Thursday, July 20, 2017

Sowell 3- new data shows backward tropical evolution? Wealth and Poverty- An International Perspective in Trump era




Part 1 of our Sowell trilogy reviewed the book "Intellectuals and Race". Part 2 looked at a slice of the recent book- Wealth and Poverty: An International Perspective 2015. This piece, part 3 of our trilogy, reviews the rest of "Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective" - specifically that part regarding alleged "tropical development." It is an article of faith in numerous right wing, "HBD" or "hereditarian" quarters, including the arguments of assorted right wing scholars like Lynn, Rushton, Vanhannen, etc, that "harsh "conditions in temperate or colder zones promoted time urgency and discipline compared to "lagging" tropical peoples. But is this really so? The argument appears in Sowell's book  "Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective," and when put to the test, comes up short.   Let's get down to business.

The current writer is a supporter of SOME of Thomas Sowell's work, but over the past 15 years it has lost much of its bite, and too often, seems a re-thread of earlier stuff. Sowell's latest book- Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective, continues in his usual hereditarian/libertarian vein, illustrated nicely by his discussion of the old hereditarian saw about the greater goodness and virtue of cold climate folk versus those slower-witted tropical peoples with their pineapples and bananas. Yes, Thomas Sowell actually does talk about "pineapples and bananas." Now where have we seen such bogus imagery befo? 

His basic argument- which is typical of the racialist "hereditarian" or HBD crowd, is to claim so-called "life-threatening" challenges faced by people in the temperate zones, who have to do all this terribly hard work to stave off winter starvation. Due to this, the good cold climate folk develop a sense of "urgency" and "discipline." Meanwhile back there in the tropics- they have so much food "spontaneously supplied by nature" - you know, like "bananas and pineapples" - they never really got on the ball. 

This kind of dubious reasoning is rampant among certain "HBDers," "hereditarians" and allied crowd of conservatives, right-wing libertarians and racialist distorters of various sorts, some ensconced in a well-funded network of rightist think tanks and venues. Others are more amateur types or trolls embedded in snarling racialist online forums. Among them are not simply random bloggers off the Internet but well educated and published academics such as JP Rushton, Linda Gottfredson and Richard Lynn. Their work is intended to be taken seriously. Typical is Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen, in their 2002 book, IQ and the Wealth of Nations. In that tome, the authors advance a farrago of distortion including chastising Africans for "failing" to domesticate species such as the African Cape buffalo, one of the hugest, fiercest ungulates in the world. It should be noted that in Asia, similar fierce species have not been domesticated either. People opted for milder tempered beasts to domesticate. But only Africans are condemned as "backward" with seemingly "low mental capacities" for the eminently sensible choice of avoiding large, unpredictable, dangerous beasts that are apt to attack nearby humans.

Sowell strikes up a similar note in his own way, himself being part of the well funded network of think tanks such as the Hoover Institution. But he somewhat contradicts his own writing. After several pages regaling the reader about how terrible the tropics is, and how good the temperate zones are climatically and geographically, he then shifts to the standard "we have it so tough here in the cold" argument of the hereditarians. Let's look at it- quote:

QUOTE:
"The life-threatening challenge that dominated the temperate zones of the world for millennia was growing enough food during the limited spring and summer months to last through the cold winter months. It was an inescapable necessity, for sheer physical survival, to begin plowing or otherwise breaking up the land for planting when the ground thawed in the spring. This meant that peoples living where seasons changed drastically had to develop a sense of urgency about time, and the discipline to adjust to its requirements- qualities that were not nearly so necessary in places where food could be grown year round, in addition to the availability of much food spontaneously supplied by nature in many tropical lands. The other inescapable necessity of the temperate zones, where seasons are so different, was saving food to store for the winter. This required not only the discipline of saving, but also the conversion of perishable foods like milk and fruit into storable foods like cheese and jam. Here again, this was not such a pressing necessity in the tropics."
--Thomas Sowell, 2015. Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective, p.40


Mysteriously missing cold climate European "role models." But the above is dubious. Right off the bat the question arises- if cold climate promoted oh so virtuous things like "urgency" and discipline" why did it take so long for "urgent" northern European "role models" to develop civilization? How could they lag behind so long with all the advantages they had? Historically Northern Europeans are also-rans, with significant world influence only within the last 600 years. Where were these paragons the previous 10,000 years before?

Even more interesting, his own research (Ethnic America 1981) shows some major cold climate northern European peoples like the Irish migrants to the US being notorious for "lack of time urgency" and being indifferent farmers. The rural Protestant "Scotch Irish" for example were not known for their farming acumen, though gaining fame for drinking and fighting. Likewise the Catholic Irish, on the opposite end of the spectrum, were heavily  an urbanized people that did not go back to the rural peasant conditions from whence they sprang. The (supposedly more virtuous northern European stock) Irish were not sterling role models. and contemporary observers (whom Sowell puts his trust in often) described them as violent, thriftless and often drunk. As far as agriculture, the rural Catholic Irish were unimpressive, relying heavily on potatoes, with little use of advanced technology, advanced management or diversification. As one history puts it:

For people as poor and as miserable as rural Irish Catholics, sex, the companionship of wives and husbands, and the joy of children, like good and even bad whiskey, were comforts and escapes in a normally hopeless existence. Potatoes also figured heavily in Ireland's population boom. An easy-to- cultivate vegetable that flourished in less than excellent soil, the nutritious potato dominated the rural Irish menu.. Potatoes made it possible to feed many with few resources, encouraging the young to marry and begin large families.."
----Hachey and J. McCaffrey. 2014. The Irish Experience Since 1800: A Concise History. p 29-31


Europeans have no monopoly on "urgency." And who says cold climate paragons had this oh so much greater "sense of urgency" compared to the tropical peoples? Hell, urgency is job one in many tropical agricultural zones which have short growing seasons due to the onset of frequent droughts. Torrential rains leaching nutrients out of already poorer soils also shortens tropical growing seasons with crop damage and flooding. Tropical people had to hustle on the agricultural front before all these negatives piled on. So since when is "urgency" and "discipline" in growing seasons any monopoly of supposedly more virtuous cold climate folk?

Tropical people did not have have time to sit around with "bananas and pineapples." One can just sense the obsolete sources the aging Sowell is using, as well as his own failure to assimilate new data. Six areas of blunt reality of African tropical agriculture illustrate this. It should ne noted however that these are not be all-end all "explanations" for the  diversity in African agriculture, which includes Nile Valley agriculture not just "jungle" shifting cultivation. These factors include:

--More difficult crop storage
--More devastating and destructive pests
--Greater chance of severe droughts and flooding
--Lower fertility of tropical soils
--Fluctuating growing seasons
--Erratic weather with more famine threat

The above do not apply to ALL tropical areas, at ALL times. Obviously there was variation, and areas of differing fertility, water access and pest infestation, etc. Areas with rich volcanic soil for example, fared better than areas of rain-leached laterite soils. However even given this variation, there was no "easy" time in general, on the average, when it came to agriculture in the tropics, contrary to the claims of assorted "HBD" adherents. Crop storage for example, is more challenging in the tropics- there being no natural refrigerant of snow and ice to help. Sure, people of the northern climes could spend more time on food preservation, they had a more favorable climate and a lesser pest burden to indulge with that time. Not so in the tropic African climes- which by the way include much desert. Another key issue is pest burden. Tropical Africans worked hard to fight off a massive series of pests- pests that did not die off during the winter season as in the more favorable European temperate and cold-climate zones- which were hardly the picture of unmitigated "harshness" painted by many. For the laboring African farmer, this meant elaborate storage pits and silos, not as large as the barns of northern Europe to be sure, but quite reasonable in local context.

