Subject:      Re: šP-F­ Invention of agriculture
Barbara Sheppard wrote:
I wrote:
>>..hunters need .... about 30*30km (900 square km) for a group of 90
>>people  10 or 20 families.
>>Now imagine what a equal big farming group would require on space,
>>moveing to
>>the same 30*30 km area. Even with the most primitive grain agric.
>>with the smallest yealds, and storage for bad years to keep,
>> these 90 people
>>would need only about 1* 0.5 kilometers.
>> If you would draw such a settlement
>>on the 30km *30km space you'd hardly see the small settling space.

Barbara:
>Does this figure apply to a farming system that would be sustainable
>_in the long run_ (as in your definition of the hunter/gatherer
>system above),
>i.e., without _any_ inputs from outside the system
>(other than sunlight)?

This is exactely what is demanded from *todays* organic
agriculture - it should be sustainable without any input from

outside.

The  very first farming cultures in europe already had access to
the technique of altering fruit between pulses and cereals.
Pulses (peas and lentils in this case) replenished again the
resources of nitrogen used up by cereals
(barley,emmer, einkorn in this case).
This is the method used by today's organic farming.
So, the main mass of food produced comes from
sunlight and air(co2) to build up energy resources and
again air (nitrogen) for the protein components.

Bio material needs annother about 50 different minerals and metals
which are taken from the soil (earth).
For example magnesium, iron, selenium, mangane, copper.....
The soil of today (like 6500 years ago) are remainders of
the plants living there before from about 10000bc (begin of worming).

Modern agriculture managed to use up all the resources of thousands
of years in only 10 or 20 years. Most of it brought out of country
and fed to animals whose excrements are to a big extent useless.
The bad thing about modern agriculture is, that all the stuff taken
away from the soil doesn't come back in the form of animal fertilizer
or compost.

The megalith people or linearband people had the chance
to return all used up biomass back to earth - mainly by compost
or goat and sheep manure. Selen and iodide comeing back again.

So.. Yes I do think that the mentioned space need worked (and work)
without any input from outside.
In history, we see that
linearband settlements remained stable for several generations.
And that they seem to have attracted/assimilated local
hunting people (mesolithic) because their bones (more robust)
show up and can be distinguished  in remainders  of the settlements.

Regards
Amadeus

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