Hunter-Gatherers

By Sophia Li, Samantha Gentry, Sally Hobson, Connor Mikilitus, Andrew Hollenstein

Human-Environment Interaction• Hunting and gathering was used for 95% of

the times people inhabited the earth.• Gathered berries, nuts, roots, and grains.• Scavenged dead animals, hunted live animals,

and fishing• Life expectancy was a little more than 35

years • Migration: Africa, Eurasia, Australia, Americas,

Pacific Islands • Population may have been as low as 10,000

people alive 100,000 years ago. It then grew to 500,000 people nearly 30,000 years ago.

Culture

• Neolithic people learned when the seasons would take place and associated the seasons with the plants that grew.

• 20,000 years ago Afro-Eurasians made stone and bone tools such as hand axes, and began to paint deep inside caves.

• Made rock deep inside caves far from living spaces which suggests a “ceremonial space” separated from ordinary life.

• At the end of the period, hunter- gatherers began to use more agriculture than before.

Politics

• There were no specific leaders for the tribes.

• Physical competitions did occur • There was little interaction between

tribes• Sometimes internal conflict with in

the tribes occurred, but they were easily solved.

Economics• Hunter-gatherers rarely traded with other

tribes because they could not transport many goods.

• They worked fewer hours more frequently and had more leisure time.

• Scholars call them the “original affluent society” because they had all of their basic needs.

• Typically there was no specialization. Simply everyone could do anything that anyone else could.

Hunter- Gatherer Society

• Lived in small bands of 25- 50 people.

• Most people were related.• Men hunted, women gathered.• Women provided 70% of the group’s

food and income.• Males and females shared many

other tasks.

Sources

• Ways of the World, by Robert W. Strayer

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Role_Of_Showoff_Hypothesis_In_Social_Decisions_Investigated.html

• http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200907/play-makes-us-human-v-why-hunter-gatherers-work-is-play