ABSTRACT
From the very beginning of hominid existence several million years ago in Africa until relatively recent times, our ancestors subsisted by scavenging, hunting and gathering. In several parts of the world, there are peoples such as the Australian Aborigines, the Bushmen of southern and southwestern Africa, the Amazonian hunters of South America, and the Inuit of North America, who still live primarily by hunting and gathering. Animal and plant husbandry, however, extend back a mere 10,000 years (possibly longer for plants), according to available evidence. This is less than one per cent of hominid existence. The major part of the history of human civilization—the growth of population, social change, urbanization, and such mundane things as cheese, and the clothes we wear—stems from domestication (and agriculture). Domestication represents a crucial move to control nature rather than merely take from it. It is an innovation that ranks in importance alongside the discovery of fire and tools.
