first post about the excess of salt is true. At some stage in prehistory, an excess of salt in the sea decimated the population of shellfish on the coasts, which may have forced people to join the farming bandwagon.