And with no natural refrigerant close at hand, tropical Africans had to hustle to process their crops into a form survivable under hot, humid conditions, and the next drought-induced famine threat. Root crops for example- a key staple- have to be pounded into flour or paste, dried and stored, as did the "bananas" and other starchy staples. If stored whole, storage bins and silos had to be carefully designed so crops could "cure" properly and not be destroyed by the heat and fungal infection. In some cases toxic poisons had to be removed from staple crops- like cassava (manioc) before it could be eaten. And stored foods had to be checked frequently to guard against spoilage amid the heat and pests. But even with storage systems some food had to be eaten quickly. There was no time for "ease" with "bananas and pineapples." Urgent work was needed under the rainfall regime- with quick growing crops alternated with longer term ones in a continual struggle to keep the food flowing before the next drought, or nutrient leaching torrential rain. Grain staples of more fertile Eurasian soils by contrast, have relatively lower moisture content at maturity, and long term storage is easier. Again, there was variation, with some tropical farmers in some areas having a better situation, but overall, where is this so called "easy" life led by tropical Africans, that  racial hereditarians allege? 



Spontaneous nonsense: To recap- Tropical peoples in Africa had plenty of work requiring "urgency" and "discipline" with no time to wait around for Sowell's laughable food, "spontaneously" supplied by nature. Tropical Africans have never enjoyed all this "spontaneous" food right-wingers allege. As one expert puts it: "environmental conditions are frequently restrictive and fragile. Most tropical soils have low fertility due to water erosion, leaching, and acidification in more humid climates and to high temperatures and wind soil erosion in dryer ones (Bennema, 1977; Lal and Miller, 1990). Warm humid and subhumid regions are exposed to explosive pest populations, flooding, and crop storage and transportation problems (National Research Council, 1993), while semiarid regions suffer frequently from prolonged droughts (Okigbo, 1990)."
(--John H. Vandermeer - 2002 Tropical Agroecosystems - Page 12)


A European tale of woe? Hardly.. The temperate zones are hardly areas of dire starvation and distress. For one thing the temperate zone has a favorable East-West climatic axis allowing easy movement of key plant and animal domesticates, from wheat, to horses. It also has more fertile soils than the tropics, (even though some growing seasons were short), snow melt irrigation, lesser pest problems due to the cold that kills numerous pests, etc, etc. All such things often allow multiple crops in a single season- a favorable food environment actually. And who says things are so dire in temperate zones? Temperate growing seasons can last as long as 8 months per year, depending on annual temperature and elevation. Along the southern coast of California for example the growing season lasts 365 days. Seasons are also affected by temperature and some crops like the massively important wheat grains only  need a modest temperature in place to do its thing. Wheat, will sprout at just 5 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit)- meaning it can get the job done in weather rather chilly for humans - undermining the dire picture painted of frantic struggles due to cold. These facts are easily accessible (see something as basic as National Geographic on growing seasons- [  https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/growing-season/ ]) 


Urgency? What urgency? The tropical farmer is an expert on "urgency." As far as poor soils for example- tropical farmers adapted the reasonable method of shifting cultivation- which again, required considerable hustle in land clearing, planting, harvesting and then moving, to stay ahead of declining soil fertility and in many areas, inevitable dry and wet season drought and flooding. But African shifting cultivators did not simply "plant and move." They managed their plots in a rational, sophisticated way, including use of green and animal manures, terracing, soil mounding,  increased labor inputs for such tasks as weeding, and carefully mixing a variety of crops (some maturing at different times) to aid in pest control, stretch out fertility, and spread the economic risks leading up to the harvest. This detailed management was necessary, for the tropical African farmer not only has "jungle", sweltering savannah and even desert to deal with, but an explosive number of pests and parasites hindering his enterprise, much more than the temperate farmer, who is blessed with winters that kill off numerous pests, and more predictable snow-melt water for irrigation from higher altitudes. And on top of the hindrances caused by drought and its opposite- torrential rain and floodings - huge parts of tropical Africa also include deserts, and growing seasons in deserts are very short, much shorter than the European temperate zone seasons enjoyed by "urgent" farmers there. As one source notes- "Famines can be traced to such erratic weather patterns as high (causing floods) and low (causing droughts) precipitation in climate zones that otherwise would be expected to produce successful crop yields... Yet climatic and especially rain variability makes tropical agriculture often a risky business, and many famines in the tropics are related to drought." The racialist would attribute problems with overcoming  frequent tropical famines to "genetic deficits" but such simpleton reasonings fail to capture the realities of farming and climate in many tropic areas.



Did all the above difficulties apply to ALL areas  of tropics in Africa at ALL times? Of course not. There were zones that could be more favorable- on mountain slopes blessed with plenteous rain and volcano-fed soil for example. But the general pattern in tropical Africa is not "easy natives" with "bananas and pineapples" and food "spontaneously" springing up, but a blunt regime of backbreaking work, urgency, discipline and deft management, to stay ahead of an often unfavorable environment. Even given areas where grain could be grown, as yet another example, the climate in humid tropical areas also means that significant loss of seed weight- and thus less yield to the African farmer. Given readily available facts on such matters, why do so many people persist in distorting and misrepresenting the real picture on the ground? Simple. Such cynical misrepresentation and distortion provides the ideological foundations of a right-wing "libertarian" or "HBD" project. This project may vary by person, group or place, but its heart is race, and cynically disparaging and distorting the history, culture and achievements of tropical peoples, particularly Africans. Enablers like Sowell, even if they are not joined at the hip with specific racialists, help along this project.



I know what you are thinking pilgrim. What about the "easy" tropical or sub-tropical agriculture enjoyed by the dusky natives of the Nile Valley in Africa?

This is a variant of the "easy tropical life" narrative favored by the "hereditarian" and right-wing crowd. At first glance, the Nile Valley seems a perfect case. Why all the natives had to do was wait for the waters to rise, throw some seeds in the rich silt, do some minor weeding, and retire to drink beer (or eat pineapples and bananas) until harvest. Alas, this variant of the narrative is bogus, like the rest. Far from being "easy", even in the favored Nile Valley, agriculture was hard work. The land had to be prepared, plowed and tilled and divided into basins-(decrue or basin agriculture, a technique often seen in other parts of Africa). Canals, levees and dams had to be dug, constructed and maintained to capture the flood waters in the basins. Spillways and canals had to be made and maintained to siphon off excess water as the flood receded. And the whole system had to be calibrated carefully, including water levels and seasonal indicators such as the positioning of various astronomical data to ensure a smooth planting season. Failure to be prepared, could mean hunger or starvation. Note how scholar Bruce Trigger above says that the mere silt of the Nile was not the only key to farming. Nile silt yielded a modest level of nutrients, INITIALLY. What kept Egyptian fields in business was fallow periods, crop rotation, and the manure of tens of thousands of farm animals, managed for just that purpose, among others. Oh and on top of all this, there were quite a few building projects going on.. In short, it was mostly backbreaking work, even with the Nile inundation. Where is this "easy" time for tropical Africans assorted racialists and their apologists keep talking about?

There was no "easy time" to be had in the agriculture of the ancient Nile Valley of Africa, and 15-16% of Egypt lies in the topical belt by the way, with overlap of tropical Africans and cultures into the sub-tropics. Unsurprisingly, many right-wingers seem to think that Africans are static folk, huddled conveniently behind some sort of fixed, climatic "apartheid" barrier. But alas, this mythology does not hold. Africans DO move around- from sub-tropics to tropics, and within those tropics are numerous diverse micro-climes. The hot dry air of deserts within the tropics for example easily yields narrow noses. No "race mix" is needed or invoked to explain away such routine human variation. So much for "easy" tropical narratives...



