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THE NEOLITHIC, ICE AGES, AND ALL THAT JAZZ
LUCY M WARNER
REVISED JANUARY 19, 2017


AT CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR, THE FAMILY GOT ONTO THE SUBJECT OF THE CLASSIC BOOKS THAT WE WERE ENCOURAGED OR FORCED TO READ IN HIGH SCHOOL, WHEN JEAN AUEL’S “CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR” WAS MENTIONED. HER WHOLE SERIES OF NOVELS, CALLED “EARTH’S CHILDREN,” CONSIST OF EXCITING AND ROMANTIC (WITH A PEPPERING OF HIGHLY PIQUANT SEX SCENES) STORIES THAT ARE SET AROUND THE TIME OF THE MAGNIFICENT CAVE PAINTINGS IN SOUTHERN FRANCE AND NORTHERN SPAIN. THAT IS THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN AROUND 30,000 BC BEFORE AGRIGULTURE DEVELOPED, AND BEFORE ANY KNOWN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DEVELOPED.

IN AUEL’S PRODIGIOUS NOVELS, AYLA, THE VERY CLEVER, LOVELY AND COURAGEOUS HEROINE, MAKES PETS OF A BABY CAVE LION, A HORSE AND A BABY WOLF. AUEL’S HUSBAND WAS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, SO SHE WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE HEARD LOTS OF TALK ON THE SUBJECT MATTER. THAT LINE OF NARRATIVE, BY THE WAY, GOES ALONG WITH A VERY EARLY CASE OF A DOG SKULL DATED AT 33,000 BP WHICH WAS FOUND IN ONE OF THE CAVES OF SIBERIA, SHOWING THE LIKELIHOOD OF AT LEAST OCCASIONAL TAMING OF ANIMALS BEFORE THE ARCHEOLOGISTS CREDIT IT AS A COMMON OCCURRENCE. GO TO A UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SOURCE, UANEWS.ARIZONA.EDU, AND “PALEOLITHIC DOGS,” IN WIKIPEDIA.

MY NIECE ASKED WHEN THE LAST ICE AGE ENDED AND HER HUSBAND PROPOSED 10,000 BC. I COUNTERED WITH 15,000. OF COURSE, THE GLACIATION WOULDN’T HAVE ALL DISAPPEARED IN A FEW YEARS’ TIME NOR WOULD IT HAVE BEEN IDENTICAL IN THE DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE WORLD. AT THAT POINT MY OTHER NIECE TURNED ON HER HEEL IN MOCK INDIGNATION SAYING “I CAN’T KEEP UP WITH ALL THOSE DATES.”

FIRST, THESE THINGS ARE CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM LOTS OF GEOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA, AND ARE -- TO ALL YOU ANTI-EVOLUTIONISTS OUT THERE – CERTAINLY PARTLY “THEORETICAL.” IT IS, HOWEVER, A SUBJECT OF A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INCLUDING MODERN LABORATORY WORK AND COMPUTER MODELLING. IT ISN’T JUST THE WILD-EYED RAVINGS OF A FEW MAD INDIVIDUALS, AND IT DEFINITELY ISN’T “WEIRD!”. AS A RESULT OF THOSE MANY PIECES OF EVIDENCE ON EARLIER TIMES, I DO BELIEVE IT SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION TO BE MORE LIKELY TO BE TRUE AND FACTUAL, THAN THE FREQUENTLY REFERENCED CONCLUSION OF BISHOP USSHER OF IRELAND. THE BIBLE INDEED IS AN ANCIENT DOCUMENT AND INCLUDES “INFORMATION” SUCH AS IT IS WHICH IS REVELATORY OF HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN THOSE DAYS, WHAT KINDS OF RELIGIONS THEY FOLLOWED, ETC. GREEK HISTORIANS SUCH AS HERODOTUS VERIFY THE INFORMATION IN SOME CASES, AND THE GREAT NEW TOOL DNA STUDIES ARE SHOWING GENETIC LINKS. JUST BECAUSE INFORMATION IS SPECULATIVE IS NO REASON TO THINK IT IS USELESS.

