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, that is, by gathering food from local, naturally occurring sources or by hunting game. This way of living is common among many animals, especially those that eat both plants and meat, and it was the main way humans lived for most of our history, especially before people started farming.

Hunting and gathering began with Homo erectus about 1.8 million years ago and was the most successful way humans lived for a very long time. After people invented agriculture, many hunter-gatherers changed to farming, but some groups kept their old ways. In places like Western Eurasia, farming spread and replaced hunting and gathering, but in dense forests, hunter-gatherers survived longer.

Hunter-gatherer groups were usually small, with only a few dozen people, and they often moved around to find food. They were typically equal and shared what they had, although there were some differences in jobs. Today, only a few groups of uncontacted people still live mainly as hunter-gatherers, mixing this with small farming or raising animals. Examples include the San, Pumé, and Sentinelese.

These societies ate different foods depending on where they lived, from large animals like mammoths in Siberia to fish and plants. Over time, many hunter-gatherer groups began to farm, leading to bigger towns, governments, and more complex societies. Even though most people now farm, some groups still practice parts of the hunter-gatherer way of life.

Archaeological evidence

Hunting and gathering has been the main way humans got food for a very long time — starting about 1.8 million years ago with early humans like Homo erectus and later with Homo sapiens. These groups were small, usually just a few dozen people from several families.

As humans moved out of Africa, they spread to places like the Australian continent and the Americas. Along the way, many large animals disappeared. Some early humans lived in cold places like the mammoth steppes of Siberia, where they hunted animals such as mammoths. Scientists study old tools to learn more about how these early people lived and moved around.

Common characteristics

Hunter-gatherers are people who obtain most of their food by hunting animals and gathering plants from nature. They often live in small groups and move around to find food. Some groups, like the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Yokuts, stayed in one place because they had plenty of food nearby.

These groups usually have a simple way of sharing things and making decisions. They often share their food and goods equally. For example, the San people of southern Africa encourage sharing and discourage anyone from having too much more than others. Most hunter-gatherers do not have leaders; instead, different people take charge depending on what needs to be done. They are connected through family ties and living together in small camps.

Researchers have found that in many hunter-gatherer societies, both men and women help find food, though sometimes they do different tasks. Women often gather plants and small animals, while men might hunt larger animals. However, there are examples of women joining men in hunting. Studies show that women were involved in hunting in many past societies. Overall, hunter-gatherers work fewer hours than people in modern societies but face challenges like disease and accidents. They share resources through a system where gifts are given and received, helping everyone in the group.

Diet

Hunter-gatherers get their food from plants, animals, and water. Near the equator, they eat more plants, but in colder places, they rely more on fish and stored food. They need to balance their food well because eating too much lean meat can make them sick.

In places where plants and fish are hard to find, hunter-gatherers sometimes trade meat for other foods like carbohydrates from nearby farming groups. This helps everyone get the nutrients they need.

Variability

Hunter-gatherer societies show a lot of differences depending on where they live, the tools they have, and how they are organized. Scientists study the tools these groups use to understand these differences. They found that temperature plays a big role — places with very hot or very cold weather often need more kinds of tools to survive.

One way to group hunter-gatherers is by how they use their food. Some groups eat what they find right away, within a day or two. Others save extra food for later.

For much of human history, people relied on hunting and gathering for food. But watching these groups today doesn’t show exactly how ancient societies lived, since many have interacted with modern worlds. The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture wasn’t always permanent. Sometimes, when farmers faced hard times, they went back to hunting and gathering. It can be hard to tell where hunting and gathering ends and farming begins, especially since the two often mixed together over thousands of years. Some groups even traded with farmers while still hunting and gathering.

Modern and revisionist perspectives

Some experts think we can't learn much about ancient hunter-gatherers from modern groups because they changed after contact with other societies. However, others believe we can learn important lessons, especially about fairness and sharing, by studying groups that still live this way.

Today, there are still some hunter-gatherer groups. The Pila Nguru (Spinifex people) live in Western Australia in the Great Victoria Desert, where the land isn't good for farming. The Sentinelese live on North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands, and they choose to stay separate from others. The Savanna Pumé of Venezuela also continue their hunting and gathering ways, adding a little farming to their diet but still relying mostly on what they can find in nature.

Americas

Main article: Paleo-Indians

See also: Aboriginal peoples in Canada § Paleo-Indians period, and Lithic period in Mesoamerica

Evidence shows that early hunter-gatherers moved from Asia into North America across a land bridge called Beringia, which existed between 47,000 and 14,000 years ago. They followed large animal herds through paths between big ice sheets. Some may have also traveled along the Pacific coast in simple boats.

These groups spread throughout the Americas, from the Great Plains of the United States and Canada all the way to Chile in South America. They lived in small bands of families and made tools from stone in similar ways across different areas. Later, as the climate changed and large animals disappeared, these groups began to rely more on local resources like fish, small animals, and wild plants.

Some scholars point out that these early people did not just move around without changing their environment. In places like California, they used careful methods like pruning plants and controlled burning to care for the land and make it provide food for many years. They believed taking care of the land was important, and that wild, untended areas were not good for people or nature.