GG&S - Homework

      Today in class we continued watching Guns, Germs, & Steel. Jared Diamond had to turn the clock before civilization to understand the history of New Guinea's cargo. The people in the Middle East were always on the move, they were building shelters everywhere they went, then they would move on looking for food. Diamond observed how they would hunt to find food. Gathering is another way of hunting and is usually done by women. An important food the women would gather, is the Sago trees. They would eat the berries and bark of the Sago trees. They took a lot of labor and work to produce and they wouldn't last long, so you would have to eat them right away. Sago trees also do not have a lot of protein and fiber that are important for your diet. In fact, New Guineans lack in protein, so they would eat giant spiders.. After the ice age years, many trees, plants, and animals died. So someone said there must be another way to hunt food, like to grow/plant foods. Bradley and wheat were grasses that had a huge impact on civilization. The people discovered they could not only bring harvested foods back, but they could plant them with seeds. They planted domesticated plants. Grain was an important food they planted. Grains were not available to New Guinean, unlike the Middle East. But they need somewhere to keep this grain to protect it from animals. Ian K. is an acrticogolist (sp?) who studies the Middle East stone age years. They found, Draa', the worlds first village. He discovered a deep hole under the village where they would store the grains, called graineries. Villages were a huge impacted on the people's life styles. Everyone was living and working together in a village instead of moving around following their food.