ABOUT BISHOP USSHER, IN HIS STUDIES, HE CONCLUDED THAT THE CREATION OF THE EARTH WAS AROUND 4,000 BC. ANOTHER SCHOLAR THEN FOLLOWED UP ON THAT, SAYING IT OCCURRED AT “AROUND 6 PM, 22 OCTOBER 4004 BC.” THE WRITING ON USSHER STATED THAT HE DID THIS IN ORDER TO “ESTABLISH A GREATER ORTHODOXY” ALL OVER IRELAND. HE CAME TO HIS CONCLUSION BY STARTING FROM “IN THE BEGINNING” AND GOING THROUGH ALL “THE BEGATS,” INCLUDING A STUDY OF KNOWN HISTORICAL INFORMATION FROM OTHER RESPECTED SOURCES OF ANCIENT LORE, TO REACH HIS CONCLUSION.

THAT WASN’T GEOLOGICALLY BASED, BUT THEN THERE WAS NO SUCH IDEA AMONG SCHOLARS IN HIS TIME OF A “CHANGING EARTH.” AS WIKIPEDIA STATED, IT IS CERTAINLY INACCURATE, BUT IT DID FOLLOW A LOGICAL PROCESS INAPPROACHING THE ISSUE, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN 1658. HE COUNTED GENERATIONS BACKWARD AND CORRELATED HIS FINDINGS WITH KNOWN DATES LIKE THE TIME OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. FOR LOTS OF INFORMATION ON JAMES USSHER, AN IRISH BISHOP, MAINLY FAMOUS THESE DAYS FOR HIS “SCIENTIFIC” THEORY, GO TO JAMES USSHER, WIKIPEDIA.

THE NEXT STEP IN THE PROCESS CAME WITH THE “SHOCKING” CONCLUSIONS OF JAMES HUTTON. HE WAS A WORLD-RENOWNED GEOLOGIST WHO DISCOVERED, AMONG OTHER THINGS, FOSSILS OF SEA SHELLS ON TOP OF A HIGH MOUNTAIN AND INTRIGUING EROSION PATTERNS ON SHALE. EROSION WAS KNOWN TO BE A PROCESS TAKING MUCH LONGER PERIODS THAN 4,000 YEARS -- LEADING TO HIS QUESTIONING THE LIMITED VIEW OF CHURCH BELIEF. HE READ DEEPLY ON SCHOLARLY THEORIES, EXAMINED ROCKS AND LANDFORMS, GOING ON TO PUBLISH HIS THEORY OF “UNIFORMITARIANISM,” BASED ON A VIEW THAT THE FORCES OF NATURE BEARING ON THE GRADUAL BUILDING AND DEGRADING OF ROCK BY NATURAL PROCESSES WAS OF A “UNIFORM” NATURE; AND THAT COULD BE RELIED UPON TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE FOR A NEW AND PHYSICALLY BASED TIMELINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH. THAT WAS IN 1795 IN HIS TWO AND A HALF VOLUME WORK -- HE DIED BEFORE IT WAS COMPLETED -- CALLED “THEORY OF THE EARTH.” THE SOURCE OF THIS INFORMATION IS ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITTANNICA’S ARTICLE ON HUTTON, ON THE INTERNET. GO TO “WWW.BRITANNICA.COM/BIOGRAPHY/JAMES-HUTTON.”

MEANWHILE, AMATEUR ARCHAEOLOGY WAS A FAVORITE PASTIME OF SOME WEALTHY LANDED GENTLEMEN IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE, MUCH GIVEN TO READING AND STUDY, ESPECIALLY ON INTRIGUING SUBJECTS LIKE “DEEP TIME" AND THOSE INCREDIBLE MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTIONS THAT DOT THE WHOLE OF EUROPE AND MANY OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD ALSO. ANYONE WHO HAS FOUND AN ARROWHEAD KNOWS THE THRILL OF THAT. THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE CALLED “HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY,” STATES THAT THE “SYSTEMATIC” STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGY GOES AS FAR BACK AS HERODOTUS, THE “FATHER OF HISTORY.”

