Re: Grains kill

Food history is fascinating, as is animal\human adaptation to environment and food sources... thanks so much for your post.

I found this quote a confirmation of adaptation and change in DNA\hormonal response through diet alone...

"Prior to agriculture a woman couldn't conceive during lactation which lasted from 3 - 5 years and this fact kept the human population at a low level."

This alone would keep a reproductively viable, "healthy" human couple (severely injured, sick, or deformed humans were likely killed or left for dead; single mate and mating for life probably did not happen; gene pool issues), in perilous times from producing more than 4 to 5 offspring within a lifetime of which, in a hostile, survival of the fittest environment, one or two may have been fortunate enough to reach reproductive age\adulthood. Multiple births of two or more were probably extremely rare and a severe liability to the survivability of the parents...

"They were designed for the hunter gatherer diet which was primarily meat and vegetables such as fruit, tubers, and nuts."

I would add seeds to that list of yours, of which, wild grains were most likely a part, albeit a small part, except perhaps in the regions where the practice of grain cultivation began. Here, they were most likely a larger part of the diet... why?

I believe that agriculture, in particular the cultivation of grains, happened for a reason and had a purpose. This purpose and reason could not have been brought to fruition without a significant part of the pre-agricultural diet being from wild grains in the region... and then the people realizing the potential began experimenting with cultivation. The experimentation probably existed for hundreds if not thousands of years (at minimum, generations) before significant success was realized.

Even in primitive hunter gathering cultures, they may have had primitive wild grain breads and mead... beer is thought to have preceded the making and use of bread.

In the Americas a brew from corn was made... corn cultivation was developed from a wild grass called Teosinte... pollen has been found in a South American cave dating back 12,000 years, which may or may not prove development and cultivation (jury still out), but would put the Native American population in step with the middle east.

Actually most squashes and such were indigenous to the Americas and cultivated by the native population, which were then hybridized into the varieties we enjoy today. I find it most interesting that the Native American culture was able to manipulate a grass into corn... which shows that the American natives were a bit more advanced in some ways with their agricultural practices than the middle east, or Europeans.

I will read the book you have suggested...

When speculating about the past though, especially pre-recorded history, our information is limited by what is known, and what we think we know (speculation); the unknown may be of more significant value and hold the greater truth.

I enjoyed your thought provoking post. Thank you.

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