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.

Modern context

It has recently been claimed that, in most cases, these groups do not have a continuous history of hunting and gathering, and that in many cases their ancestors were agriculturalists who were pushed into marginal areas as a result of migrations and wars. These theories imply that, because the "pure hunter-gatherer" "disappeared" not long after colonial contact began (see European Colonization of Africa, European colonization of the Americas, European Colonization of Australia), nothing can be learned about prehistoric hunter-gatherers from studies of modern ones (Kelly{{ref|Kelly}}, 24-29); however, specialists who study hunter-gatherer ecology (see Cultural ecology) vehemently disagree. One hunter-gatherer people who had no contact with agriculturalists until the late 19th century are the Spinifex People of Western Australia; the arid ecology of Western Australia makes agriculture impossible.

Related Topics:
Colonial - European Colonization of Africa - European colonization of the Americas - European Colonization of Australia - Ecology - Cultural ecology - 19th century - Spinifex People - Australia

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Social movements

There are some modern social movements related to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle:

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• freeganism involves gathering of discarded food in the context of an urban environment
• gleaning involves the gathering of food that traditional farmers have left behind in their fields
• sport hunting and sport fishing are recreational activities practiced by people in developed countries who get the majority of their food through the industrial system (see also: fox hunt, safari)
• anarcho-primitivism, which strives for the abolishment of civilization and the return to a life in the wild
• paleolithic diet, which strives to achieve a diet similar to that of ancient hunter-gatherer groups.