Food in the Prehistoric Times

Early humans had tried to find food through hunting and gathering and learned to use fire about 500,000 to six million years ago. These early humans were hunter-gatherers, nomads who followed the food wherever it wandered or grew. Between 40,000 B.C. and 12,000 B.C., Asian people went east and crossed into North and South America. The Ice Age had dried up the seas, creating dry land between Asia and Alaska, making it possible to walk from one continent to the other. So, the first people in the America were Asians. Humans then learned to use fire and started cooking their food, but it is still unclear whether they discovered the fire or most likely happened accidentally. After this period, the agricultural revolution came within the decades. 

The two most important factors that determine where life is hospitable to plants and animals, including humans, are geography and climate. When the Ice Age ended around 10,000 years ago, the last of the glaciers receded and the planet warmed up. This was the first of three major climate changes planet Earth has experienced. The other two were the Medieval Warm Period (A.D. 950–1300) followed by the Little Ice Age, which ended about 100 years ago. Some scientists think that we are in a new period of global warming caused by pollution from gasses produced by car engines and machinery (the “greenhouse effect”) and that we have to do something about it fast. Others think it is just part of a natural cycle. Still others think that climate is random and that a catastrophic change could occur suddenly for no reason and be completely out of the control of humans. Humans then learned how to domesticate foods, livestock such as sheep, cows and goats, then grew barley and wheat. Because gathering nuts and seeds and grasses and hunting wild game was unreliable, inefficient, and could support only a limited population. Through growing their own food humans gained more control over their environment and a guaranteed supply of food.