# What the hell were our ancestors thinking?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 1, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802 "2011-02-01T18:32:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/1 "2011-02-01T18:32:36Z")
In [this other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595364) **Shagnasty** brought up something I’ve been wondering about for a while.
> [@Storm Warnings](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/storm-warnings/569722/8):
>
> Humans are a tropical species and we aren’t meant to live in snow or ice. It isn’t natural. I saw a hunter-gatherer African tribe in National Geographic that I am probably distantly related to one way or another. They have the right idea. Not a fucking snowflake in sight. I could just rejoin them.
So I said:
> [@cuauhtemoc](#):
>
> I always wonder what the fuck my ancestors were thinking. Not only migrating out of nice warm Africa, but then settling in deadly climates all over the Northern Hemisphere? In fact, I’m going to start a thread about this very thing.
My thinking is, you can freeze to death, pretty easily actually, on a cold day. You can’t easily catch fire on a hot day. Yes, there’s heatstroke and stuff like that, but that’s much less likely to happen than all the awful things that can happen in the cold.
So people had to invent clothes and all this other new technology to be able to survive the cold, just so they could… what? What was so fucking attractive up here that made it worth facing deadly cold every year? Were they stupid or what?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/2 "2011-02-01T18:37:36Z")
My ancestors came from the vicinity of the Arctic Circle. 😛
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### Author:  [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/3 "2011-02-01T18:38:04Z")
They were following food sources.
I don’t think the concept of wearing clothes had anything to do with moving to cold environments, as most people in warm climates wear clothing.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/4 "2011-02-01T18:45:33Z")
Well, suppose you’re a hunter-gatherer. It’s getting a bit crowded where you live, so you decide to move. Do you move north, or south? If it’s even more crowded in the south, moving south isn’t going to help the crowding situation. But wait! There’s plenty of empty space up north where no one lives. So you move up there, even though it’s a bit nippy at times. A couple of generations later your descendants are feeling crowded, they can move either to the crowded but warm south, or the empty but cold north. Which way do they move?
If you look at maps of global population density, you’ll see that the vast majority of people in the world live in warmer areas–India, Europe, the Chinese heartland. Really cold places are very sparsely populated. But that’s not so much because people don’t like the cold, it’s because cold areas don’t support intense agricultural production.
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### Author:  [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/5 "2011-02-01T18:51:16Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> My ancestors came from the vicinity of the Arctic Circle. 😛
I’m pretty sure your ancestors came from Africa, just like mine. Your recent ancestors came from the Arctic Circle, maybe. But how did they get there? That’s what blows my mind.
> [@CatherineZeta](#):
>
> They were following food sources.
>
> I don’t think the concept of wearing clothes had anything to do with moving to cold environments, as most people in warm climates wear clothing.
Well, they don’t really _have_ to. They choose to.
I’ve also heard that it wasn’t always so cold in Europe, North America, and the cold parts of Asia. Could our ancestors have migrated there during a warmer period, and then when it got cold again they were stuck there for some reason?
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/6 "2011-02-01T19:05:29Z")
The time scale involved is fairly large, compared to a human’s life span. And the distances involved for each individual move do not have to be large.
Picture this:
You’re living in a small clan, and times have been good. There are now 50 people living in an area that used to have 20. Then some bad weather happens, and food is scarce.
Do you move
a) 20 miles south, where there is even more crowding and different hostile clans
b) 20 miles north, where there is better hunting/potential farmland, and it is really not THAT much colder
Next generation, some more folks move another 20 miles north. Really not THAT much colder.
Next generation, 20 miles north again. Not THAT much colder.
Each generation does not really notice that much difference in climate. However, in only 50 generations (around 1200 years), they have moved 1000 miles north, and they are living in a colder conditions than their ancestors. But each individual generation did not really notice much of a change.
It’s not like your ancestors picked up and moved 1000 miles north in one single move.
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/7 "2011-02-01T19:11:16Z")
My (recent) ancestors moved to California. So I think they might have agreed.
But then I moved to the Midwest. 😛 Snow isn’t that big of a deal.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/8 "2011-02-01T19:15:23Z")
I’ve wondered the same thing especially with settlers in North America. Why settle areas like the Northeast? Shouldn’t they have been densely packing places like North/South Carolina? You read about the harsh winters settlers had to go through where many died and you think “move south dummy”.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/9 "2011-02-01T19:19:21Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> The time scale involved is fairly large, compared to a human’s life span. And the distances involved for each individual move do not have to be large.
>
> Picture this:
>
> You’re living in a small clan, and times have been good. There are now 50 people living in an area that used to have 20. Then some bad weather happens, and food is scarce.
>
> Do you move
> a) 20 miles south, where there is even more crowding and different hostile clans
> b) 20 miles north, where there is better hunting/potential farmland, and it is really not THAT much colder
>
> Next generation, some more folks move another 20 miles north. Really not THAT much colder.
>
> Next generation, 20 miles north again. Not THAT much colder.
