Civilization – a bigger tribe

 

Civilization – a bigger tribe

The basic thesis of Jared Diamond's book, Guns Germs and Steel, is that for civilization to develop we needed to move beyond the hunter gatherer society. Hunter gatherers were nomads who had to be able to survive in small groups on their own. This required extensive knowledge of how to survive by every individual. What this meant was that every hunter gatherer had to know what wild species of plants were good to eat or could cure ills. We had to be able to eat and survive.

A necessary condition for civilization was an agricultural surplus which allowed a specialization of tasks. Not every area of the globe is suitable to find wild species of food that could be domesticated.  Similarly, not every area of the globe has animals that can be suitable for domestication.  What has been described as the fertile crescent, and a variety of suitable plants and animals to get things started.  It had a Mediterranean climate, with wet mild winters and hot dry summers.  Plants that produce dormant seeds, often in abundance.  High percentage of self-pollination’s, which allowed consistent future generations, an important factor in producing consistent crops.  The fertile crescent also had advantages over other Mediterranean like climates.  First it was the biggest seasonal variations produced the biggest plant diversity.  There was a high percentage of annual plants and diverse elevations, which allowed for differing harvest times.  Other Mediterranean climates such as California, Chile, South Africa and Southwest Australia did not have these advantages.  Clearly extreme climates such as the Arctic or desert did not have these advantages.

There had to be a critical mass of plants and animals that could be domesticated.  The fertile crescent had this critical mass.  Once this was developed to wild ancestors could be exported to other areas.  Even today, a dozen or so crops account for 80% of food production.  These crops have been modified from the original to suit regional conditions.  The major five big herbivores domestic mammals, that still encompass our major farm animals today include sheep, goats, cows, pigs and horses.  The minors include camels llamas or alpacas, donkeys, reindeer, water buffalo and yak.  The wild ancestors of these animals were not spread evenly over the globe.  North America, Australia and sub-Saharan Africa had none, South America had only the llama and alpaca.  By contrast, Eurasia had most of these and all the major five.

Diamond comes to the following conclusion, "This unequal distribution of wild ancestral species among the contents became an important reason why Eurasians rather the peoples of other continents were the ones who end up with guns germs and steel."  The adoption of Eurasian grains and animals were the critical factor in building civilizations.  What is also necessary is an openness to adopt new things. Society must be willing to change and adapt to new technologies.

In short, an agricultural surplus provided the time for more activities than feeding and procreating like other animals. The societies that were the best at social cohesion, production, and technology development and had an advantage over other societies. Disease resistance or avoidance were also a critical factor. Social cohesion allows a group to band together to overcome an obstacle. Production allows for specialized soldiers and supplies them. Technology can overcome what otherwise could be a superior adversary. The introduction of new diseases to a population with little to no immunity was historically one of the main reasons that full or partial genocide was possible, even if it was unintended. ©

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/life-sumer-sumerian-history-civilization-0010079