The theory on grain production
Probably the first and largest change in human history took
place in the Stone Age, when the nomadic hunter-gatherer societies evolved
into settled agrarian societies. No-one has yet provided an adequate
explanation to why this development took place, especially because hunters
usually have an easy and untroubled existence compared to agrarians.
Hunters need only work 4-5 hours a day to procure food, whereas farmers
frequently have to toil from sunrise until sunset to feed their families.
It is therefore hard to imagine that the transition from
hunter society to agrarian society took place voluntarily - the hunters
at the time have hardly thought: "If we start to slog like maniacs
and plant these grains, wait patiently for them to ripen, harvest them,
separate the grains from the glumes, grind the grains to flour, make
a dough from flour and water and yeast, and bake the dough to a bread,
then... well, it will hardly be easier than just going out in the wood
and shoot a deer, but it will be an interesting change, at least..."
One greatly wonders why people suddenly started to work
themselves to the bones as farmers, rather than gathering the food that
was readily available in the surrounding nature. It can hardly be because
they got an irresistible craving for white bread, rather than wild boars,
freshly caught cod, and wild berries and fruits.
One probably has to think in simpler terms: Bread is not
the only product you can make from grain - it can also be used to brew
beer! And that is probably the main reason why the Stone Age's hunter
tribes settled down as farmers - in order to brew and swill lots and
lots of beer. The early hunters have probably discovered brewing by
chance, experienced the piquant exhilaration that a couple of beers
or three can bring about, and thought: "Damn, this really tastes
good! We must have some more of that" and then completely reorganised
their entire society with the intent of producing grain for brewing
beers. Only later did they think of making bread, when they discovered
that if you live solely on beer, you quickly become seriously malnourished.
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