European agricultural technology unimpressive on many counts until relatively late, and African alternatives were more workable given specific local environments.
But you say pilgrim, weren't those Africans inefficient with their hoe agriculture compared to advanced European technology such as plows?   Not necessarily. First, as we have already seen, some northern Europeans made heavy use of "inefficient" tools, like the Irish with their small spade-like loy in cultivating marginal hilly land for their potato crop. Turns out that this "backward" tool was MORE efficient for the Irish than expensive, and cumbersome plow teams, as we shall see. Second, European agricultural tech often lagged behind that of Asia (China in particular) as Professor Joseph Needham's magisterial surveys of Chinese technology show, and European techniques included a hugely inefficient plow and plowing system that  required the plow team to stop every few minutes to knock clods of dirt off plow instruments. European systems also typically required a large team of animals, sometimes horses and oxen combined. It was slow, expensive and cumbersome, and until further advances in the 1700s was unimpressive compared to more agile African farming systems using hoe, direct seed implantation, basin irrigation, soil management like terracing and mounding, and mixed cropping (Precolonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800 - John Thornton 1990. African Econ Hist 19.)  Even more inefficient and wasteful was the European method of broadcasting seed over the fields rather than more detailed placement in the earth.  See Needham- reference above. By contrast the "backward" African farming technique of raking and raising mounds with hoes and then inserting seed directly in the earth, rather than throwing them far and wide as in the Euro "broadcast" system,  compared favorably. Thus when the whole picture is considered, European agricultural methods and technology were not only sometimes unimpressive on the merits, but within the tropical African environment would compare unfavorably to indigenous methods.

Did "backward" tropical Africans "miss out" on technology such as the plow? But wait you say.  Even if some European technology was unimpressive, or outside Europe, ineffective in many tropical environments, how is it that black Africans never developed the demonstrably more efficient plow until Arabs or Europeans showed up? Such arguments and associated variants, are dubious for several reasons. 

1) First, "Black Africa" would have to include large swathes of the Egyptian Nile Valley including large pieces of Egypt and Nubia. Nubia by the way in ancient times, actually was made up of a slice of today's Egypt, as far as Aswan in southern Egypt. Then there were the foundational Egyptian populations such as the Badari, who not only how many linkages with other Africans (as anthropological data repeatedly show- (Keita 2005, Pinhasi and Stock 2011 et al.), but said Badarians, using a mixed farming system, for their time, actually produced one of the highest population densities in the whole NE African and Middle Eastern region- QUOTE:
"Archaeological evidence suggests that the Badarian civilization had higher population density than did any other contemporaneous civilizations." (Gabriel, 1987, Hassan 1988)." --Pinhasi and Stock 2011. Human Bioarchaelogy of the Transition to Agriculture.
So there were "black Africans" in place for millennia in the Nile Valley, Nubia and Egypt,  foundational populations, going from prehistoric into historic times,  who were on the cutting edge as far as productive agriculture, and who were using things like the plow. The Nubians are also the people ethnically closest to the Egyptians, (Yurco 1989, Godde 2009 et al), and in both Nubia and Egypt, there were plenty of plows  in use in ancient times.

2) Second, even if Nubia and Egypt were excluded, there is still the use of the plow long BEFORE Arabs or Europeans showed up in Ethiopia and the southern Nilotic Sudan, which, (many people seem unable or unwilling to grasp this fact), ARE in "sub-Saharan" Africa. It is thus bogus to speak about "sub-Saharan" Africa lacking the plow. 

3) Third,  as already demonstrated earlier, plows need certain conditions to make them worth the effort compared to available alternatives. Attempting European-style plowing systems, and "seed broadcast" techniques on thin tropical forest or savannah soils would have been an exercise in the ludicrous. In addition, European plow technology and use, and sowing methods, until comparatively recent times were often inefficient, and unimpressive. 

4) Fourth, plow teams require large numbers of healthy draft animals. In many areas of the continent, pests like the tsetse fly decimated domesticated load-bearing animals, as well as people, though over centuries in some limited areas, resistant breeds developed. Some cultures prized cattle, just as fishing cultures in Europe continued to look to the sea for a living, but for Africans, expansion of farming or even herding operations into tsetse infested bush had to be weighed against other options. What's the point of pushing so-called "advanced" plow methods if the tsetse fly would decimate your draft animals, and attack available workers with sleeping sickness? Limiting farming expansion or even stock-raising into pest-ridden areas was a reasonable option given problems at hand. just as plague-ridden areas in Europe were avoided or quarantined. 

5) Fifth, many tropical African soils while obviously varying from place to place, suffered from thinness or declining quality- that is mostly only the topsoil was fertile in the short-run, a condition exacerbated by heavy rainfall periods that leached away  nutrients once the initial seasons of fresh clearance and ash fertilizer were completed. After that it was downhill- hence the use of shifting "slash and burn" systems in many areas to stay ahead of dropping fertility, although Africans also used other methods like mulching, terracing, fallowing, manuring, etc. to the same ends in favorable spaces. Specific crop mixes in different areas also improved productivity, hence widespread intercropping to spread risks and better utilize available soils. But Aside from the limitations soils imposed on the productivity of many crops. and aside from the diseases that crippled draft animals, declining topsoil made plow agriculture a poor choice in many areas as the plows would only turn up the poorer soil below the increasingly depleted top layer. As one analysis puts it: "The problem was that in most regions of pre-colonial Africa the soil nutrients were concentrated in the topsoil. This meant that the good soil was vulnerable to erosion, and its fertility was severely depleted when the land was exposed to wind28 and heavy rain. Another problem was that the thin topsoil made plough agriculture inefficient, because turning up the soil with a plough would bring the less fertile soils to the surface. This is one reason why the plough was used in only a few regions of pre-colonial Africa." (Frankema et al, 2023. The History of African Development- 2023-AEHN pp 27-28)
Thus Africans that supposedly "failed" to develop or use European plowing systems were not "irrational" or "backward." To the contrary their choice could be and was a quite logical one given local environments.


6) Sixth for technology to be efficiently adopted, it must be applied rationally in existing environments. As noted above, many tropical African environments also hindered use of wheeled transport, particularly pre-colonial West Africa, though wheeled vehicles are depicted from ancient times at Tondia, near Goundam, south of Timbuktu in today's Mali, and possibly at Kourki south of the Niger bend in the Republic of Niger (Law 1973). Some scholars note that the tsetse fly belt which its debilitating effect on load-bearing draft animals, and the presence of terrain such as jungle or brush make extensive use of wheeled conveyances inefficient or impractical. One Old Calabar ruler in today's Nigeria for example imported a European style carriage but all the draft horses to pull it died. They had to be replaced with men. The problem of expense and impracticality is illustrated also by the gift of a European carriage to the ruler of Asante in precolonial times, which required the construction of new roads though brush or jungle terrain, including building of new bridges to cross streams, with a final obstacle: inability of the vehicle to move through narrow streets in the capital city, requiring new streets to be made. Practical and economic considerations to the use of various technologies are not unique to Africa. Scholar R.W Bulliett notes that wheeled vehicles declined and became uncommon throughout the entire Middle East early during early medieval times, as people adopted cheaper, more rational solutions in the form of pack animals such as camels.[(Robin Law (1976). "Horses, Firearms, and Political Power in Pre-Colonial West Africa, Past and Present". Past and Present. 72 (1): 112–132.)
It should be obvious common sense to the intelligent reader by now that Africans, like peoples elsewhere made the same sorts of rational calculation about the deployment of technology. The Romans used pack camels to cross North African desert terrain for example, not allegedly "advanced" wheeled carts from Italy that would quickly break down. Likewise the Africans of Ancient Egypt deployed wooden sleds for moving massive blocks of stone to their massive tomb and temple construction sites, a technological choice infinitely more rational than supposedly "advanced" wheeled carts or conveyances that would either crack under the weight or bog down in sandy soils. Alas, double standards and hypocrisy show more than common sense among assorted self-styled "racial experts" on Africans such as "hereditarian" "experts" like Lynn, Vanhaven et al noted above. 

Ahoy chaps! Ready for some Non-cold climate agriculture and
general drudgery here in tropical Australia?


Climate- a convenient justification for slavery. 
But pilgrim you say aha! Given that the tropics were a difficult environment doesn't this explain slavery? "Urgent" white people could not work in the tropical heat, so presto- we got Africans, a tropical people, for a perfect solution! This is a classic justification for slavery that some textbooks and scholars hint at even to this day- like David Landes in Wealth and Poverty of Nations (1999). But this too is dubious. First American plantation slavery falls OUTSIDE the tropical zone, and Europeans did intense agriculture when they had to, in the sweltering semi-tropics of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, etc. The problem was not "climate" but getting a cheap labor force you can brutalize and bludgeon for centuries, for pennies on the dollar, to do the heavy lifting and even some of the associated skilled work.

