00:00Since farming began back in the Stone Age, human populations had the potential to take off like never before.
00:09But actually the odds against increasing numbers were still incredibly high.
00:14Until the arrival of modern medicine, up to half of children could be expected to die before they reached puberty.
00:22So every woman who reaches sexual maturity must on average give birth to four children just to keep the population stable.
00:31And because of all the hazards of life that often made this impossible, many women would have had six to eight children or more.
00:41Famine, conflict and disease can easily send populations into reverse.
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