Glossary
Neolithic
The period of early farming, beginning 12,000 to 11,000 years ago. Its skeletons show, on average, shorter stature, more tooth decay and more infection than the foragers' before them.
Published Updated
Where this comes from
In the reference topic that owns this term
Reference topic 4, The Last Ice Age and the Birth of Agriculture, states the mismatch as a card: what the system evolved to expect, what it gets instead, and what happens in the gap.
Mismatch card
- What it expects
A varied diet of wild plants and animals, daily walking and carrying, small mobile groups, seasonal variety.
- What it gets
Cereals supplying 42% of the world's dietary energy, sedentary work, and dense settlements shared with animals and strangers.
- What happens in the gap
In early farmers, on average: shorter stature, more tooth decay and infection, heavy repetitive labor. Since then, immune genes have been retuned against new pathogens, possibly at the cost of more inflammatory and autoimmune risk.
Related terms
The argument behind this term, its studies and its notes are in Reference topic 4 of the reference library. The book gives the practical version. Get the book.