Second, white convicts, indentured servants and settlers managed in the tropics when they had to, as shown in Australia, Barbados, and thousands of European small farmers in various tropical locales of South America. It was not "climate" but again, the opportunity to bludgeon, brutalize and relentlessly exploit a multi-generational captive labor force at relatively little cost, compared to the reluctant white setters, convicts and indentured servants of Australia, the Caribbean, South America, and the southern US, who when they had to, managed just fine in the tropical and near-tropical zones. The "climate factor" does not let folk off the hook for slavery.





But what about the allegedly "harsh" cold climate Europe, that led to supposed "evolutionary" advances in all sorts of wonderful things? That trope turns out to be rather dubious- things were on balance quite favorable..

Two items of scholarship will suffice below to debunk much of the propaganda put forward in support of the "harsh cold clime" line. First, in the historic era when all was supposedly "nasty and brutish," Europe was actually quite favored environmentally. Alleged "harsh" environments are less than advertised. Second, in the PRE-HISTORIC era, alleged "harshness" is also dubious. If anything, the temperate zone was quite favorable to humans on several counts, more so than in Africa. Even the northern reaches of "Nordic" territory had plenty of fishing and aquatic resources in place,, as we shall see. But let's start with the historic era.


Historic era- favorable conditions not "life-threatening"- As one scholar says about Europe of the 5th century - QUOTE:

"Some of the most important lay in nature itself: a reasonably good  climate, rich soils, broad rivers, and accessible coastlines. As Map 2.1 shows, the Western European heartland consists of a huge plain of rich soil that fans north from the Pyrenees and the Alps into England and across France and Germany into Scandinavia. Its weather varies greatly but is generally bracing without being intimidating- a happy compromise between languid, narcotic mildness of southern California and the freezing winters of Maine Northwestern Europe's dependable year-round rainfall an the fertile soils of its numerous river valleys encouraged agricultural productivity, so much so that a first-century Greek geographer could describe the region as 'producing in perfection all the fruits of the earth necessary for life.'

.. The climate was kind to farmers in Western Europe, but so too was the land. Crossing the European heartland are several low, mineral-rich mountain ranges, a broad swathe of rich loam for farming, and a remarkable network of broad rivers fed by year-round rains. These rivers connected inland settlements with the sea and with each other, moving people, news, goods and ideas. Most of Europe's major cities were built on riverbanks- Paris, London, Milan, Cologne and many others- so that even though they lay far from the sea, their docks received goods from many places then dispersed them to even more. Europe's long, irregular coastline was a further stimulus to commerce, with not only its huge bays and peninsulas, but also its accessible offshore islands such as Sicily, Sardinia, Britain, and Ireland."
--J. Bennett and C. Hollister. 2006. Medieval Europe: A Short History. p31

-----------------------------------------------------------



Pilgrim you ask: But what about evolutionary patterns? The ancient Caucasoid peoples of Europe in harsh cold climates going back to the Cro-magnons developed advanced cognitive skills which come down to the present time. This is shown in revolutionary developments by these Caucasoid peoples circa 30,000-40000 kya.

Sounds good, except, as credible scholarship such as McBreaty and Brooks show in "The Revolution that Wasn't" (2000) - alleged "revolutionary" cognitive or cultural advances had already taken place in Africa BEFORE significant migration to Europe. And even more upsetting to certain "hereditarian" racial theorists:

1) The alleged ancient "Caucasoids" were not all some claim them to be. Their limb proportions and other data actually show them to be of tropical provenance, migrants from Africa via various pathways- from land migrations via the "Middle East" to boat migrants across the Mediterranean. They would join with hunter gathers and steppe nomads in later eras and various ethnic mixes would take place, but the  heart-warming picture of virtuous "Caucasoids" exclusively roaming the ancient European landscape is debunked by the data.

2) The "cognitive revolution" of symbolic processing, art, advanced toolmaking etc took place in Africa BEFORE migrations to Europe. Yes they did expand in scale in temperate Europe's easier environment, but that expansion itself debunks assertions of the woefully "harsh" European environment, which, far from being a vale of tears, was actually favorable in many respects.

3) The much cherished claim that "Cro-magnons are us" is repeated ad infinitum in books and popular media as blond cavemen and cave-women skitter across a "harsh" landscape, but as credible scientists show, it is laughable folklore. If anything, some of the ancient Paleolithic "Caucasoid ancestors" looked like today's tropical Africans- i.e. blacks. Pause.. roll ominous musics.. See:
(Brace et al 2006. The questionable contribution of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to European craniofacial form. PNAS 103 (1) 242-247).

4) Modern DNA studies (Jablonski 2010, 2012, 2000, et al for example Living Color, Skin :A Natural History etc) show that European white skin is a rather recent development, only some 6000-19000 years old, depending on the area examined. This means most of the "revolutionary Caucasoid developments" were in reality, "developed" by folk that would be called "black" these days.

5) Recent studies of ancient DNA confirms the skeletal data. Many of the early European ancestors looked African, both in cold climates and warmer European zones. Interestingly some DNA studies of ancient southern Europe find people there with the African version of the gene determining skin color. Southern Europe is relatively close to Africa just across the Mediterranean, and was actually much in advance of northern Europe as far as development of elaborate civilizations and cultures, contrary to propaganda about the "superiority" of cold-climate northern folk. Interesting that the European zone with the most African genetic material turns out to be the most advanced in ancient times..
QUOTE: "The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual [LaBrana European] possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans, which indicates that he had dark skin," Lalueza-Fox said... But the latest findings show that La Brana 1 still had dark skin and had been around the continent for 40,000 years, meaning fair skin probably evolved millennia later.” –Scientists on ancient Mesolithic European “LaBrana Man”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/europeans-had-dark-skin-blue-eyes-7-000-years-ago-1.2512465

Numerous alleged ancient Cro-magnon "ancestors" doing
"revolutionary" things resembled African types..


PRE-HISTORIC ERA- again often favorable conditions- both as to rich hunting ground, grasslands and rich aquatic resources even in colder zones like the Swedish Iron Gates region


But let's go even further back. It is often alleged that "harsh" conditions in the temperate zone hark back to Cro-magnon/caveman times- with such conditions causing "evolutionary" racial changes - you know - pale cold climate whites/Asians evolved good, dark/black tropical people evolved bad and so on. Hell- let's quit pretending and cut to the "racial" bottom line. But as scholar Roger Lewin below shows, even back in the Paleolithic Europe, the oft claimed "harsh environmental conditions" were not as "harsh" as proponents claim. Even before agriculture, living was relatively good with plenty of rich hunting grounds, and rich aquatic resources from fish to shellfish in lake, river and ocean. And these resources were available all year round -

QUOTE:
  Data 1- alleged "harsh" ancient European environment is bogus- conditions were actually favorable in many respects:
"About 35,000 years ago, modern human populations apparently entered Western Europe for the first time and found what one pre-historian has described as 'a virtual Garden of Eden.' Southwest France and northern Spain formed a rich environmental mosaic that supported a profusion of animal and plant life. The diversity of animal life is reflected in carvings and cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic Period, spanning from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. at various times, mammoth, rhinoceros, bison, wild horses, wild oxen, red deer, reindeer, ibex and many other species abounded... the Upper Paleolithic people of Western Europe probably enjoyed a greater degree of social-complexity than is projected by the simplistic hunter-gatherer model. "They had a rich diversity of resources, and a high degree of stability and predictability of these resources year to year."
-- Lewin, Roger (1988). In the Age of Mankind. Smithsonian. pp. 196-199


