Hunter-gatherer

A hunter-gatherer society is in anthropological terms one whose predominant method of subsistence involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild (or "foraging"), without significant recourse to the domestication of either. The demarcation between hunter-gatherers and other societies which rely on more managed techniques such as agriculturalism and pastoralism is not a clean one, as many societies typically utilise a range of strategies to obtain the foodstuffs required to sustain their community.

Methods of study

Archaeological evidence must be used to learn about prehistoric hunter-gatherers, and ethnographic studies, as well as historical information, provide information about living or historic hunter-gatherers. When possible, archaeology and ethnography have been combined, since the 1960s, under the name ethnoarchaeology, to provide more insight into the hunter-gatherer past. The new sciences of evolutionary biology and paleoethnobotany are also providing insights.

Related Topics:
Archaeological - Prehistoric - Ethnographic - Historical - Ethnoarchaeology - Evolutionary biology - Paleoethnobotany

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