THE LOVE OF ARCHAEOLOGY ISN’T MORE COMMON IN THE WORLD BECAUSE A TRULY “SYSTEMATIC” STUDY OF ANYTHING ISN’T SOMETHING THAT THE “AVERAGE PERSON” TENDS TO DO, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CERTAIN “NERDS” WHO COLLECT EVERYTHING FROM FOSSILS TO BASEBALL CARDS. SUCH A PERSON DOESN’T HAVE TO BE BRILLIANT, BUT THEY DO HAVE TO BE PERSISTENT, CURIOUS, ANALYTICAL, OBSERVANT AND MORE THAN A TAD INTROVERTED. EXTROVERTED PEOPLE JUST DON’T TEND TO THINK THAT WAY. THEY’RE ALL INTO THE NEWEST AND MOST EXPENSIVE FASHIONS, A POLITICAL CAREER, ETC.

IT DOES ALSO REQUIRE SOME MONEY AND LEISURE, HOWEVER, IN WHICH TO PURSUE ONES’ PASSIONS. A MANUAL LABORER WITH SIX HUNGRY CHILDREN MAY NOT BE UNINTELLIGENT, BUT HE DOES HAVE TO WORK TWO OR THREE JOBS TOO OFTEN, CAN’T AFFORD LUXURIES LIKE VERY MANY BOOKS, AND IS TOO TIRED TO STAY UP READING. THUS, ARCHAEOLOGY BECAME IN THE PUBLIC MIND “ELITIST” AND “ECCENTRIC.” THAT’S A REAL PITY, BECAUSE WE COULD USE A HIGHER LEVEL OF STUDIOUSNESS, IN THIS COUNTRY PARTICULARLY. THE “BRITS” HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AHEAD OF AMERICANS IN THAT REGARD, WHICH IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT CAUSES ME TO FEAR FOR OUR FUTURE AS A NATION. I DO LOVE THE BRITS!

ANYWAY, ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED THAT AGRICULTURE IN THE FORM OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND THEN LATER AS HORTICULTURE, CAME IN AT A NUMBER OF LOCATIONS AROUND 10,000 BC OR A LITTLE EARLIER, BASED ON OLD RUINS WHICH YIELDED LOTS OF BONES OF THE TYPE OF ANIMAL THAT CAN BE USED DOMESTICALLY. THERE ARE SEVERAL SCIENTIFIC WAYS USED TODAY TO ESTABLISH A TIMELINE. THE FIRST SUCH DOMESTICATED ANIMAL WAS PROBABLY THE DOG. AN ARTICLE I RECENTLY READ PLACES THAT AS BEING, POSSIBLY, AS FAR BACK AS 30,000 BP, BUT NOT IN THE SENSE OF SELECTIVE BREEDING. THEY WERE WOLFLIKE MONGRELS RESEMBLING HUSKIES, BUT THEY WERE CLEARLY HANGING AROUND HUMAN CAMPS, ESPECIALLY THE GARBAGE PILES, WHICH ARCHAEOLOGISTS CALL “KITCHEN MIDDENS.” LARGE NUMBERS OF DOG SKELETONS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN RELATION TO HUMAN GARBAGE.

DOGS, OF COURSE, ARE IMMENSELY USEFUL FOR HUNTING AND PULLING LOADS AS WITH AMERICAN INDIANS, GREAT FOR WATCHING OVER THE CAVE OR OTHER DWELLING ALSO. THERE ARE ALSO SEVERAL INTRIGUING EARLY ROCK DRAWINGS OF HORSES, FOR INSTANCE, IN DIRECT PROXIMITY WITH PEOPLE OR CORRALED, ANCIENT MANURE FOUND, AND EVIDENCE OF HORSES’ HAVING BEEN SLAUGHTERED IN A TOWN SETTING RATHER THAN IN THE FIELD. GIVEN THE SKITTISH AND DANGEROUS NATURE OF A WILD HORSE, THAT LOOKS LIKE DOMESTICATION.

