>> Any ideas on where agriculture DID come from?
>>
>> It seems to me that grains must have been a small part of the H-G's diet
(as
>> a condiment, to borrow a phrase).  This I can understand (I think).  What
>> puzzles me is the seemingly wholesale and relatively sudden switch to
grain
>> as a staple.

I like Stephen Budiansky's thoughts on the subject as presented in "The
Covenant of the Wild."  For example, the almost unintentional biological
consequences of humans and plants living together at the edge of the forests
after the last glacial period.  Have the plants "adapted" to humans, thus
assuring their survival?  Or, was agriculture our idea?

Budiansky presents (not all his orig. ideas):

o  The "rubbish heap" theory of plant domestication - plants humans had
gathered in the wild would have seeds scattered around the campsite and,
thus, get a foothold.

o  The "lawn mower theory of domestication" -stands of wild barleys and
wheats were so dense that they could be easily harvested.

o  Humans' natural favoritism for plants that had fewer natural defenses
such as bitter toxins or thorns, but had large seed heads, thinner coats,
etc.

The thought that deliberately clearing fields, saving seed, storage, etc.
may have come much later than the initial domestication which may have had
more to do with the plants themselves taking advantage of the new situation
rather than our deliberately deciding to grow them.

I sort of like the idea that plants may have taken advantage of us in order
to survive.

Kath