tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post471393885284984289..comments2023-10-02T06:48:09.872-07:00Comments on Did a Cat Shit in Here?: Darwin, Finallyin which DACSIH? finally recognizes the 200th anniversaryKen Chiacchiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626815789187013583noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-25511910704285848272009-03-13T17:59:00.000-07:002009-03-13T17:59:00.000-07:00Mikelod -- thanks.Barton -- I was careful to say t...Mikelod -- thanks.<BR/><BR/>Barton -- I was careful to say that dogs helped make the Neolithic revolution possible but <I>not</I> that they were the <I>only</I> thing that made it possible.<BR/><BR/>In fact, the climatological changes may help explain why there was a 40,000-year gap between the two events: The dogs were there, and working with people, but the environment wasn't making agriculture possible.<BR/><BR/>In turn, I'd argue, once the climate made farming possible, you'd have trouble getting it to work without the dogs -- anybody who's grown a garden in the suburbs or countryside can attest, you eat a lot more of what you grow if you give your dogs the run of the garden.<BR/><BR/>Recently we visited Meadowcroft, the prehistoric hunting camp in Pennsylvania, where they also have a simulated Native American encampment. Their display garden was a disaster area, because the local fauna had eaten it to pieces. Real Native villagers wouldn't have had that problem: they had dogs.Ken Chiacchiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626815789187013583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-72615245385897870282009-03-13T06:18:00.000-07:002009-03-13T06:18:00.000-07:00As a person who recently watched Religulous (all w...As a person who recently watched Religulous (all with open minds should see this movie)I find this post very interesting. See intelligence and depth in a blog these days is refreshing.<BR/><BR/>for all of you online shoppers, here are some useful codes to save money at petco.com -<BR/>MOST - save 10% + free shipping on orders $65 or more<BR/>MOST10 - save 10% on any size orderMikel O.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11188097432932389046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-57648199294824446312009-03-09T06:13:00.000-07:002009-03-09T06:13:00.000-07:00Ken, about 10,000 years ago we came out of the las...Ken, about 10,000 years ago we came out of the last big glaciation. I believe human civilization as we know it was made possible by the <I>unusually</I> stable climate we've enjoyed for the last 10,000 years. I think that's the only thing that made agriculture possible, and agriculture made everything else possible. Agriculture has undoubtedly been tried before, but it couldn't succeed until you had a very-long-term-stable climate.<BR/><BR/>And, of course, we are now losing that stability due to global warming, which is going to hammer our agriculture and our economy like nothing we've seen since the Black Death, unless we act massively very soon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9194378690159698339.post-56510876169741366452009-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:002009-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:00I have wondered about this for a long time. The c...I have wondered about this for a long time. The chronology of it all *is* quite compelling.<BR/><BR/>Another aspect that I find interesting is how un-ape-like we humans began to be at about the time we first associated with canines. We began to hunt in packs, range over open territory and picked up other behaviors that are more typically canine than ape. It would make sense that close association with another species may have also helped us become neotenized and less fearful/reactive at the same time that these features were enhanced in the proto-dog.<BR/><BR/>As you imply, maybe the non-dog-trainers were less well adapted and got weeded out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com