FOR SOME REALLY FASCINATING INFORMATION ON HORSES, GO TO THE 2006 ARTICLE IN “NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS” FOR AN ARTICLE CALLED “ANCIENT HORSE MANURE MAY BE EARLIEST PROOF OF HORSE DOMESTICATION.” IN FIVE KAZAKH VILLAGES, ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND 300,000 ANIMAL BONE FRAGMENTS, “99 PERCENT OF WHICH WERE FROM HORSES.” THE DATING OF THOSE FINDS ARE THOUGHT TO BE AROUND 5,600 BC. NOR ARE THERE ANY SIGNS THAT THE VILLAGERS HUNTED HORSES RATHER THAN RAISING THEM.” THE ARTICLE GOES ON TO SAY THAT “THONG SMOOTHERS,” USABLE FOR SMOOTHING RAWHIDE THONGS, WERE FOUND THERE. THERE IS A SIMILAR SITE IN UKRAINE, WHERE “WORKED ANTLER” PIECES THAT MAY HAVE BEEN USED IN BRIDLES WERE FOUND. THAT INDICATES RIDING RATHER THAN MERELY KEEPING THE ANIMALS FOR SLAUGHTER AND MILK.

AH, YES. ABOUT THE END OF THE LAST ICE AGE; THAT IS ALSO THE SUBJECT OF MUCH ARGUMENT. ARCHAEOLOGISTS, AND ALL SCIENTISTS, MAKE STUDIES AND WRITE THEIR RESULTS SUBJECT TO “PEER REVIEW,” WHICH IS AN ONGOING THING. THE COMPETITION IS CUTTHROAT. JUST BECAUSE A FELLOW SCIENTIST DISAGREES WITH THEM, HOWEVER, WON’T MAKE THEM STOP. THEY JUST KEEP ON RESEARCHING AND WRITING. SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IS NOT SET IN STONE, WHICH DOES NOT MAKE IT “FALSE” OR “FOOLISH.”

ACCORDING TO THE WIKIBOOKS ARTICLE BELOW, 15,000 BP IS THOUGHT TO BE MORE OR LESS ACCURATE FOR THE END OF THE ICE AGE AND THE EMERGENCE OF EARLY AGRICULTURE, BUT OTHER ARTICLES, ESPECIALLY THOSE WRITTEN BEFORE 2000 OR SO SAY 11,000 BP. THE NOAA ARTICLE, IN CHART FORM BELOW, GIVES 20,000 BP. ONE THING THAT CAN BE RELIED UPON IS THAT IT A DATING OF ANYTHING THAT LONG AGO CAN’T BE 100% ACCURATE, BUT THE WRITERS MAKE THEIR ARGUMENTS AND SOONER OR LATER A CONCENSUS EMERGES, WHICH IS OF COURSE NOT A PERMANENT “ANSWER” EITHER TO SUCH A HIGHLY COMPLICATED QUESTION.

SCIENCE IS ALL ABOUT DISCOVERY AND FURTHER RESEARCH. THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT INTERESTING TO ME, BUT IT IS PROBABLY FRUSTRATING TO THOSE WHO DON’T LIKE A LACK OF CERTAINTY IN LIFE. AT THE SUNDAY MORNING DISCUSSION GROUP AT MY UNITARIAN CHURCH, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE INTERESTING POSSIBILITIES AS UNITARIANS DO, AND ONE LADY’S HUSBAND WHO HAD ACCOMPANIED HER, ASKED WHY DID WE WANT TO SPECULATE RATHER THAN “KNOWING.” HE WENT ON TO SAY THAT HE IS A BAPTIST!

