here's another quick note breezing through the
library:
Ever read Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael"? Lots in there
about the ancient Near Eastern cultures in late
prehistoric and early historic time. Most of his
analysis is of the relationship between agricultural
societies and hunter-gatherer societies; but I think
pastoralism is mentioned in passing; perhaps as a
point between the two. (Good question: which came
first, domestic plants or domestic animals?) I have
read other authors as well who conclude that the
ability to deliberately raise and preserve large
quantities of food is the main factor enabling
'conventionally understood "civilization"' to spread
and to overcome hunter-gatherer cultures early on.
I think Starhawk makes the point somewhere that the
cultivation of grain, in particular (being
calorie-dense, easily storable, concentrated enough to
transport and accumulate) enabled the establishment of
great empires; beginning in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Nearly every major imperial culture had a grain
staple, save the Inca who came close with freeze-dried
potatoes. Grain could be taxed, gathered in
storehouses, transported and mixed with water on site
to feed armies on distant battlefields, etc. I'm
not sure where this fits in, but one might be able to
deduce factors encouraging to patriarchy from the
history of agriculture as well as pastoralism, and
maybe even more so.
-Bob, on the way back to the woods...
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