Overview

For most of human existence (about 200,000 years), we were hunter-gatherers. We lived in small, mobile bands, moving with the seasons to find food. Today, only a few such societies remain (e.g., the San in Africa, the Hadza). Anthropology studies them not as “living fossils” but as a distinct and successful way of being human that challenges our assumptions about “civilization.”

Core Idea

The core idea is adaptation. Hunter-gatherers are not “starving” or “struggling.” They are masters of their environment, possessing deep botanical and zoological knowledge. Marshall Sahlins famously called them the “Original Affluent Society” because they satisfied their needs with very little labor (working only 15-20 hours a week), leaving plenty of time for leisure and socializing.

Formal Definition

A subsistence strategy based on the collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. It is typically characterized by:

  • Nomadism: Moving camp frequently.
  • Small Scale: Bands of 20-50 people.
  • Egalitarianism: Lack of formal leaders or wealth accumulation.
  • Sharing: Generalized reciprocity (sharing food is mandatory).

Intuition

Imagine camping with your friends. You don’t have a boss. You share the food you brought. You make decisions by talking around the fire until everyone agrees. If you find berries, you tell everyone. That is the hunter-gatherer ethos. It is a life based on cooperation and immediate return, rather than hoarding and hierarchy.

Examples

  • The !Kung San (Ju/‘hoansi): Lived in the Kalahari Desert. Famous for their complex kinship systems, healing dances, and egalitarian gender roles.
  • The Inuit: Specialized hunters of the Arctic, relying almost entirely on meat (seals, whales) and possessing sophisticated technology (kayaks, harpoons) to survive in a harsh environment.
  • The Hadza: A group in Tanzania that still practices foraging, providing key insights into the human gut microbiome due to their diverse diet.

Common Misconceptions

  • Life was “nasty, brutish, and short”: While infant mortality was high, adults often lived into their 60s and 70s. They had fewer infectious diseases and better dental health than early farmers.
  • Man the Hunter: Early anthropology overemphasized hunting (men’s work). We now know that gathering (women’s work) provided the majority of the calories (60-80%) in most societies.
  • Neolithic Revolution: The transition to agriculture (10,000 years ago) that ended the dominance of hunting and gathering, leading to cities, states, and inequality.
  • Egalitarianism: The active suppression of hierarchy. Hunter-gatherers use “leveling mechanisms” (like teasing a successful hunter) to stop anyone from getting too big an ego.
  • Delayed Return vs. Immediate Return: Farmers work now for a harvest months later (delayed). Foragers work now and eat now (immediate).

Applications

  • Diet: The “Paleo Diet” is based on the idea that our bodies are evolved for a hunter-gatherer diet (lean meat, nuts, fruits) and that modern processed food makes us sick.
  • Psychology: Evolutionary psychology argues that our brains are “stone age minds in modern skulls,” evolved for the small-band social life of foragers.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Romanticization: It is easy to idealize them as “Noble Savages” living in harmony with nature. In reality, they could overhunt species and had high rates of violence (homicide) in some groups.
  • “Purity”: There are no “pure” hunter-gatherers left. All modern groups interact with the global economy, trade with farmers, and are affected by government policies.

Further Reading

  • Sahlins, Marshall. “The Original Affluent Society.” 1972.
  • Lee, Richard B. The !Kung San. 1979.
  • Brody, Hugh. The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World. 2000.