Data 2- Famous Lascaux area of pre-historic France shows a favorable environment, not much different from other hunting areas on other continents, with plenty of climate variability, contradicting claims of alleged "harsh" venues.
QUOTE:
"The physical world inhabited by the painters and engravers of Lascaux was unlike anything known today.. Sea levels plummeted more than 300 feet; dry land connected not only North America and Asia but Britain and continental Europe. Southern Europe was cold, dry and covered with rich grasslands. In regions with some topographical relief, like southwest France and northern Spain, vegetation was more varied; sheltered and exposed localities created different micro-climates. Paleolithic animal life in this area was abundant, much more like the plains of modern Africa than anything seen in Europe today. Herds of horses, bison, and aurochs roamed the grasslands, along with reindeer and ibex in the hills...
To judge from discoveries of pollen and seed at some sites, and from engravings at others, peoples of Lascaux and their contemporaries ate blueberries, raspberries, acorns, hazelnuts, and other tubers, nuts, berries and grasses.
The last Ice Age was by no means a period of unrelieved cold, millennium after millennium. Temperatures fluctuated, sometimes coming close to today's balmy interglacial climes, and the animal and plant communities fluctuated in concert with them. Warmer climes brought woodland and forest where only open grassland had existed previously. At the same time, the horses and bison- animals of the plains, were replaced with red deer, wild boar and other confines of a forest habitat.. "
-- Lewin, Roger (1988). In the Age of Mankind. Smithsonian. pp. 144



Data 3- Ancient cold-adapted Europeans, whether viewed as Neanderthal humanoids or as more recent tribes had more than enough opportunity to pioneer plant and animal domestication. Wild species of the cow, horse, pig and goat were all well known. Wild ancestors of important crops- such as wheat-like spelt variants, and chick peas were also in place. What then took the alleged cold-adapted "pace-setters" so long to advance human civilization? Even the horse, though it may have been earlier hunted for meat, sacrificed in religious rituals, or herded like semi-wild reindeer, only clocks in at a  late date of circa 2000-2500 BCE as a useful animal of domestication harnessed to human transport, warfare etc. This is about when credible genetic data shows the measurable changes in form, size and vaiability associated with domestication as seen in horse remains found at the site of Csepel-Haros in Hungary, a settlement of the Bell Beaker culture. (See Levine, Renfrew et al. 2003. Prehistoric Steppe Adaptation and the Horse. Cambridge: McDonald Institute. pp. 69–82; Librado, et al 2021. "The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes". Nature. 598 (7882): 634–640.)

".. as critics of the climate theory point out, the world has gone through many climate fluctuations in the 100,000 years since modern humans occupied the Old World. Opportunities for cultivation and animal husbandry surely existed earlier than the Neolithic. Yet no evidence has emerged that any plant or animal domestication occurred before this time. More specifically, no potential climatic trigger can be identified in many of those cases in which development of domestication can be documented sufficiently to reveal information about local climatic conditions."
-- Lewin, Roger (1988). In the Age of Mankind. Smithsonian. pp. 193



Data 4- Even colder northern climes show a rich resource base and substantial material life. Such resources, particularly the water-based ones of the ocean, river and lake, were relatively stable and predictable, providing plenty of food - hardly the picture of alleged cold-climate peoples "deprivation" in "unforgiving" glacial environments, as alleged by JP Rushton, Michael Levin, Satoshi Kanazawa et al..

"Similarities appear in societies in which there are rich maritime or lakeside resources from the far north to the Mediterranean. In the far northern latitudes, where for four months of the year the sun does not set, the icy cold but resource-rich northern sea was the focus of settlements with pit houses, with people using elaborate seagoing vessels in their specialised focus on marine foods, probably associated with seal hunting (Bjerck 1995, Bjerck, this volume). Further south, other structured settlements echo the theme of marine or lakeside focus. At Tagerup in Sweden, large houses were constructed in a 'village; at the confluence of two rivers with permanent structures such as jetties and moorings for boats.. coastal and lakeside regions also provide evocative glimpses of societies for whom the sea and water played an important economic and symbolic role. We see richly symbolic pendants of amber and animal teeth, wooden artefacts such as bows, decorated paddles, canoes, and leisters in evidence from submerged sites in the Baltic.. Riverine resources also appear to have been particularly influential in the development of settlements such as Lepenski Vir and Vlasac in the Iron Gates... we see an apparently 'sacred' site at Lepenski Vir, comprising homes with plaster floors, carved figurines, and neonates interred under the floors." [pg 8]

"The Iron gates contain some of the largest concentration of Mesolithic burials in Europe. Burials have been recorded from at least eleven sites, and four of these, Lepenski Vir, Padina, Schela Cladovei and Vlasac each contained very large numbers of graves." [pg 241]
"Even Grahame Clark, excavator of Star Carr and pioneer and champion of Mesolithic studies in Britain, was forced to concede with evident reluctance in 1952 that the archaeological evidence for the coastal Mesolithic peoples of Northwest Europe hardly contradicted the notion of 'a low level of culture' (Clark 1952:63).. Extrapolating the origins of social complexity to certain contexts in Mesolithic Europe marked a powerful departure from ideas of small, marginalised groups apparently 'going nowhere'.. 'Complexity' was built on dense, productive, coastal resources that were available all year." [pg 4]

"Young (2000b:1) concluded that the discipline was still 'waiting for the great leap forwards'. A long-standing story of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers so immersed in their environments and nature, both ecologically and ideologically as to be almost socially inert seems to retain a strong hold on our imaginations." [pg 5]
-- G. N. Bailey (2008) Mesolithic Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp 8, 241, 4, 5


==============================================================================


The notion of "advanced Ice Age genes"- pushed by self-identified racislists like Professor Michael Levin (1997- Why Race Matters) or JP Rushton (1995) , or Richard Lynn (1987), and sympathetic others like Charles Murray, can also be tested via DNA data, as James Flynn does in his book Are We Getting Smarter Yet (2012). Flynn demonstrates that people from one of the highest IQ sub-populations, that of Singapore, originated from the TROPICAL SOUTH, not the allegedly more virtuous and advanced cold climate North. Quote:

"Eppig, Fincher, and Thornhill (2010) asked what factor most parsimoniously accounted for these differences. When they controlled for temperature, distance from Africa, gross domestic product per capita, and education, multiple regression analysis showed parasitic stress was the most powerful predictor of national IQ by a large margin. The correlations are preceded by a minus because there was a negative correlation between untreated parasitic conditions and mean IQ. The correlation was -0.82 for both the set of 113 nations and the set of 192. They also found correlations of similar size within the world’s six major geographic regions with the exception, oddly, of South America.."

"Lynn (1987) and Rushton (1995) posit that extreme cold creates a more challenging environment, one that maximizes selection for genes for intelligence. During the Ice Ages, the ancestors of East Asians are supposed to have been north of the Himalayas where the cold was most intense, the ancestors of whites north of the Alps where the cold was next worst, and the ancestors of blacks still in Africa where it was relatively warm. Therefore, we have a racial hierarchy of better genes for intelligence running from East Asians to whites to blacks..

.. all of the recent data show that there is a genetic divide between north and south (Cavalli-Sforza, 1997, was the pioneer). The incidence of southern or non-Ice-Age genes increases as you go from north China toward the south, with the greatest concentration found in Guandong Province (Chen et al., 2009). Therefore, mean IQ should decline as we go along this vector. We have no IQ data from China itself that allows us to compare the south to the north. But we have a wonderful substitute: the DNA of the Chinese of Singapore shows that they are overwhelmingly from Guandong (the province in which non-Ice-Age genes are most dominant). Those who came to Singapore from Guandong were not a random sample. But if they were elite, they were only mildly so (Ee, 1961).

Therefore, the IQs of Singapore Chinese should be below mainland China. Lynn and Vanhanen (2006) put Singapore at top of the world with a mean IQ of 108. If one isolates the 74 percent of Singapore’s people that are Chinese, their mean rises to 114. Mainland China gets only 105. If these values hold, we can forget about the Ice Ages [theory] The role of IQ is to diagnose potential for cognitively complex cultural achievement. Either other factors can do the job (and modest IQ differences between nations are not that important) or the genes that would later generate IQ advantages were once adequately represented in the south."

