The Shift From the Hunter Gatherer Lifestyle to Farming
Kalahari Bushmen spend so little time gathering food despite living in some of the most dreary and inhospitable terrain on Earth – a literal desert. By contrast, hunter-gatherers throughout most of history had free run of the lushest and most hospitable and resource-rich terrain on the planet. Nourishment was there just for the taking, from a wide variety of plants and animals. In the era of modern civilization, our diet is heavy on carbohydrates, such as wheat, corn, rice, and potatoes. Our hunter gatherer ancestors had a better balanced and more varied diet, with plenty of protein, as well as fruits. They hunted and gathered for a brief period, and the rest of their waking hours were free time to spend as they saw fit, to socialize, explore their surroundings, sex each other, or just laze the day away.
An anthropologist once asked a Bushman why his hunter-gatherer band did not settle down and farm like the tribes surrounding the Kalahari Desert. He replied: “Why should we, when there are so many free mongongo nuts in the world?” About 10,000 years ago, that relatively carefree idyll changed. Our ancestors were introduced to a new lifestyle that involved backbreaking work from sunup to sundown, taking care of a few plant and animal species. That was the start of the Neolithic Revolution. It eventually saw most humans shift from wild plants and animals as their chief source of sustenance, and rely instead on farm produce and animal husbandry to feed themselves.
