"Lec 4 - When Humans Were Scarce" Global Problems of Population Growth (MCDB 150) Hunter-gatherer populations were much less dense than later agriculturalists. The variety of their food supply protected them from crop failures and their sparseness reduced the spread of infectious diseases. Hunter-gatherers were healthier and worked less than early agriculturalists. Why didn't their numbers increase up to the same level of Malthusian misery? Their numbers may have been limited by violence between groups. Agriculture is more work intense and offers a less varied diet. Populations seem to grow rapidly and then die out suddenly. Populations are subject to climatic- or disease-caused crop failure. But farming allows individuals to produce a surplus of food that can then be stolen by warrior tribes or military castes. The surplus allows for population growth, cities and stratified societies. The death rate, until perhaps the 1700s in Europe, is enormously high: only approximately a third of women survive to the end of their reproductive period. At this death rate, surviving women who are able to reproduce must have more than six children on average or the society goes extinct. All the great religions and cultures develop in this long period and all stress the requirement for high reproductive rates: "Be fruitful and multiply." 00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Human Systems: Hunter Gatherers 11:34 - Chapter 2. Hunter Gatherer Demography 23:58 - Chapter 3. Population and the Dawn of Agriculture 31:02 - Chapter 4. Fertility and Mortality for Early Agriculturalists 42:20 - Chapter 5. High Fertility and Culture 49:17 - Chapter 6. Upper Limit of Human Fertility 57:27 - Chapter 7. Limiting Fertility by Culture Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses This course was recorded in Spring 2009.
Video is embedded from external source so embedding is not available.
Video is embedded from external source so download is not available.
Channels: Others
Tags: Lec 4 - When Humans Were Scarce
Uploaded by: yalepopulatngrth ( Send Message ) on 12-09-2012.
Duration: 68m 32s
No content is added to this lecture.
This video is a part of a lecture series from of Yale
Lec 1 - Evolution of Sex and Reproductive Strategies
Lec 2 - Sex and Violence Among the Apes
Lec 5 - Why Is Africa Different?
Lec 7 - Demographic Transition in Europe; Mortality Decline
Lec 8 - Demographic Transition in Europe; Fertility Decline
Lec 9 - Demographic Transition in Europe
Lec 11 - Low Fertility in Developed Countries (Guest Lecture by Michael Teitelbaum)
Lec 12 - Human and Environmental Impacts
Lec 13 - Fertility Attitudes and Practices
Lec 14 - Demographic Transition in Developing Countries
Lec 16 - Population in Traditional China
Lec 17 - Population in Modern China
Lec 18 - Economic Impact of Population Growth
Lec 19 - Economic Motivations for Fertility
Lec 20 - Teen Sexuality and Teen Pregnancy
Lec 21 - Global Demography of Abortion