--James Flynn. 2012. Are We Getting Smarter Yet: Rising IQ in the 21st Century. 33-35

Furthermore, allegedly more "backward" tropical locales actually produced some of the most advanced and spectacular civilization in human history. Southern or Upper Egypt for example, a large part of which falls within the tropical zone, is the area from whence the dynastic civilization arose, not the colder climate north with its allegedly more "challenging" environment. Said rise of civilization most credible scholars of Egypt (See Bard 2005, Kemp 2006, Yurco 1989, Teeter 2011 for example) show was an INDIGENOUS development, that did not need "wandering Caucasoids" from elsewhere to provide guidance or inspiration. In fact, while Egypt always maintained trade and contact with the Mesopotamia, some skeletal limb proportion studies of northern Egypt show the typical tropical heat-adapted patterns of the African peoples further south (Kemp 2006, Smith 2002) - in essence, a tropical people- rather than the "cognitively challenged" cold climate types racialist theories or lore would have us to believe.


Summary and bottom line- the tropical civilizations of Africa also debunk numerous right-wing claims

As shown above, various high IQ populations in Asia derive from the southern tropical regions, undermining standard right-wing propaganda memes about "backward" tropical evolution, including "time urgency" and such, don't hold much water when examined critically. Even more devastating for such racialist claims is the development of advanced civilizations in the tropical or near tropical zones, PRECEDING development in allegedly more "advanced" cold climate zones. Ancient Egypt which includes both the tropical zone and sub-tropical zone illustrates this (What? You didn't think that Egypt was in Africa? Or is partly tropical? LOL). It could be argued that various civilizations in Europe were not all cold climate but also benefited from sub-tropical conditions, such as in the Mediterranean. This is true, but nobody denies the Mediterranean civilizations are European, whereas the right wing or Arabist propaganda double standard is to deny Egypt as African.

But such propaganda fails under critical scrutiny. The genesis of Egyptian civilization is in the darker tropical and subtropical south, not the colder climate venues of the Mediterranean, or the Levant.  As shown by credible scholars, the following summary points re applicable. Detailed discussion of that scholarship is shown here.




1) Southern Egypt, from which the genesis of Ancient Egypt civilization sprang, lies heavily in the tropical zone, from the Tropics of Cancer to Capricorn with the Tropic of cancer bisecting Southern Egypt at 23°26'N 25°0'E. The rest of Egypt is very similar, and is placed by scholars in the immediately adjacent subtropical or arid tropic zone, NOT the cold-climate zones of Europe or Asia.
(Thompson and Perry, 1997; Griffiths, 1976, Troll and Pfaffen 1964, Koppen-Geiger classification 2006)


2) The peoples of ancient Egypt, in the aforementioned zones, show the clear limb proportion characteristics of tropically adapted people, and MORE closely resemble other tropically adapted Africans on the continent, than Europeans or Middle Easterners.
(Raxter and Ruff 2008, Zakrewski 2003, 2007; Holliday et al, 2003, Kemp, 2005)


3) Undermining claims of cold-climate or skin color primacy for civilization, the great ancient Nile Valley civilization arose from the 'darker' more tropical south, NOT the cold climate or cool climate Mediterranean, Europe or Asia.
(Clark, 1982; Shaw 1976, 2003; Bard, 2004; Vogel, 1997; Kemp 2005)


4) The ancient Egyptians in their tropical and sub-tropical/arid tropic environment, did not need cold climate people to develop their distinct culture. Several strands of culture from religion to material living put the Egyptians closer to nearby Africans than to cold-climate Mediterraneans, Europeans or Asiatics.
(Keita, 1996, 2004; Yurco 1989, 1996; Williams, 1980; Britannia 1984; Wilkinson 1999; Wendorf, 2001)




5) European/Asiatic cold climate or light skin inspiration was unneeded by the tropically adapted Africans of ancient Egypt. They peopled the Nile Valley from the Sahara and the Sudan, and ancient Egypt is part of a tropical African lineage. Indigenous development sprang from a long tradition going back deep into the Sahara and the Sudan.
(Lovell, 1999; Lefkowitz, 1993, 1996; Keita 1993, Irish 2006)


6) DNA studies show the Egyptians link with other Africans via Haplogroup "E" to a much greater extent than cold climate Mediterraneans, Europeans or Middle easterners.
(Keita 2004, 2008; Richards 2003; Battaglia, 2008; Cruciani 2007; Lucotte 2003; Stevanovitch et al 2004)


7) African people have a range of physical variation and don't need any inspiration or mixes from cold-climate/light skinned Europeans or Asiatics to explain why. Features like narrow noses, thin lips, height etc are all indigenous to Africa. Africa has both the highest phenotypic diversity and the highest genetic diversity in the world and don’t need cold-climate/light skin inspiration for that established fact. All cold-climate/light skinned Europeans and Asiatics are SUBSETS of original African diversity. Modern DNA studies find even though some African peoples look different, they are genetically related through the PN2 transition clade of the Y-chromosome. Thus light-skinned African Libyans and dark-skinned Zulus are all genetically related Africans, even though they don't look exactly the same.
(Keita 2004; Tishkoff 2002, Ely et al, 2006, Stevanovitch 2004)


8) African peoples are the most diverse in the world whether analyzed by DNA or skeletal or cranial methods. The peoples of the Nile Valley vary but they are still related. The people most related ethnically to the ancient Egyptians are other Africans like Nubians not cold-climate/light skinned Europeans or Asiatics.
(Keita 1996; Rethelford, 2001; Bianchi 2004, Yurco 1989; Godde 2009)

More backward tropical developments.. 

9) Not needing cold-climate/slight-skinned inspiration, the peoples of ancient Egypt are more closely linked with fellow tropical Africans in terms of cranial studies than with Europeans or Asiatics. Analysis of skeletal and cranial remains reveals that the ancient Egyptians of the early Dynastic and pre-Dynastic phases, link closer to nearby Saharan, Sudanic and East African populations than Mediterranean and Middle Eastern peoples. Greeks, Romans, Hyskos, Arabs and others were to appear later in Egyptian history. Craniometric studies generally place ancient Upper Egyptian populations closer to the range of tropical Africans in the Nile Valley and East Africa than to Mediterraneans, or Middle Easterners.
(Keita 1990, 1993, 1996, 2004; Hiernaux 1975; Froment 2002; Kemp 2005)


10) Comparatively recent (in evolutionary terms) Europeans and Asiatics LOOKED LIKE tropical Africans with dark skin and other features, before cold-climate adaptation changed them. Light skin color is a RECENT development for Europeans and Asiatics. The foundations of civilization in terms of key animal and plant domesticates, and associated technology in Europe and Asia were thus laid by these dark-skinned migrants from Africa, who resembled today's Africans, undermining claims of the efficacy of "whiteness" in laying the basic foundations or in building advanced civilizations such as that built by the tropically adapted peoples of the Nile Valley.
(Jablonski 2000; Brace 2005; Hanihara 1996; Rethelford 2000)




LINKS TO OTHER POSTS:

Rulers of Rubble- The real Gaza ground invasion -  Part 1
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-rulers-of-rubble-why-idf-is-not.html

https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2022/06/critical-race-theory-debunked-part-2.html

Critical Race Theory debunked- Part 1- the classes of doom
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2022/05/critical-race-theory-debunked-white.html


Biden won, get over it, but can he breakout in Covid era?
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/686085999190798340/6179060851903968774
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2020/11/teflon-dons-coating-in-trouble-can-he.html

The Teflon Don may reap benefit from Floyd protest violence and looting
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2020/06/teflon-don-may-see-fulsome-benefits.html

The Teflon Don- Covid-era approval rating may signal November success 
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-teflon-don-covid-era-approval.html

Would a Biden win be any big loss for Republicans?
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2020/04/would-biden-win-be-any-big-loss-for.html