SEE THE TWO ARTICLES BELOW. THEIR DATES ARE DIFFERENT, BUT THEY DO AGREE THAT 4,004 BC IS IMPOSSIBLE. I THINK THE NOAA INFORMATION ON THE END OF THE ICE AGE AND WEATHER IS MOST LIKELY SUPERIOR TO THE OTHER SOURCES; BUT IN ITS’ “SUMMARY OF 100,000 YEARS” BELOW IN WHICH IT DESCRIBES HOMO SAPIENS AS HAVING DEVELOPED FROM THE “HOMINIDS,” IS NOW CONSIDERED AMONG ARCHAELOLGISTS AS BEING OUT OF DATE. NEANDERTHALERS ARE NO LONGER CONSIDERED “HOMINIDS,” BUT MANKIND, AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM AND US AS BEING MORE LIKE “RACES” THAN SPECIES. IT IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED TRUE THAT THEY COULDN’T HAVE INTERBRED WITH HOMO SAPIENS TO PRODUCE VIABLE OFFSPRING. A NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS TODAY SAY THAT IN COMPARING THE FULL DNA PROFILES FROM US, THE NEANDERTHALERS, AND THE DENISOVANS, THERE ARE IN US GENES SHARED BY ALL THREE. THAT IMPLIES THAT WE IN FACT DID DO JUST THAT. THAT’S ALSO A FIELD THAT IS CHANGING CONSTANTLY. READ THROUGH THESE TWO FOR SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION, HOWEVER. THEY ALSO GIVE THE KIND OF PERSPECTIVE ON A DATE BETWEEN 2017 AND 100,000 BC, THAT SHOULD HELP CAUSE “ALL THESE DATES” TO MAKE MORE SENSE.



https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/100k.html
[note: “NCDC is the part of NOAA that maintains the world's largest active archive of weather data.”]


Summary of 100,000 Years

Over a period of 100,000 years, a great deal can occur in terms of climate change and, at least in the past 100,000 years, in human development. . . . .


Years Before Present (B.P.)

Note: The Last Ice Age cycle lasted from roughly 60,000 to 20,000 years before present, with Ice Age cycles occurring since 2.6 Million years ago to the present.

Ice Age Timeline

Human population has been estimated to have been around five million people 10,000 years ago. Recent studies from the Center for Genome Research and others such as Ambrose suggest a small group of perhaps 10,000 people could have left Africa between 50-100,000 years ago and populated the entire planet.

10,000 BP

Image of Woolly MammoothBeginning of Holocene. Large mammals including saber-toothed cats, mammoths, and mastodons become extinct. Neolithic period with beginning of agriculture and end of Ice Ages.

An estimated 5 million Homo sapiens inhabit planet Earth.

Image of Woolly Mammoth from Tulane University Museum of Natural History

20,000 BP

Abrupt cooling about 15,000 years ago gives way to abrupt warming at the end of the Younger Dryas period some 11,600 years ago, with a climatic ripple effect impacting habitats around the world.

Gray wolves in East Asia become domesticated about 15,000 years ago, with all modern dogs evolving from them. (Savolainen, Leonard, 2002).

20,000 years ago, global mean temperature 4 degrees C cooler than today, although the North Atlantic was 14 degrees C cooler. Lower sea level allows large-scale migrations of people into the Americas.

30,000 BP

Homo sapiens thrive in cold European climate. Homo neanderthalensis become extinct, with last fossil evidence dated 28,000 years ago in Portugal.

40,000 BP

Image of cave paintingsPlethora of stone and bone tools along with cave paintings and other artwork in Europe. Homo sapiens use bone, ivory, antlers, and shells to make tools while Neandertals only use stone to make tools. (Niewohner, 2003)

Image of early European Art Rock.

50,000 BP

Cave dwellers leave evidence of seeds of wild dates and nuts including chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, and acorns in Shanidar Cave of Northern Iraq.

Many large megafauna in Australia including large kangaroos, wombats and emu-like ducks, become extinct, possibly due to human hunting and use of fire. (Miller, 1999)

60,000 BP

Homo sapiens enter Australia and begin to use fire, altering the existing flora and fauna. (Pyne, 1991 )

During warming period (55-45K BP) mammoths roam central Sweden.

