Why did jacob bronowski believe that agriculture brought an end to the nomadic way of life?

Question

I am referring to his series titled "the ascent of man"

Answer 1

one should consider that there are still nomads.

however, agriculture allows people to produce more food, in a small area, consistently, and requires that people stay and protect their investment.

you can't do both.

if you can support more people in a single spot, you can support an army --- well a few more warriors than nomads typically support, in a small area.

the agricultural society will win.

that's what happened to native Americans out west.

Answer 2

Early man lived in groups or tribes. They obtained their food by hunting animals and gathering what plants they found which they used for food. When they remained in an area for a while the game got scarce and moved off to another area. The plants they gathered were soon used up. So the tribe packed up and moved to a new area, following the animals and to areas with more plants. This pattern was repeated over and over and they were nomadic people, continually on the move. As agriculture was developed, animals were domesticated, and crops were planted, this allowed people to remain in one area and build permanent type of houses. This ended the nomadic way of life for most people. There are still a few tribes that follow the nomadic life style, but they use some forms of agriculture. They raise cattle and travel following the rains and grass, always on the move to new areas.

Answer 3

Because he jumped to conclusions.  In fact, nomadic herder populations invariably depend on a static agricultural population for their resources.  

Bedouin tents are made by weavers in towns, metal implements used by the mongols were made in cities.  British gypsy caravans were all made by a firm in Reading etc.

Answer 4

Not having seen the material you referenced, I'll tell you what generalizations you can make that probably mirror one or more of his ideas.

1) The hunter/ gatherer had to live in very small groups well spread out in order to be able to survive on the limited local food resources. The land can only support a limited number of any animal in a specific niche. Farming/ agriculture made it possible to have larger populations because food became more plentiful.

2) Farming societies can not be so fully nomadic as they become tied to the land, their farms being the source of foods for an ever-increasing population. Though there were still some groups that wandered, for the most part one settled an area in permenant shelters. Semi-nomadic groups used this as a central home location but true agrarian communities now had true permenant homes.

3) Having a real stable settlement with a growing population meant that work had to be done to improve this arrangement and maintain this. Comfort levels got better and facilities were becoming more durable. Cities would be next.

4) The increase of quality food from agriculture and the time saved from having to hunt or gather gave humans a well fed brain and higher potential for thought and ideas. Communication of ideas increased and time was now available to share thoughts, develope writing/ reading, and hone the skills to improve the establishment. Science, art, and cultural activities would florish. Such was the acent of Man, Woman too (guys ain't nothin without the gals).