Tchalla's "Wakanda First" philosophy looks a bit like Donald Trump's "America First" approach
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2019/01/tchallas-wakanda-first-philosophy-looks.html

Significant EEOC Race-Color Cases- Covering Private and Federal Sectors 
https://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2019/01/blog-post.html

'AsiaRate' Lawsuit against Harvard shows dirty little secret- white quotas used at elite universities
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2018/06/asiarate-lawsuit-against-harvard-shows.html

Some gays find welcome home in the 'alt-right' as nationalist organizations step up recruitment
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2018/05/some-gays-find-welcome-home-in-alt.html
Racial discrimination is alive and kicking in employment, housing and credit markets
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2017/07/racial-discrimination-is-alive-and.html

Sowell 3- new data shows backward tropical evolution? Wealth and Poverty- An International Perspective in Trump era
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2017/07/sowell-3-new-data-shows-backward.html

Sowell 2- Wealth, Poverty and Politics- International Perspective - Trump era to bring these issues into sharper focus?
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2017/07/sowell-2-wealth-poverty-and-politics.html

Sowell- Liberal intellectuals and hard questions about race differences- Trump era may force them to focus?
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2017/07/sowell-liberal-intellectuals-and-hard.html


Trump properties discriminated against black tenants lawsuit finds
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2016/07/trump-properties-discriminated-against.html

Stealing credibility- Dinesh D'souza has prison epiphany- after hanging with the homies- Hallelujah Hilary!
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2016/05/straining-credibility-dinesh-dsouza-has.html

Shame on you, and your guilt too- A review of Shelby Steele's 'Shame'
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-review-wealth-poverty-and-politics.html


Go with the flow 3- more DNA and cranial studies show ancient African migration to, or African presence in ancient Europe
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2016/04/go-with-flow-3-more-dna-and-cranial.html

Go with the flow 2- African gene flow into Europe in various eras
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/11/go-with-flow-2-african-gene-flow-into.html


DNA studies show African movement to Europe from very ancient times
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/09/dna-studies-show-african-movement-to.html

Guilt3- Why the "white privilege industry" is not all there
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/09/guilt3-why-white-privilege-industry-is.html

Guilt2- Media collaborates with guilt mongers - or how to play the white victim card
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/09/guilt2-media-collaborates-with-guilt.html



How Obama plays on white guilt
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/08/how-obama-plays-upon-white-guilt-hilary.html

Blacks oppose free speech- more ramshackle "research" from "the East"..
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/08/blacks-oppose-free-speech-ramshackle.html

Hands off the Confederate flag
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/06/hands-off-confederate-flag.html

Despite much more wealth than blacks, whites collect about the same rate of welfare and are treated more generously
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/06/despite-much-more-wealth-than-blacks.html

African "boat people" ushering in European demographic decline
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/05/african-boat-people-ushering-in.html



The forgotten Holocaust- King Leopold's "Congo Free State" - 10 million victims
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-forgotten-holocaust-10-million-in.html


Are violent minorities taking over California and the West?
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/04/are-violent-minorities-taking-over.html

Presidential hopeful Ben Carson meets and Greeks
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/03/presidential-hopeful-ben-carson-meet.html

Contra "ISIS" partisans, there have been some beneficial effects of Christianity
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/03/contra-isis-partisans-there-are-some.html


The social construction of race, compared to biology- Graves
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-social-construction-of-race_8.html

Why HBD or hereditarianism lacks credibility
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/10/why-hbd-or-hereditarianism-lacks.html

Leading Scientists criticize hereditarian claims
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/08/leading-scientists-criticize.html

Thai me down - Thais fall behind genetically related southern Chinese, Tibetans below genetically related East Asians like Koreans and other Chinese
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/08/thai-me-up-thai-me-down.html

Time for liberals to respect "the south" ... in a way of speaking.. the south of Egypt that is..
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/08/time-for-liberals-to-respect-south-in.html

Irony 2: touted High IQ "G-men" cannot reproduce themselves 
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/07/irony-2-higher-iqs-correlated-with_25.html





Unz and Sowell: Unz debunking Lynn's IQ and Wealth of Nations. Sowell debunking the Bell Curve
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/07/unz-and-sowell-unz-debunking-lynns-iq.html

Irony 1: touted High IQ types are more homosexual, more atheist, and more liberal (HAL)
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/06/irony-high-iqs-produce-more-atheists.html


Elite white universities discriminate against Asians using reverse "affirmative action"
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/06/elite-white-universities-discriminate.html

Deteriorating state of white America
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/05/deteriorating-state-of-white-america.html


Racial Cartels (The Affirmative Action Propaganda machine- part 2
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-affirmative-action-propaganda.html

Hereditarian's/HBD's "Great Black Hope"
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/04/blog-post.html


Exploding nonsense: the 10,000 Year Explosion
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/03/exploding-nonsense-review-of-cochran_8.html


We need "rational racism"- Convicted felon Dinesh Dsouza becomes his own test case
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/01/we-need-rational-racism-proponent.html

The Affirmative Action Propaganda Machine- part 1
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-affirmatve-action-propaganda.html

Two rules for being "really" black- no white wimmen, no Republican
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/01/to-be-really-black-you-cant-have-white.html

The Axial age reconsidered
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-axial-age-reconsidered.html

Cannibal seasonings: dark meat on white
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/12/i.html



"Affirmative Action" in the form of court remedies has been around a long time- since the 1930s- benefiting white union workers against discrimination by employers
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/09/affirmative-action-as-term-appears-in.html

Mugged by reality 1: White quotas, special preferences and government jobs
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/mugged-by-reality-1-white-quotas.html


Lightweight enforcement of EEO laws contradicts claims of "flood" of minorities "taking jobs"
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/blog-post.html

Railroaded 3: white violence and intimidation imposed quotas
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/railroaded-3-white-violence-and.html

Railroaded 2: how white quotas and special preferences blockade black progress...
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/railroaded-2-thow-white-quotas-and.html

Railroaded 1: How white affirmative action and white special preferences destroyed black railroad employment...
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/railroaded-how-white-affirmative-action.html

Affirmative action: primary beneficiaries are white women
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2011/04/affirmative-action-primary.html

7 reasons certain libertarians and right-wingers are wrong about the Civil Right Act
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/05/7-reasons-libertarians-may-be-wrong.html

Assorted "Role models" debunked- hypocritical heriditarianism
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2009/11/hbd-debunked-debunking-hypocritical.htmll


Social philosophy of Thomas Sowell
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2011/07/social-philosophy-of-thomas-sowell.html


Additional gene flow data... :)


Bogus "biodiversity" theories of Kanazawa, Ruston, Lynn debunked
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post.html

JP Rushton, Michael Levin, Richard Lynn debunked. Weaknesses of Jared Diamond's approach. 
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_1818.html

In the Blood- debunking "HBD" and Neo-Nazi appropriation of ancient Egypt
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post_29.html

early Europeans and middle Easterners looked like Africans. Peoples returning or "backflowing" to Africa would already be looking like Africans
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-post_1754.html

 Ancient Egypt: one of the world's most advanced civilizations- created by tropical peoples
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post_06.html

Playing the "Greek defence" -debunking claims of Greeks as paragons of virtue or exemplars of goodness
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/03/playing-greek-defence-review-of-thornton.html

Quotations from mainstream academic research on the Nile Valley peoples
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_9251.html


http://egyptsearchreloaded.proboards.com/thread/15/basic-database-nile-valley-studies



OTHER LINKS
Race, IQ, and Wealth: What the facts tell us about a taboo subject By Ron Unz


HBD EVOLUTION, BRAIN SIZE AND NATIONAL IQ CLAIMS DEBUNKED
Evolution, brain size, and the national IQ of peoples ... - Jelte Wicherts 2010
http://wicherts.socsci.uva.nl/wichertsPAIDrejoinder.pdf
------------------------------------

