Ancestors' lifestyle change probed by archaeologists

[xchrom]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/ancestors-lifestyle-change-probed-by-archaeologists-2359845.html

Archaeologists are investigating islands around Britain to find out why our ancestors gave up being hunter-gatherers 6,000 years ago and turned to farming.

Academics from the universities of Southampton and Liverpool are hoping to shed new light on the long-standing debate about whether the change around 4,000BC was due to colonists moving into Britain or if the indigenous population gradually adopted the new agricultural lifestyle themselves.

The experts will be excavating three island groups in the western seaways - the Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly and the Outer Hebrides - to understand what sailing across this area would have been like in 4,000BC.

Fraser Sturt, from the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton, said: "How people changed from hunter-gatherers to agricultural lifestyles is one of the big questions in archaeology.

[FSogol]

1. Because they enjoyed beer. Hunters/gatherers = no beer. Farming required for beer.

:beer:

[xchrom]

2. s/he who has the beer wins.

:toast:

[ixion]

3. It was a practical matter, I'll bet.

Hunter/Gatherer societies a) required that most of the men leave the camp for several days, or even weeks to hunt and gather; and, b) Hunting/Gathering is a far less efficient means of producing food than farming.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. The Scottish Outer Hebrides must of had

a MacDonald living there who served beer.