Byline: BOYCE RENSBERGER Washington Post
Because natural birth-control chemicals exist in so many plants, it is not unreasonable that ancient peoples would have discovered them, John M. Riddle of North Carolina State University suggested.
He also proposed that the widespread use of these substances would explain periods in ancient history when the population remained stable or even declined. During the first five centuries A.D., for example, historians estimate that the population of Europe fell from 32.8 million to 27.5 million in the absence of major wars or epidemics.
The population declines have usually been attributed to infanticide, but …
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