Hunter-gatherer

A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging,[1][2] that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources or by hunting game. This is a common practice among most vertebrates that are omnivores. Hunter-gatherer groups, usually a few dozen people, were and are nomadic or semi-nomadic. Hunter-gatherer societies are contrasted with more sedentary agricultural societies, which rely mainly on cultivating crops and raising domesticated animals for food production.

Hunting and gathering emerged with Homo erectus about 1.8 million years ago and was humanity's original and most enduring successful competitive adaptation in the natural world, occupying at least 90 percent of human (pre)history.[3] Following the invention of agriculture, hunter-gatherers who did not change were displaced or conquered by farming or pastoralist groups in most parts of the world.[4] In Western Eurasia, farming and metallurgical societies gradually replaced hunter-gatherers, but dense forests remained their last refuge until Bronze and Iron Age societies fully overcame them.[5]

Socially, they were generally egalitarian, emphasizing sharing and resisting hierarchy, though inequalities and divisions of labor existed; women often contributed to hunting as well as gathering.[6][7] Only a few contemporary societies of uncontacted people are still classified as hunter-gatherers, and many supplement their foraging activity with horticulture or pastoralism.[8][9]

Archaeological and ethnographic evidence shows wide variation depending on environment, from mammoth steppe hunters in Siberia to semi-sedentary fishers. Their diets varied by climate, balancing plant foods, game, and aquatic resources, with fat as a critical nutrient. Over time, many bands specialized in particular resources and tools, and some transitioned into agriculture, which led to permanent settlements, governments, and social stratification. While most hunter-gatherers eventually adopted farming or were displaced, some groups—such as the San, Pumé, and Sentinelese—continue aspects of this lifestyle today.

  1. ^ Ember, Carol R. (June 2020). "Hunter-Gatherers (Foragers)". Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  2. ^ Wade, Nicholas (2006). Before the Dawn. London: The Penguin Press. ISBN 1594200793.
  3. ^ Richard B. Lee & Richard Daly, "Introduction: Foragers & Others," in: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters & Gatherers (Cambridge University Press, 1999), ISBN 052157109X, pp. 1–20.
  4. ^ Stephens, Lucas; Fuller, Dorian; Boivin, Nicole; Rick, Torben; Gauthier, Nicolas; Kay, Andrea; Marwick, Ben; Armstrong, Chelsey Geralda; Barton, C. Michael (2019-08-30). "Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use". Science. 365 (6456): 897–902. Bibcode:2019Sci...365..897S. doi:10.1126/science.aax1192. hdl:10150/634688. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 31467217. S2CID 201674203.
  5. ^ Gavashelishvili, A; et al. (2023), "The time and place of origin of South Caucasian languages: insights into past human societies, ecosystems and human population genetics", Scientific Reports, 13 (21133): 21133, Bibcode:2023NatSR..1321133G, doi:10.1038/s41598-023-45500-w, PMC 10689496, PMID 38036582
  6. ^ Ocobock, Cara; Lacy, Sarah (November 1, 2023). "The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong". Scientific American. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Greaves, Russell D.; et al. (2016). "Economic activities of twenty-first century foraging populations". Why Forage? Hunters and Gatherers in the Twenty-First Century. Santa Fe; Albuquerque: School for Advanced Research, University of New Mexico Press. pp. 241–62. ISBN 978-0826356963.
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