One always encounters the the plausible view expressed everyday that human development was greatly and unequivocally aided by the adoption of agriculture. A large number of history books attribute the initial spurt in human development to the sedentary lifestyle, trade and political organization that the agrarian societies required. This progressive view therefore permeates the history books and entrenches the underlying assumption that settled farming was vastly superior to the hunter-gatherer alternative essentially because it allowed for greater food production and subsequent accumulation of wealth.
An admittedly dated essay by Jared Diamond that I have just encountered while perusing this reading list on Brad DeLong's excellent blog not only questions the logic that the series of changes that together constituted agricultural revolution were part of the human "tale of progress". In the essay, the author states that the story behind the movement towards agriculture and its effects on human society in general has been highly sanitized. I have always been persuaded that the preoccupation with finding nutrition unduly delayed the rise of complex economies but did not imagine that archaeology would get me thinking that the the progressive narrative is highly embellished. To my mind, the essay certainly does not make as compelling an arguement for the fact that agriculture was a mistake as it does with exposing the dimunition of its many costs on individuals and societies.
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