 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
It has been suggested -- I do not know with what truth -- that it ( = agriculture) was discovered through the practice of scattering grain on tombs for the nourishment of the deceased, and that, to the surprise of pious relatives, the grain grew up and produced fresh grain. It was a not very difficult exercise of forethought to pass from this observation to the deliberate planting of grain with a view to a future harvest. However this may be, agriculture was already well established in the river valleys of the Nile, the Indus and Mesopotamia at the earliest moment of which we have historical, as opposed to archaeological, evidence.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 3: Forethought and Skill, n.10
More info.： https://russell-j.com/cool/47T-2_0310.htm
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It is thought that we have moved from a stage where we were gathering wild grains for food to one where we could systematically harvest grains by obtaining seeds from them and scattering them. A simpler and more wild theory is that aliens with agricultural knowledge came to Earth and introduced agriculture to the people of Earth.
A google search shows the following at the top (summary text). (This sounds better than the ‘practice of scattering grain on graves’ theory.)
'Agriculture is thought to have begun about 12,000 years ago in an area of western Asia known as the “Fertile Crescent”. It is thought that agriculture began by enclosing areas where edible plants often thrived, in order to save the large areas of land that were needed to procure food by hunting and gathering, and to obtain a stable supply of food plants. It is also thought to have been triggered by the discovery that the same plants would sprout again from seeds that had been eaten away, and by learning to sow seeds and grow crops.’
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