Why national IQs do not support evolutionary theories of intelligence - WIcherts, Borsboom and Dolan 2010
Personality and Individual Differences 48 (2010) 91-96
http://wicherts.socsci.uva.nl/wicherts2010.pdf
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Are intelligence tests measurement invariant over time? by JM Wicherts - ?2004
 --Dolan, Wicherts et al 2004. Investigating the nature of the Flynn effect. Intelligence 32 (2004) 509-537
http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/wicherts2004.pdf
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LYNN AND VANHAVEN'S IQ AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS DEBUNKED
---------------- -------

www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/mcbrearty/Pdf/McB%20&%20Brooks%202000%20TRTW.pdf

------------------------

Race and other misadventures: essays in honor of Ashley Montagu... By Larry T. Reynolds, Leonard Lieberman

http://books.google.com/books?id=5DLrgG_MflgC&pg=PA190&dq=r-+k-+selection+races&cd=1#v=onepage&q=r-%20k-%20selection%20races&f=false
--------------------------------

Race and intelligence: separating science from myth. By Jefferson M. Fish. Routledge 2002. See Templeton's detailed article referenced above also inside the book

http://books.google.com/books?id=t9OdPPLIgMAC&pg=PA64&dq=r-+k-+selection+races&cd=7#v=onepage&q=r-%20k-%20selection%20races&f=false
------------------------

http://www.ogiek.org/indepth/what-they-mean.htm
---------------- -------

Oubre, A (2011) Race Genes and Ability: Rethinking Ethnic Differences, vol 1 and 2. BTI Press
For summary see: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/05-02-18/
---------------- -------

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/course/topics/curveball.html


-----------------------------------------------------------

--S OY Keita, R A Kittles, et al. "Conceptualizing human variation," Nature Genetics 36, S17 - S20 (2004)
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/pdf/ng1455.pdf


--S.O.Y. Keita and Rick Kittles. (1997) *The Persistence ofRacial Thinking and the Myth of Racial Divergence. AJPA, 99:3
http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/WAURRSZQOE.pdf
---------------- -------

HBD RACE EVOLUTION CLAIMS DEBUNKED BY GENETICISTS
Alan Templeton. "The Genetic and Evolutionary significnce oF Human Races." pp 31-56. IN: J. FiSh (2002) Race and Intelligence: Separating scinnce from myth.

IQ claims and miscellaneous data
HBD RACE AND INTELLIGENCE CLAIMS DEBUNKED
 J. FiSh (2002) Race and Intelligence: Separating science from myth.

------------------------------------------





MORE HBD DEBUNKING
-------------------------------- ---------------------



Oubre, A (2011) Race Genes and Ability: Rethinking Ethnic Differences, vol 1 and 2. BTI Press
----------------------------------------------

Krimsky, S, Sloan.K (2011) Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth, and Culture
-------------------------------

"This writer, for example, is a devout Christian.."
 --Afrocentric scholar Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of Black Civilization. 1974. pp. 334

Wicherts and Johnson, 2009. Group differences in the heritability of items and test scores
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/04/24/rspb.2009.0238.full


http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/coming-apart-can-murrays-down-with.html


"SELECTION FOR"- "SELECT FOR" HDB CLAIMS DEBUNKED- "SELECTION" IS NOT THE ONLY KEY FORCE DRIVING CHANGE
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/12/demic-diffusion-notes-and-tropical.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/05/7-reasons-libertarians-may-be-wrong.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/08/cro-magnons-are-us-debunking-claims.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/03/exploding-nonsense-review-of-cochran_8.html



--Joseph Graves, 2006. What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Human Genetic Variation and the Social Construction of Race
http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Graves/

J. Kahn (2013) How a Drug Becomes "Ethnic" - Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law and Ethics, v4:1
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=yjhple

------------------------------------ -----------------

http://evolution.binghamton.edu/evos/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/PageProofs-Graves_race.pdf

-------------------------------------------- ----------------------------



other links



Evolution, brain size, and the national IQ of peoples ... - Jelte Wicherts 2010
http://wicherts.socsci.uva.nl/wichertsPAIDrejoinder.pdf
------------------------------------

Why national IQs do not support evolutionary theories of intelligence - WIcherts, Borsboom and Dolan 2010
Personality and Individual Differences 48 (2010) 91-96
http://wicherts.socsci.uva.nl/wicherts2010.pdf
----------------------------- -------------

Are intelligence tests measurement invariant over time? by JM Wicherts - ?2004
 --Dolan, Wicherts et al 2004. Investigating the nature of the Flynn effect. Intelligence 32 (2004) 509-537
http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/LinkedDocuments/wicherts2004.pdf
-------------------------------------------

LYNN AND VANHAVEN'S IQ AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS DEBUNKED
---------------- -------

www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/mcbrearty/Pdf/McB%20&%20Brooks%202000%20TRTW.pdf

------------------------

Race and other misadventures: essays in honor of Ashley Montagu... By Larry T. Reynolds, Leonard Lieberman

http://books.google.com/books?id=5DLrgG_MflgC&pg=PA190&dq=r-+k-+selection+races&cd=1#v=onepage&q=r-%20k-%20selection%20races&f=false
--------------------------------

Race and intelligence: separating science from myth. By Jefferson M. Fish. Routledge 2002. See Templeton's detailed article referenced above also inside the book

http://books.google.com/books?id=t9OdPPLIgMAC&pg=PA64&dq=r-+k-+selection+races&cd=7#v=onepage&q=r-%20k-%20selection%20races&f=false
------------------------

http://www.ogiek.org/indepth/what-they-mean.htm
---------------- -------

Oubre, A (2011) Race Genes and Ability: Rethinking Ethnic Differences, vol 1 and 2. BTI Press
For summary see: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/05-02-18/
---------------- -------

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/course/topics/curveball.html

-----------------------------------------------------------

--S OY Keita, R A Kittles, et al. "Conceptualizing human variation," Nature Genetics 36, S17 - S20 (2004)
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/pdf/ng1455.pdf


--S.O.Y. Keita and Rick Kittles. (1997) *The Persistence ofRacial Thinking and the Myth of Racial Divergence. AJPA, 99:3
http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/pageDocuments/WAURRSZQOE.pdf
---------------- -------

HBD RACE EVOLUTION CLAIMS DEBUNKED BY GENETICISTS
Alan Templeton. "The Genetic and Evolutionary significnce oF Human Races." pp 31-56. IN: J. FiSh (2002) Race and Intelligence: Separating scinnce from myth.


HBD RACE AND INTELLIGENCE CLAIMS DEBUNKED
 J. FiSh (2002) Race and Intelligence: Separating science from myth.

------------------------------------------




MORE HBD DEBUNKING
-------------------------------- ---------------------

Oubre, A (2011) Race Genes and Ability: Rethinking Ethnic Differences, vol 1 and 2. BTI Press
----------------------------------------------

Krimsky, S, Sloan.K (2011) Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth, and Culture
-------------------------------


Wicherts and Johnson, 2009. Group differences in the heritability of items and test scores
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/04/24/rspb.2009.0238.full


http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2013/06/coming-apart-can-murrays-down-with.html


"SELECTION FOR"- "SELECT FOR" HDB CLAIMS DEBUNKED- "SELECTION" IS NOT THE ONLY KEY FORCE DRIVING CHANGE
http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/12/demic-diffusion-notes-and-tropical.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/05/7-reasons-libertarians-may-be-wrong.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2012/08/cro-magnons-are-us-debunking-claims.html

http://nilevalleypeoples.blogspot.com/2014/03/exploding-nonsense-review-of-cochran_8.html



--Joseph Graves, 2006. What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Human Genetic Variation and the Social Construction of Race
http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Graves/

J. Kahn (2013) How a Drug Becomes "Ethnic" - Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law and Ethics, v4:1
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=yjhple

------------------------------------ -----------------

Other notes- Africa, Nile Valley- DNA- agriculture, etc




Egyptian_boatmen_tomb_middlekindgom

http://evolution.binghamton.edu/evos/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/PageProofs-Graves_race.pdf


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