I think I remember reading that early agrarians probably worked about 20 hours a week
This is probably a misleading average. Outside of sowing and reaping, farms need pretty much no work
But when they need it, they need A LOT of it
Anthropologists at Harvard did an extensive multi-year study of the !Kung San people in southern Africa who still lived by hunting and gathering in the '60s and '70s. Despite living in near-desert conditions, they spent an average of about 17 hours a week in food-related activities. Granted, this yielded a diet of around 1200 calories a day, but they were relatively very small people and this amount was adequate. Mongongo nuts FTW. Whether this lifestyle (and that of other studied modern hunter/gatherers) is generally representative of pre-historic and pre-agricultural humans is an open question, but it’s hard to imagine that hunting and gathering in less marginal environments would have required more time and effort - especially when there were a bunch of big hairy elephants you could run off cliffs walking around.
Early agrarians, however, probably had to bust much more ass to make a living, as the farmer’s toolkits of domesticated species were not as well-developed as today.
Early agrarians also likely would not have planted the monoculture fields we plant today. They would likely have worked with nature to encourage growth in an easier, more sustainable way. We do things the hard way because we grow with the intention to harvest a specific crop, not just to ensure there’s adequate food in your local surroundings.
who still lived by hunting and gathering in the '60s and '70s.
But they still do?
Not so much any more. Even during the Harvard studies they did a lot of trading with neighboring horticultural peoples, sometimes worked for them and white settlers, and received some food aid at times. Today they’ve been largely resettled and only occasionally engage in traditional hunting and gathering activities.
