It is true that the ultimate victors of human history were those who finally settled in one place and began to farm. Settling on fertile land, they built massive civilizations and laid the foundation for the cities and nations we enjoy today.
This raises a question: Why did so many of our prehistoric ancestors choose a grueling life of chasing animals for thousands of kilometers, rather than seeking out that fertile land and settling down much sooner? Was there no good land to farm back then?
To find the answer, we must turn our camera back to the era of hunting and gathering—a span of hundreds of thousands of years that preceded the "Neolithic Revolution," when humanity first turned to farming.
The Great Whim of Earth: Moving Fertility
Our modern definition of "rich, fertile land" usually means plains with four distinct seasons that are ideal for agriculture. However, prehistoric Earth was entirely different. At the time, the planet was caught in a vortex of extreme climate change, with ice ages and interglacial periods repeating countless times.
Areas that are lush forests or fertile plains today were often covered by massive sheets of ice back then, or conversely, were barren wastelands parched day and night.
In other words, there was no such thing as an "absolute plot of land" where one could stay put and enjoy stable abundance year after year. The boundaries where plants could grow shifted constantly according to the climate, and naturally, animals moved with them. To capture that moving fertility—and to stay alive—humans had no choice but to move along with it.
True Abundance in an Era Before Agricultural Technology
In a time when the very concept of agriculture did not exist, hunter-gatherers had a different standard for what made land fertile. For them, the best land was simply "a place with plenty of wild fruits to pick right away and an abundance of animals to hunt."
However, wild grains and fruit trees in their natural state did not produce enough to feed an entire tribe if they settled in one place. Once they had gathered all the fruits in one area, it was far more efficient to move to another zone until nature replenished itself.
On the other hand, large herbivores like mammoths, deer, and wild horses were moving "massive lumps of protein" and all-in-one supermarkets for humans. Not only did they provide meat, but their bones could be fashioned into tools, and their hides into clothes and tents. Since these animals traveled thousands of kilometers in search of grass, tracking them was the most bountiful and reliable way for humanity to survive.
Agriculture Was Not a Choice, But the Last Train
Modern anthropologists offer a fascinating diagnosis to the question, "Why did humans eventually stop migrating and take up agriculture?" They argue that humanity did not choose farming because it was easier or better, but rather as a "last resort" forced upon them because there was nowhere left to run.
As the long ice age ended and the climate stabilized, the global human population exploded. Conversely, driven by overhunting and climate shifts, the large mammals humans had spent millennia chasing began to vanish from the face of the Earth. Humanity reached a tipping point where the nomadic lifestyle of tracking animals could no longer sustain the ballooning population.
Ultimately, humans abandoned their ancient tradition of wandering in search of prey. Instead, they boarded the last train available: agriculture—tilling the soil before them with plows and sowing seeds to push food production to its absolute limit. Thus, settled life began.
Looking back at the great prehistoric migration, we realize that the tribes tracking animals were not merely suffering through thoughtless physical labor. It was the smartest equation for survival on the Earth of that era.
Because they were not tethered to the land, they could adapt flexibly to climate change. And because they moved constantly, they could spread their genes across the globe and expand the horizons of humanity. In the end, those who ultimately survived were the flexible innovators—those who knew how to boldly walk toward the horizon when it was time to move, and how to grip the plow when it was time to settle down.
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