70,000 BP, 80,000 BP

Image of bone tools from South Africa

Recent discoveries in caves along South African coast dating to 70,000 years before present suggest people using bone tools and living on fish and mammals in the region. (Henshilwood, 2002 )

90,000 BP

Major eruption of Mount Toba 73,000 years ago in modern day Sumatra impacts global climate system. (Rampino, 2000).
Image of artifacts by Chris Henshilwood

100,000 BP

Diet of Homo sapiens includes fish and seafoods as last Ice Age impacts Northern Hemisphere. Some scientists theorize that fish oil was key to the growth of the brain of Homo sapiens Evidence suggests that no other hominids such as Neanderthals ate fish. (See Broadhurst, 2001) Neandertals well established in Europe since at least 300,000 years before present.



https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ancient_History/Human_Evolution/Neolithic_Age

Ancient History/Human Evolution/Neolithic Age

The Neolithic "technological" revolution made the majority of people become more sedentary, dependent on farmed crops, farm animals, especially for labor at first. This in place promoted the emergency [sic] of sizable urban areas. Agriculture provided a safer way to guarantee abundant food, this lead to populational growth, increase in trade and time for complex cultural advances. Why bother being a hunter gatherer when you could become a settler. Of course this step had advantages but also disadvantages, disadvantages go from increase in large scale armed conflict, to despotic rulers that could better control the population due to control of the food supply and land rights, those and other societal pests that even today plague human society arose from this cessation of personal independence to a greater and continual reliance of human systems and institutions.

This evolution also had large impact on the environment not only on an ecological level, but on the fragility of crops, especially in early time to insect pests, weather and water supply. The adoption of an agrarian culture was not immediate or complete, systems could be said to be in a competition, a energy competition, how efficiently they operated, how much one needed to put in and could take out of these processes and the outcome was determined primarily in population growth, population that permitted not only the assurance of a cultural but territorial dominance.

The Last Ice Age

Perhaps it would be better to call it the most recent Ice Age, because in fact, the Earth has had quite a few Ice Ages. A British scientist first uncovered evidence of an ice age in the 1800s. At first he was ridiculed, because some people did not believe the Earth was more than 9,500 years old. Yet since then climatologists (people who study long-term weather conditions) have found at least four earlier ice ages, and an older age for the Earth has become generally accepted.

Ice Ages tend to be similar every time they occur. The whole planet becomes significantly cooler, and a vast majority of the planet's water becomes locked in ice at high altitudes and at the North and South Poles. Sea levels drop precipitously, and a sheet of ice extends outwards from the poles and from high mountains like the Alps in Europe and the Rockies in North America to cover huge swaths of the planet's land area. The ice sheet can be more than a mile thick in places, and the ice is so heavy, and moves so forcefully in places, that the underlying soil is ripped up, and the bedrock below the soil is pummeled, cracked and ground into huge boulders and tiny pebbles. Everywhere else, sea levels drop about fifty feet -- shorelines in some places stretch outwards more than a mile beyond the present shores, and numerous small islands and shoals appear even beyond that.

The last Ice Age, which geologists call the Würm III Ice Age, lasted from about 20,000 years ago until about 15,000 years ago. All of Canada and much of the United States were swaddled in ice sheets as far south as Oregon, Wyoming, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Europe north of the Alps was almost totally covered, as was much of central Russia. Tibet, western China and northern India vanished under the ice buildup on the Himalayas. World temperatures dropped an average of 12° F, enough to make even Florida or India unpleasantly cool.

Hunting and Gathering[edit]

Anthropologists think that at the start of the last Ice Age, the human population of Earth was less than a million people. Their existence revolved around a style of living which still exists today, although it is gradually disappearing everywhere, by a combination of acculturation, economic, political and social pressures.

One should note that hunter-gatherers are so limited, in their way of life, by several factors. It may be only lack of knowhow or freedom and safety in settling or a need to maintain environmental sustainability. People who practice this way of life are defined as hunter-gatherers and it is often a transitory state in a society evolution due the its precarity.

Hunter-gatherers do not grow plants or raise animals for food. Instead, they practice a lifestyle in which the men go out to hunt wild animals every few days, while the women gather wild but edible plants and useful medicinal plants every few days. In any case animal domestication should not be excluded from the definition of a hunter-gatherer societies, but not as a very complex methodology in animals husbandry, even if they could also see those animals as a food resource. Dogs for instance seem to have been domesticated more than 18,000 years ago. Note that we are defining a frame of Neolithic Age societies (10,200 BC to 4,500 or 2,000 BC) not those that we may still define as hunter-gatherers today. By the end of the Neolithic, larger human societies had emerged.

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