The rise of agricultural states came at a big cost, a new book argues
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The rise of agricultural states came at a big cost, a new book argues
By Bruce Bower
October 3, 2017 -
Buy this book "Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James C. Scott" at Amazon.com
Contrary to popular opinion, humans didn’t shed a harsh existence as hunter-gatherers and herders for the good life of stay-in-place farming. Year-round farming villages and early agricultural states, such as those that cropped up in Mesopotamia, exchanged mobile groups’ healthy lifestyles for the back-breaking drudgery of cultivating crops, exposure to infectious diseases, inadequate diets, taxes and conscription into armies.
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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rise-agricultural-states-came-big-cost-new-book-argues
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