HISTORY 135F

Infectious and Epidemic Disease in History

Department of History
University of California, Irvine
 Instructor:    Dr. Barbara J. Becker

Lecture 1.  Costs of Civilization.

Earliest Homo sapiens modern (120,000 BP [Before the Present]) based on fossil evidence.

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Geographical distribution and technical capabilities of genus Homo from 100 million years ago to the present.

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Human migration around the globe through 1000 BP.

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Evidence of agriculture found in the Fertile Crescent (10,500 BP), in China (9,500 BP) and in the Americas (5,500 BP).

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Most of wild land biomass is: difficult to gather dangerous to hunt indigestible poisonous low in nutritional value tedious to convert to edibility Bringing land under cultivation enables it to support 10 to 100 times more people. Domesticating animals introduces readily available source of protein, food product variety, non-food products, natural fertilizer, and work power.

Plant Domestication  artificial selection overrides natural selection Opportunism--first hominids human gatherers collect available wild fruit/seeds that: have been missed or rejected by other foraging animals inherently lack natural dispersal mechanisms (e.g., seed-pod bursting) resist detachment by wind action and other common disturbances these plants may not be fittest of species, but their survival is assured by human intervention Preference--first hominids human gatherers choose edible wild plants with desirable characteristics: largest, tastiest, juiciest, most colorful, nicest smelling.... most accessible easiest to prepare/eat choices may be conscious or unconscious undigested seeds of these plants are naturally (though unintentionally) resown in human waste Husbandry--before 10,000 years BP human gatherers store excess wild and tamed plant material for later use conditioned by: availability of suitable containers successful means of pest control perishability of stored items heartiest seeds survive lengthy storage to be used later for food and/or seed Cultivation--after 10,000 years BP human gatherers no longer rely on chance encounters with edible plants purposely sow harvest resow seeds to produce food plants easiest to germinate, most productive, truest breeders prove most amenable to domestication cereals:  emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, barley pulses:  lentils, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch fibers:  flax (cultivated for use in textile production)     Wild (left) and domesticated (right) wheat grains. Changes in maize cobs resulting from 6,000 years of domestication.

Animal Domestication Characteristics of wild animals suitable for domestication: herd-able naturally accustomed to living within hierarchical social system non-territorial non-aggressive; not easily panicked herbivorous (carnivores, even those that don't eat people, are expensive to feed) rapid maturation rate ability to breed in captivity source of both food and non-food products ________________ Early Domesticated Animals (years BP) dog 12,000 sheep/goats 10,000 swine 10,000 cattle   8,000 horse/donkey   6,000 water buffalo     6,000 llama/alpaca   5,500 camels   4,500 Domesticated cattle in Egypt, 3500 BP.

Crowd Diseases Domestication of animals brought humans in close contact with crowd diseases of herding animals: measles (rinderpest in cattle; canine distemper) tuberculosis (Tuberculosis in cattle) smallpox (cowpox) influenza (flu in swine and fowl) whooping cough (pertussis in swine and dogs) Settlement resulted in increased population numbers and density: increased food supply improved nutrition shortened birth interval hunter-gatherers:  4 yrs settled:  2 yrs Settlement increased exposure to microbes via: close social contact proximity to human and animal waste proximity to pests standing water

Nature selects life forms most effective at producing offspring that survive to reproduce. How did microbes evolve such that by thriving, they destroy their own and their progeny's principal food source?