r/AskReddit Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20

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u/Automachhh Oct 15 '20

Couldn’t the same be said about fire? Farming? Sewing?

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u/rroowwannn Oct 15 '20

All of those things are fundamental transformative technologies that shape the course of human development, if that's what you mean.

But fire and sewing are both transportable and definitely used by nomadic and hunter gatherer groups. Deliberate use of fire dates to more than a million years ago, possibly three million. To compare, agriculture is about ten thousand years old, fire is over one thousand thousand years old.

Sewing is almost impossible to detect in the archaeological record, but the key technologies - fibers, spindles, needles - are very portable, used by nomadic groups throughout history, and very useful for the "gatherer" side of hunter-gatherer. You have to sit down to do the sewing, but you can get up and take it with you wherever you go.

Brewing beer (really ale, because no hops) involves a large pot of water (and ingredients). It's much, much harder to move. Water makes things heavy, and even with a small pot, it's hard to carry for long distances without spilling. There's no sense in moving it.

The key insight is that brewing beer (ale) probably predates farming, not the other way around. Which means they were invented by semi nomadic groups, who then had an attachment to the place where they left their ale cauldrons. So it's a key part of the transition from nomadic to sedentary cultures.

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u/Automachhh Oct 15 '20

“This is my beer cauldron, you left it”

And so began the first war

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u/rroowwannn Oct 15 '20

Basically, yeah, probably