Alcohol & Sex may have created cities

[The Yosemite Bear]

I was recalling information about anchient civilizations, and the primary change from hunter gathers to the formation of towns, appears to be beer/wine. Breweries have been found in all of the oldest human settlements. In all of the cities where we can find written information identifying structures we find brothels. Although it's generally believed that prositution predates writing.

[Keevan_Colton]

Hmm.....Ye Olde Las Vegas?

[Montcalm]

Hmm.....Ye Olde Las Vegas?

I think the actual name was Sodome and gomorhe hope the spellings right.

[Enforcer Talen]

a good reason to continue it. its the basis of civilizatioN!

[neoolong]

Actually we never went directly from H&G to towns and cities directly. There were always small villages before. Nothing on the scale of a town.

[Zoink]

I was recalling information about anchient civilizations, and the primary change from hunter gathers to the formation of towns, appears to be beer/wine. Breweries have been found in all of the oldest human settlements. In all of the cities where we can find written information identifying structures we find brothels. Although it's generally believed that prositution predates writing.

It could be that beer is simply logical result of agriculture, which may be the driving force.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I was recalling information about anchient civilizations, and the primary change from hunter gathers to the formation of towns, appears to be beer/wine. Breweries have been found in all of the oldest human settlements. In all of the cities where we can find written information identifying structures we find brothels. Although it's generally believed that prositution predates writing.

I learned that some anthropologists believe the beginning of agriculture may have started with women in small settlements in the Pacific southwest. In the process of preparing scavenged roots and fruits the left overs were discarded into piles, much like shell middens. Some of the left overs would grow and could be harveted later.

[Durandal]

Actually, I think there's still some debate in the anthropoligical community over which came first: beer or bread. They both have the same basic ingredients.

[neoolong]

Actually, I think there's still some debate in the anthropoligical community over which came first: beer or bread. They both have the same basic ingredients.

But you don't need yeast or fermentation to make bread. I would think it would be easier to make breat than beer.

[Keevan_Colton]

Actually, I think there's still some debate in the anthropoligical community over which came first: beer or bread. They both have the same basic ingredients.

But you don't need yeast or fermentation to make bread. I would think it would be easier to make breat than beer.

But "beer" can be formed accidently...bread you do actively need to work at.....

[neoolong]

Actually, I think there's still some debate in the anthropoligical community over which came first: beer or bread. They both have the same basic ingredients.

But you don't need yeast or fermentation to make bread. I would think it would be easier to make breat than beer.

But "beer" can be formed accidently...bread you do actively need to work at.....

Not safely every time.

[Keevan_Colton]

But you don't need yeast or fermentation to make bread. I would think it would be easier to make breat than beer.

But "beer" can be formed accidently...bread you do actively need to work at.....

Not safely every time.

No but it can occur as an accident under natural conditions and then people can decide its a damn good idea to try and make more.....I cant think of how bread can accidently form....

[neoolong]

No but it can occur as an accident under natural conditions and then people can decide its a damn good idea to try and make more.....I cant think of how bread can accidently form....

Beer may be gotten accidentally before, but as a used product, I think bread got that way first.

[RedImperator]

Roman brothels in Pompeii marked the walls and paving stones in the surrounding neighborhood with graffiti in the shape of human genetalia, so you'd know there was one nearby. Prostitution may be responsible for the invention of advertising.

[Joe]

I was recalling information about anchient civilizations, and the primary change from hunter gathers to the formation of towns, appears to be beer/wine. Breweries have been found in all of the oldest human settlements. In all of the cities where we can find written information identifying structures we find brothels. Although it's generally believed that prositution predates writing.

You can bet your ass it predated writing, it's not called "the world's oldest profession" for nothing.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

Alcohol and sex may have created cities...

That must have been one hell of a party.

Anyway, the sex part was probably so they could reproduce and not die out, I guess.

[Morat]

The US Republican party may have to undergo some drastic changes if this is true. After all, being conservative, they're supposed to be about going back to the "good old days." So, I guess that means that the Republicans would have to make drunken orgies part of their platform.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Looks at the Republic of Rome....

Ok, Tax cut for the Rich, Executions by Gladitorial Combat (Live on Fox), Orgies, & Taxed Prostituion....

I think I could get the Right behind me...

[Keevan_Colton]

Looks at the Republic of Rome....

Ok, Tax cut for the Rich, Executions by Gladitorial Combat (Live on Fox), Orgies, & Taxed Prostituion....

I think I could get the Right behind me...

I assume you'll tell them the orgies and protstitutions are only for them (and tax deductable too) otherwise they might not like it...

[Neko001]

What you people don't seem to understand is that early beer didn't have a lot of alcohol. In Egypt, every family member would have beer for breakfast, since it had the consistency of a soup and was actually nutritive.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

I was recalling information about anchient civilizations, and the primary change from hunter gathers to the formation of towns, appears to be beer/wine. Breweries have been found in all of the oldest human settlements. In all of the cities where we can find written information identifying structures we find brothels. Although it's generally believed that prositution predates writing.

Chances are, it's more a thing of booze and sex being a by-product of the creation of cities. The real driving force was likely agriculture.

Examples:

There were a large number of Native American peoples who were strictly hunter/gatherers, living life pretty much the same way they did when their ancestors wandered on over to the Americas during the last Ice Age. They formed small tribes that were easy to break down and move should the foraging and hunting go sour in an area.

Then you have peoples such as the Iroquois or tne Algonquin, who took up the business of farming squash and corn. Agriculture requires an incredible amount of time and effort. You've got to prepare the fields, you've got to sow the seeds. And then you have to maintain the fields, protect them from marauding animals and so on. Then you have to harvest the crops and store them. Initially, you could pull it off with a hunter-gather type village, except this village doesn't move. But the village gets bigger because, let's face it, agriculture may be hard work, but it tends to improve the quality of life for the typical citizen.

And, as the community grows, you have a lot of something that hunter-gatherers frequently don't have a lot of. Namely, free time. Since, with agriculture, you don't really have to worry about where your next meal is coming from (unless the crops fail, but that's another story.) So you start to have people who can afford to do things other than farm or hunt. These people will do things like make art or tools for use in barter.

Mind you, this doesn't yet have much to do with the invention of booze. That comes at the point where you have more grain than you know what to do with. Grain generally requires some processing to be edible to people. And processing has the benefit of moving it out of the silo, where all it's doing is feeding mice and rats, and into the house, where the mice and rats can be less of a problem. As a result, bread and booze probably came about at the same time. You don't need yeast to make bread. There is such a thing as unleavened bread.

But where do the brothels come from? In hunter-gatherer cultures, they'd be practically unheard of. The typical hunter-gatherer village only has a handful of families at best. Free sex would be an anthema to them, especially when Runs-Faster-Than-Bear bangs his sister and their children end up being named Dumber and Dipshit. But in large agricultural communities, especially ones that evolve into local trading hubs, the odds of having sex with somebody who is related to you are much lower than in a hunter-gatherer village. And besides, farming is dull work. People need a means of relieving stress. And what better way to do it than sex. And then, some people get smart and realize that they can exchange sex for goods. At that point, sex becomes a commodity like plows and earthenware jars. And thus, prostitution is born, all because of the invention of agriculture.