Ancient baby boom holds a lesson in over-population

Washington State University researchers have sketched out one of the greatest baby booms in North American history, a centuries-long "growth blip" among southwestern Native Americans between 500 to 1300 A.D.

It was a time when the early features of civilization -- including farming and food storage -- had matured to where birth rates likely "exceeded the highest in the world today," the researchers write in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A crash followed, said Tim Kohler, WSU Regents professor of anthropology, offering a warning sign to the modern world about the dangers of overpopulation.
"We can learn lessons from these people," said Kohler, who coauthored the paper with graduate student Kelsey Reese.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study looks at a century's worth of data on thousands of human remains found at hundreds of sites across the Four Corners region of the Southwest. While many of the remains have been repatriated, the data let Kohler assemble a detailed chronology of the region's Neolithic Demographic Transition, in which stone tools reflect an agricultural transition from cutting meat to pounding grain.

"It's the first step towards all the trappings of civilization that we currently see," said Kohler. Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel, a French expert on prehistoric populations and guest editor of the PNAS article, has called the transition "one of the fundamental processes of human history."

Maize, which we know as corn, was grown in the region as early as 2000 B.C. At first, populations were slow to respond, probably because of low productivity, said Kohler. But by 400 B.C., he said, the crop provided 80 percent of the region's calories. Crude birth rates -- the number of newborns per 1,000 people per year -- were by then on the rise, mounting steadily until about 500 A.D.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140630164146.htm



Which is why I keep saying the world needs to collaborate together to deal with this ongoing problem, looking to deal with this locally is not going to resolve the issue.

Well,why are we letting in thousands of immigrants who when they have a few babies will lead to massive overcrowding in our country?

nicko wrote:Well,why are we letting in thousands of immigrants who when they have a few babies will lead to massive overcrowding in our country?

Will that solve the global problem by only looking at the problem locally?

Of course not, all you are wanting is to try to push the problem away, that will not resolve it.
There is two fold problems here, one an ageing population living much longer, that by 2050, 1 in 4 will be over 65, with not enough people to care for them, thus redressing the balance. Migrants are helping address this balance because many are within a younger age group. When balance has been maintained, then you need to adress controlling population growths globally.

You will never control global population as long as the Roman Catholic Church forbids contraception. Instead of sending money to poor nations ,send contraceptives.

nicko wrote:You will never control global population as long as the Roman Catholic Church forbids contraception. Instead of sending money to poor nations ,send contraceptives.

Nothing is impossible Nicko, it is about changing perceptions.
If you think negatively, then it will not happen, you only bring about change by getting people on board