From: Damien Sullivan (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Wed Apr 16 2003 - 22:02:52 MDT
On Wed, Apr 16, 2003 at 11:41:34PM -0400, gts wrote:
> Yes. And then like fools on a mission they left the friendly vitamin C rich
> jungles and embarked on the great journey to the African deserts and onward
> to the European, Asian and Western continents. I'm not sure anyone knows
> why.
Climate change, probably. We're supposed to have been pushed onto the
savannas or (into the water, if you go for the Aquatic Ape theory.) The
Sahara isn't always a desert -- e.g. Egypt seems to have taken form as the
desert grew back and pushed people toward the Nile. Population growth would
push people gradually outward, if we were buff enough to occupy new niches.
And once we got out of the malara+sleeping sickness+other homeland diseases
zone, whee! Transplanted weeds are us!
Hmm. I wonder if Neolithic declines in health might come less from the diet
change and more from (a) amount of food (i.e. not enough, if they weren't that
good at it and thugs were stealing a lot) and (b) diseases from being crowded
and sedentary and then living with animals.
-xx- Damien X-)
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