Foraging - Textual Details by Andrew Sias https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3 en-us 2021-01-06 15:03:22 UTC 2026-03-15 13:10:52 UTC hello@padlet.com andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1059635905 Women probably took most responsibility for child rearing and may also have been responsible for gathering most of the food (at least in temperate and tropical regions, where gathering was more important than hunting),whereas men specialized in hunting, which was generally a less reliable source of food in such regions. However, no evidence indicates that these different roles led to relationships of dominance or subordination. (Christian)]]> 2021-01-06 15:12:11 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1059635905 andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1059645116 Exchanges were conceived of as gifts.This fact meant that the act of exchanging was usually more important than the qualities of the goods exchanged; exchanging was away of cementing existing relationships. Anthropologists say  that  such  relationships  are  based  on “reciprocity.” (Christian)]]> 2021-01-06 15:14:01 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1059645116 Low productivity ensured that population densities were low by the standards of later eras, averaging perhaps as little as one person per square kilometer. This fact meant that small numbers of humans were scattered over large ranges. Modern studies suggest that foragers may have deliberately limited population growth to avoid over-exploitation of the land; (Christian) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060209732 2021-01-06 17:08:53 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060209732 Nomadism discouraged the accumulation of material goods because people had to carry everything they owned; so did a lifeway in which people took most of what they needed from their immediate surroundings. In such a world people had no need to accumulate material possessions. Absence of possessions may seem a mark of poverty to modern minds, but Sahlins argued that foragers probably experienced their lives as affluent because the things they needed could be found all around them. (Christian) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060419424 2021-01-06 17:54:13 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060419424 Throughout the era of foragers human relationships were personal rather than hierarchical. In a world of intimate, personal relationships people had little need for the highly institutionalized structures of the modern world, most of which are designed to regulate relationships between strangers. (Christian) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060424273 2021-01-06 17:55:12 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060424273 Power relations, too, were the power relations of families or extended families; justice and discipline—even violent retribution for antisocial behavior—could be imposed only by the family. Hierarchies, insofar as they existed,were based on gender, age, experience, and respect within the family. (Christian) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060502535 2021-01-06 18:12:10 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1060502535 The idea that people have different jobs or professions, and that some are richer than others, is taken for granted today. But for most of human existence this was not the case. Most hunter-gatherers, and then early farmers, were of comparable wealth and spent their days doing the same things as the other people in the same community. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075075988 2021-01-11 17:06:27 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075075988 Modern hunter-gatherers often have a rule that anyone who brings food back to the camp has to share it with anyone else who asks. This rule provides insurance against food shortages, for not everyone can be sure to find enough food on a given day, and even the best hunters can only expect to kill an animal every few days. If everyone is selfish and insists on keeping their own food to themselves, most people will be hungry most of the time. Sharing ensures that the food supply is evened out and most people have enough to eat most of the time. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075102007 2021-01-11 17:10:49 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075102007 hunter-gatherers did not try to accumulate status goods to enhance their personal prestige. Why bother, since such goods would have had to have been shared with others? It is not until the advent of agriculture that the first indications of wealth or private ownership appear. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075106949 2021-01-11 17:11:41 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075106949 “When they see signs of such behaviour among their fellows, they have a range of humility-enforcing devices to bring people back into line.” The !Kung, like other hunter-gatherers, regard lavish gifts as an attempt to exert control over others, curry political support, or raise one’s own status, all of which run counter to their culture. Their strict egalitarianism can be regarded as a “social technology” developed to ensure social harmony and a reliable supply of food for everyone. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075113635 2021-01-11 17:12:53 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075113635 Food determines the structure of hunter-gatherer society in other ways, too. The size of hunter-gatherer bands, for example, depends on the availability of food resources within walking distance of the camp. Too large a band depletes the surrounding area more quickly, which makes it necessary to move the camp more often and means the band needs a larger territory. As a result, band sizes vary between six to twelve people in areas where food is scarce and twenty-five to fifty people in areas with more abundant resources. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075137723 2021-01-11 17:17:09 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075137723 Bands generally do not have leaders, though some people may have particular roles in addition to the traditional male and female tasks of hunting and gathering, respectively, such as healing, making weapons, or negotiating with other bands. But there are no full-time specialists, and these particular skills do not confer a higher social status. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075518870 2021-01-11 18:22:53 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075518870 Hunter-gatherer bands maintain alliances with other bands, to provide both marriage partners and further insurance against food shortages. In the event of a shortage one band can then visit another to which it is related by marriage and share some of its food. Inter-group sharing in the form of large feasts also takes place at times of seasonal food overabundance. Such feasts appear to be universal among hunter-gatherers and provide an opportunity to arrange marriages, perform social rituals, sing, and dance. Food thus binds hunter- gatherer societies together, forging links both within bands and between bands. (Standage) andrewsias1 https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075525217 2021-01-11 18:23:40 UTC https://padlet.com/andrewsias1/awov5huvrwcid0y3/wish/1075525217