* we think that a hunter-gatherer's lifestyle is short,brutish and disease-ridden, whereas the opposite is more apt --> Khoi-san hunter-gatherers need to "work" only about 6 hours per day and that includes 3 hours of hunting and 3 hours of preparing hunting tools, planning etc. The rest of the time is leisure. Ditto for their women, work time is 6 to 7 hours daily. AND they live in a desert region. Imagine hunter-gatherers in places with more game - work time could be as little as 4 hours daily. Agriculture workers and farmer had to toil more than 8 hours daily for the same nutrition levels
Also note that hunter gatherers in Europe during the Neolithic period were 5'10" (male) and 5'6" on average while during the middle ages this was 5'5" and 5'.
If you have easily available game, you can also gatehr wild vegetables or do basic horticulture like eat good melons at spot A, toss the seeds around, tear up the weeds and come back to the same place next year. There is no point in settling down in this case (which is why Japan got cities relatively late).
As for fire - that makes sense - you cook the meat and veggies and they are easier to digest, you find you are more energetic (as you can digest more nutrients)
Ok thanks. But why wouldn’t folks have settled down just for the “sociality” of it? Sure you got enough food to eat and life is pretty good.... Why not stay in one place (river delta, lush valley, etc) and make “friends”?