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Re:How did humans survive alone for 1000 years on desert isl... by zilti on Saturday February 17, 2024 @03:30AM (#39407572)
Advanced food storage and agriculture tech originated not in Europe, though, but in the great flood plains - Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, Amazonia.

On that note, it is by the way theorized that the necessity to coordinate farming with the floods and other farmers is what kicked off civilisatory development.

Re:How did humans survive alone for 1000 years on desert isl... by defrost on Saturday February 17, 2024 @04:01AM (#39407736)
Fair point - I thought of that after I made the above comment (which obviously started with winter scarcity) but river delta flooding is another good example of literal flood | famine food availabilty.

And, as you note, an original challenge that predates human advance into the northern environments as glaciers retreated.

The great OG mathematical challenge for humans was the "fair" recurrent remarking of land plots following a flood - how to survey land area, and how to plan for and account for food surplus to last over food scarcity.

Re:How did humans survive alone for 1000 years on desert isl... by bbarnett on Saturday February 17, 2024 @04:48AM (#39407969)
I don't see pests listed in the above discussion, although I could have missed it.

However this is as big as drought, if not larger. Not just insects, rodents, bird cyclictic overpopulation wiping out crops, but also fungus, bacteria, etc.

The world has starved more than once from such things, and the Egyptians had reverence for cats for a reason.

Re:How did humans survive alone for 1000 years on desert isl... by flir on Saturday February 17, 2024 @02:55PM (#39412872)
Jōmon Japan, too. And the PNW.