4 ms·

Most of us no longer hunt and gather all day so it would make sense that we would not need to be as big.

village-idiot 8y ago
Very true, but there’s evidence that switching from hunting to farming actually changed us because of nutritional deficiencies, not just exercise changes. Example: hunter gatherers were not only stronger, they were taller and had wider jaws that fit all their teeth better. They also had fewer cavities than both farmers and modern humans. I personally think humans have lower tolerance for carbohydrates than most realize, and that we’re missing out on a lot of fat soluable compounds in our diets, such as K2. They also typically lived healthier, although not always longer. Obviously war, predation, and disease cut the life expectancy of hunter gatherers a lot. But if you exclude the unlucky, they actually remained active into remarkably old ages, seeing skeletons who showed signs of hunting into their 80s is not unheard of at all. Our aging might make it to their 80s much more regularly, killing off the sabertooths helped, but they’re hobled by mental and physical degeneration at distressingly high rates.
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  Unfortunately your assumptions are based on no data. Including living healthier lives. Malnutrition was very common until very recently even among hunter gatherers. Bad season? Sorry, half of your family starves and the other is sick. That said, early settled people had it even worse. They did get more exercise, but that is possible, easy in fact, to match, and results will likely be limited.
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    The bit about teeth is actually based on work by Weston A Price. He managed to catch photos of many tribes right as they transitioned into the then modern diet in the early 20th century. He was also a dentist, which is why he focused on teeth. Focusing on teeth is important because 1. Cavities kill. 2. Teeth are a good proxy for general health. The bit about morbidity is bog standard anthropological information from any university. Quick googling for “hunter gatherer mortality” brings up plenty of sources. I personally focus on pre-history, since early “civilization” was awful. We’ve only recently climbed out of the low life expectancies that started with the advent of farming.

Very true, but there’s evidence that switching from hunting to farming actually changed us because of nutritional deficiencies, not just exercise changes. Example: hunter gatherers were not only stronger, they were taller and had wider jaws that fit all their teeth better. They also had fewer cavities than both farmers and modern humans. I personally think humans have lower tolerance for carbohydrates than most realize, and that we’re missing out on a lot of fat soluable compounds in our diets, such as K2. They also typically lived healthier, although not always longer. Obviously war, predation, and disease cut the life expectancy of hunter gatherers a lot. But if you exclude the unlucky, they actually remained active into remarkably old ages, seeing skeletons who showed signs of hunting into their 80s is not unheard of at all. Our aging might make it to their 80s much more regularly, killing off the sabertooths helped, but they’re hobled by mental and physical degeneration at distressingly high rates.

AstralStorm 8y ago
Unfortunately your assumptions are based on no data. Including living healthier lives. Malnutrition was very common until very recently even among hunter gatherers. Bad season? Sorry, half of your family starves and the other is sick. That said, early settled people had it even worse. They did get more exercise, but that is possible, easy in fact, to match, and results will likely be limited.
- village-idiot 8y ago
  The bit about teeth is actually based on work by Weston A Price. He managed to catch photos of many tribes right as they transitioned into the then modern diet in the early 20th century. He was also a dentist, which is why he focused on teeth. Focusing on teeth is important because 1. Cavities kill. 2. Teeth are a good proxy for general health. The bit about morbidity is bog standard anthropological information from any university. Quick googling for “hunter gatherer mortality” brings up plenty of sources. I personally focus on pre-history, since early “civilization” was awful. We’ve only recently climbed out of the low life expectancies that started with the advent of farming.