On 6/08/2014 15:04, Grimmund wrote:

> And it's worse if you're *migratory* hunter-gatherers.
>
> (For things not immediately fatal, if they make it difficult to keep
> up the group when it moves, those with mobility kills are likely to
> be left behind to die.  The group will miss you, but they have to get
> to the next food patch or starve.)

Don't forget that until they were forced into marginal land,
hunter-gatherers didn't actually have to move very far or fast, and
unless you simply couldn't walk at all, you could still gather, watch
the kids, do the cooking, etc.

Oh, and consider how useful the physically crippled are to a farming
community that already has as many smiths, tanners, etc., as it can
support. The situation is just as grim as for a hunter-gatherer.

> Medieval child mortality in Europe was up to 50% by age 6.  If you
> survived to 6, your outlook was pretty good, but surviving the first
> five years was iffy.
>
> If there is any sort of food shortage, the unweened are in trouble.
> If the winter is harsh, the kids and the elderly are mostly likely
> to go hungry, sicken, and die.
>
> And humans, unlike most animals, aren't seasonal breeders- which
> means some poor schmucks get born in the winter, or worse yet, early
> spring, when everybody's hungry.

Again, all this is not as bad for hunter-gatherers as it is for farmers
- in spring there are still animals to hunt. They may not be in the best
condition, but they'll do.