Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today we continued to watch the documentary "Guns, Germs, and Steel". In the portion we watched today, we learned how the locals in Papua, New Guinea are at a disadvantage to the other groups of people around the world. We learned that in Papua, New Guinea, many of the exotic plants that grow on the island, one of them being the Sago tree, contain little to no nutritional value, and do not have enough calories to support the large population. Plus, hunting for animals can be unreliable, so the New Guineans usually depend on gathering as their main food source. Back in the prehistoric ages in the Middle East, what and barley was being grown, which provide much more nutrition than the Sago tree. Diamond believes that the availability of food was one of the factors he thought depended on the success or failure of societies.

Later in the documentary, we learned about an archaeological site called the Drab. The discovered ruins at the site is believed to be the oldest settlement known to date. Also, there is evidence that there could have been people growing food 10-15000 years ago. There was a building discovered there that was believed to be a storage for harvested crops too. The archaeologists believe that the discovery of 'growing crops yourself' is a factor that shaped history. For once, people did not have to worry about hunting for food 24/7. Now, people could get a good amount of food, and start focusing about developing a society for once. Soon after the people in the Middle East started growing food, many other groups were doing the same thing. China grew rice, America grew corn, squash, and beans, and Africa grew sorghum, millet, and yams. The way plants or crops are changed through human nature is called domestication. At the time people didn't know it, but the development of domestication became to be one of the most important discoveries in human history.