On Thu, 17 Aug 2000 04:01:26 -0700, Mike MacLeod <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Here's a thought.  You often hear that "the Earth could feed 20 billion
>people",or some other seemingly arbitrary number, if one or more of the
>speaker's pet projects or viewpoints were adopted. About how many
>hunter-gatherers could the Earth sustain, do you think? Somewhat less than
>the current 6 billion...
>
>Mike

In literature about the hunter/gatherer population in Europe  an area of 10
square km of good woodlands was computed to be necessary.
Assuming the most productive land and optimal hunting, fishing and gathering
techniques and a long term sustainable exploitation.

Multiply by ten if you want an area devoid of any wild game after one year
(and in times of glaciation 1/10 of this).

If you know the usable land space of the earth you can easily
compute the max. load of h/g people on earth.

In my book is a computation for S/W Germany, a space where some 20 million
people live today.
Maximum 5000 mesolithic hunters/gatherers could have live there.

regards

Amadeus
(space computation at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2=ind0006&L=paleofood&P=R7214 )