>
> Each generation does not really notice that much difference in climate. However, in only 50 generations (around 1200 years), they have moved 1000 miles north, and they are living in a colder conditions than their ancestors. But each individual generation did not really notice much of a change.
>
> It’s not like your ancestors picked up and moved 1000 miles north in one single move.
And even if it is THAT much colder, it’s probably better to be cold a few months out of the year than to have to fight other tribes. And 20 miles away may not be that different; one tribe might range almost that far normally, so it might not be enough. But seventy miles away (only a week’s travel at a reasonable ten miles a day) might be a river delta, or a nice bunch of watering holes, or some other natural resource.
ETA: So why don’t _you_ move back to Africa? Don’t let the mere chance of dying from unstable regimes, or the fact that there’s probably not a good job for you there stop you! Or you could move to Southern California, where it’s warm most of the time! Or is that too overcrowded?
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/10 "2011-02-01T19:26:13Z")
Yes, people freeze to death in the cold sometimes, but staying warm when it’s cold is an easier problem to solve than cooling off when it’s too hot.
Imagine humans travel into space sometime to colonize - what’s going to be easier - creating a warm space on a planet too cold, or creating a cooler space on a planet too hot?
I also think moving into cold climes put a healthy evolutionary stress on early humans that drove technology.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/11 "2011-02-01T19:26:48Z")
> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> I’ve wondered the same thing especially with settlers in North America. Why settle areas like the Northeast? Shouldn’t they have been densely packing places like North/South Carolina? You read about the harsh winters settlers had to go through where many died and you think “move south dummy”.
Well, wasn’t the Mayflower supposed to take them to Virginia, not Massachusetts?
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### Author:  [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/12 "2011-02-01T19:31:00Z")
> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> I’ve wondered the same thing especially with settlers in North America. Why settle areas like the Northeast? Shouldn’t they have been densely packing places like North/South Carolina? You read about the harsh winters settlers had to go through where many died and you think “move south dummy”.
Right. I live in New York, and sometimes I think “Why does this city exist?” They knew about the winters when they settled it, there’s simply no excuse.
If the Spanish had remained the dominant colonial power in North America, maybe the Southeast would be full of international capitals of trade and power, and the Northeast would be a bunch of historic shipbuilding and fishing villages.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/13 "2011-02-01T19:41:39Z")
I had the same thought visiting the Hopi. You’re in a desert, you live on top of a mesa to avoid attack, and you have to haul scant water and crops to the top of it every single day. Guys, you’re a couple weeks’ walk from the fertile lowlands of Colorado… move!
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/14 "2011-02-01T19:51:14Z")
I just finished watching the TV documentary version of _Guns, Germs and Steel_ last night. One takeaway lesson from that is that the plants and animals you farm, as well as your own natural resistance to pathogens, is tied to the latitude at which your and their ancestors have lived. Migrating east-west is easy, migrating north-south isn’t.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/15 "2011-02-01T19:55:53Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#):
>
> Right. I live in New York, and sometimes I think “Why does this city exist?” They knew about the winters when they settled it, there’s simply no excuse.
One of my colleagues used to make the same argument about Buffalo. “Why they didn’t leave after the first winter, nobody knows,” he used to say.
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/16 "2011-02-01T20:09:49Z")
> [@CatherineZeta](#):
>
> They were following food sources.
I’m sure this is the answer. It’s not like they were lazing around toying with the concept. They woke up hungry e_very day_. If the food crossed the Bering Strait, so did you.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/17 "2011-02-01T20:19:13Z")
> [@Duke](#):
>
> One of my colleagues used to make the same argument about Buffalo. “Why they didn’t leave after the first winter, nobody knows,” he used to say.
They stayed for the wings, obviously.
There was money to be made in fur trades and the like too. It wasn’t always about food.
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### Author:  [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/18 "2011-02-01T20:38:51Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> I had the same thought visiting the Hopi. You’re in a desert, you live on top of a mesa to avoid attack, and you have to haul scant water and crops to the top of it every single day. Guys, you’re a couple weeks’ walk from the fertile lowlands of Colorado… move!
They didn’t want to piss off the [Utes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ute_people).
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### Author:  [@Stop\_no\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stop_no_Exit)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/19 "2011-02-01T20:41:49Z")
I think people adjust to climate change fairly quickly. I live in the Midwest, and I’ve had friends move to warmer climates, South or West. Every winter, they call me, giggling, to tell me that the news is saying to bring in the dogs, it’s going to get down to 40 degrees. But if they visit in what I consider early summer, they complain that they’re cold and want a sweater.
About early ancestors wearing clothes in warmer climates, I’ve always thought that eventually someone decided that it might be nice to have something covering your bits when you sat down to do some chore, or eat dinner. We had clothes before furniture. 😃
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-were-our-ancestors-thinking/569802/20 "2011-02-01T20:57:32Z")
Discovery of how to reliably start a fire pretty much negates the necessity of living in warmer climates.
Along with clothes and shelter
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