Chapter 1

Interesting that the author says the other human species died out rather than we outcompeted them and drove them to extinction, which would be more accurate biologically.

Following the warming of the planet, nomadic people began settling because there was more flora and fauna to scavenge from. This led to a rise of societies and their ills: inequality and agriculture.

Change to agriculture is the second turning point for humanity. Agriculture to Industrial Revolution is a phase. Fair enough, the migration into cities didn’t take place until after there were jobs at to be had at plants, most people lived off the land as farmers until that point.

Of course cities couldn’t form until after agriculture, there wouldn’t be enough people to populate even ancient cities without the advent of agriculture.

Paleolithic and Neolithic time periods are divided by the advent of agriculture. People had already migrated out of Africa by the time the Neolithic period rolled around and each group discovered planting on its own.

Actually most historians until very recently didn’t think Africa had any history to speak of so no research was done to discover it.

Why would humans go to Australian before Europe if they are coming up through the Middle East? Was it just too cold up there at that point? It seems like a lot of work to make a boat rather than walk in a different direction.

Seems like the author is engaging in hubris in mentioning yet again that we are the only large animal that populates every climate type on earth. He is also using niche in a biological sense improperly. If we were part of every biological niche that would mean we would be considered producers, consumers, detrivores, predator and prey regularly. We are not.

I would certainly hope clothing would come into being during the Ice Age, especially in Russia, or our ancestors would have a very difficult if not impossible task of living in places up north.

They probably temporarily abandoned their nomadic tendencies when the weather refused to let them move forward and they had to hunker down somewhere. They had to get out of the cold at some point, or they would die from exposure.

I like that the land bridge get its nickname but the kelp highway doesn’t. I would think the fact that our ancestors made boats would get more attention in this chapter. The amount of time and supplies it would take involves a lot of teamwork and craftiness within the group and even more to get it to go anywhere so people survive the trip. Much more impressive that walking over ice, however cold it is.

Yes extinction tends to create new species that fit into the niches of those that died.

Interesting that no one decided to populate Antarctica. If they were willing to live up North, why not down at the South Pole?

Funny that people are trying to understand ancient art and acknowledge that they will run into the same problems as looking at art from today. It is subjective and one has to wonder how much they expect their guesses to help in understanding the distant past.

Mutual dependence in the animal world is not as bad a thing as the textbook paints it. It’s perfectly fine to have a symbiotic mutualistic relationship with domesticated plants and animals as far as the species involved are concerned. For everything else it might leave something to be desired.

I thought the Fertile Crescent referred to Mesopotamia not southwest Asia. I guess they can both be called that. No I was right. When did the Middle East become Southwest Asia? Who calls it Southwest Asia? I have never heard of it referred to as that. Ever.

Figs were the first domesticated crop? Interesting.