Not sure what to think. Any thoughts
In his book Idea: A History of Thoughts Watson states
" Hunting and gathering is more efficient giving that the average family could feed themselves on less than 5 hours a day of work. "
In His book The Third Chimp Diamond states the opposite
“agriculture is a more efficient way to get more food for less work”
Empirical evidence shows hunter gatherers had a higher leisure/work ratio. The advantage of agriculture is surplus, not less work.
It’s entirely dependant on the ecosystem you’re surrounded by. If you’re surrounded by wild fruit trees and game is abundant and docile, of course it’s going to be easier to get food than if you have to farm. You can walk right up and pluck it off the trees. However if you’re in an area which isn’t so abundant, or the local population depletes those resources, then you’re going to have to walk farther, search harder, and hunt longer to get enough food to feed yourself and your dependants. Having an agricultural society essentially creates your own abundant ecosystem to “gather” from. Furthermore, selective breeding in agriculture and animal husbandry breeds game and crops that bear larger fruit and more meat per unit grown, making gathering even more efficient.
Where does Watson get this “5-hours will feed your family” number? Seems pretty arbitrary.
Than where are the HG today? Such are strange argument, that disallow entirely form the actual world we live in.
Agriculture is much more work intensive, but a more stable food supply. That’s why human populations suddenly exploded during the agricultural revolution. For nomadic hunter-gatherers many children were more of a a nuisance. But settled peoples practicing agriculture had a use for the additional labor.
Jared Diamond is a crackpot btw.
It is impossible to accumulate anything through hunting. At best you can store enough buffalo jerky to get you through the winter.
But if you have 60 goats you are rich and your whole family line is secure.
Here is a great bbc video about persistence hunting in Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpo_mA5RP8
It’s great to get you in shape, but not easy at all.