A hunter-gatherer society can be defined as one whose primary means of survival involves the direct gathering of plants like wild fruits and vegetables to the hunting of animals in the wild with no intention of domesticating them. (Barnard, 2004, p 23)From the basic definition given above, it is quite obvious that this kind of lifestyle is almost impossible to sustain in this modern times. The pressures exerted on the land available by population growth and expansion of urban centers means there aren’t any large tracks of land available from which you can scavenge for food without infringing the boundaries of private property or even breaking some laws as governments are now establishing national parks and protected areas which discourage human settlements. This was seen in South Africa where the hunter-gatherer communities, the San and Khoisan, were forcefully settled down by the government and most of their land was seized by the government because it was hard to provide social amenities like education and healthcare to these mobile communities.
Characteristics of These Societies
Most hunter-gatherer communities were made up of quite small populations as compared to their counterparts in farming and pastoralism. Anthropologists attribute this to the natural checks infertility so that the individual population stays in balance with the available resources. Probably from years of existence, they had learned that it is much easier to sustain their mobile way of scavenging for food and subsistence lifestyle if you have a few children as possible. Also, the movement from one habitat to another in search of food made it impossible to construct permanent settlements.
In these communities, gender roles were assigned but they are not as clear-cut as today’s society. It was the women’s job to go and gather wild fruits and vegetables while the men hunted the animals. However, there were certain exceptions to this stereotype. In the Aeta community of the Philippines, about 85% of women hunted animals in the same quarry as their male counterparts. They hunted in groups with their dogs and had a 31% success rate as compared to the 17% rate for men. The success rate improved to 41% when the two hunting groups mixed. It was also discovered in the Ju’/hoansi people of Namibia, the women were excellent trackers and assisted the men in finding the quarry. The sexual division of labor may have come later when populations started settling down and agriculture was their main source of food. (Headland et al. 1997. P 58)
Hunter-gatherers communities obtained most of their food through gathering, about 80%, as compared to hunting. Climatic conditions which favor the fertilization of certain plants and their locations were well known amongst the respective communities. Hunting animals was a much tougher ordeal that involved tracking the animal(s) for days or even weeks before killing it. Occasionally they would find carcasses from the kill of other wild animals and would scavenge any available meat.. (Headland et al. 1997. P57)
Most of these communities usually lived in a small personalized world which was defined by a band that was made up of not more than two hundred and fifty people. Life was communal where every skill acquired was passed down to everyone in the band. They had no accumulated wealth because of the lifestyle they lived which in a way helped in minimizing any class distinction amongst them. However, certain members of the band were revered because of their hunting skills or the wealth of knowledge they processed. Young people married outside their bands which helped in fostering social cohesion amongst the various bands and the communities. This social cohesion ensured that there were hardly any wars fought in these communities. Even if there were, there was really nothing to steal due to the lack of accumulated personal wealth. Most of the conflicts that arose were due to the settlement of personal vendettas or conflicts. (Rai et al. 1981. P51)
There is a lot of speculation as to why communities made the transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural or pastoral society. It is these latter societies that laid the foundation for the industrial revolution and urbanization which really killed off the hunt-gather lifestyle as was seen in South Africa. Climatic factors could have played a role. Maybe these communities were sometimes forced to settle at a certain place and wait for particular plants to be in season so that they can harvest them. Also, harsh climatic conditions in areas like deserts could have forced them to choose areas with sufficient water supply. Conflicts with other tribes could have restricted their movements and through these conflicts, they learned safety could be better ensured if there were numbers and settling down was the best option. (Lourandos, 2000, p 170)
Society underwent radical changes from the latter days of the demise of hunting and gathering to today’s modern lifestyle that made it difficult for the few remnant communities to pass their customs to the younger generation so that their traditions can remain relevant.
The Neolithic Revolution
This is the period in history referred to as the first Agricultural Revolution. Here, we see hunting and gathering communities making transitions to crude forms of agriculture and settlement schemes. It is important to note that while these communities were experimenting with agriculture, they were still engaged in hunting and gathering. Agriculture and pastoralism are believed to have emerged about ten to twelve thousand years ago. Pastoralism or domestication had a much similar lifestyle to hunting or gathering as compared to agriculture since the communities moved around with their animals in search of pasture. While pastoral life was very demanding and quite dangerous it was a relatively stable way of life like hunting and gathering whereby you can move to areas with favorable climate and vegetation. The Neolithic revolution employed a limited technique of food production that wasn’t very efficient. Over the next millennium, the small and frugal groups of the hunter-gathering communities would be transformed into villages and towns that customized their natural environment through irrigation and increase in food production whose end result was high population densities. (Akkermans et al., 2006, p201)
Emergence of Agriculture
Choosing to settle down and plant crops with the hope that the rainy season will come as scheduled was a big gamble for some of these communities since the weather pattern can be quite unpredictable. However, with time, irrigation practices and the invention of new technologies enabled them to be much more in control of their harvest. With the introduction of specialized cultivation and storage facilities that allowed for extensive production, greater yields could be attained in the harvest seasons. All this work demanded the extensive use of human labor and from here we begin seeing the transition from having small families to big ones so that the children can lend an extra hand on the farms with their parents.
Also, gender-based roles are more definitive around this time with the men being involved in the more energy supping duties like plowing and clearing of land while the women were involved in food preparation and the general work in the household like repairing a leaking roof or cleaning the house. It is clear that even this early, survival through hunting and gathering would be a tall order because there was the indiscriminate clearing of forests and virgin lands to create room for farmlands and other settlements. Wild animals that provided nutritious game meat were reducing in numbers and even becoming extinct because the human-wildlife conflicts resulted in their indiscriminate slaying. With the clear demarcation of farmlands and settlements, you could not risk straying into someone’s private land. (Rai et al. 1981. P48)
Industrial Revolution
With the slow expansion of communal villages into small towns, the industrial revolution marked a time when there was massive rural-urban migration from towns to the huge factories in industrial complexes. Population growth in the rural areas (farms) was so rapid that it was putting too much pressure on the available land. Further sub-division of land to accommodate the increasing numbers proved to be uneconomical. The expanding industries needed labor and the available population which had been accustomed to hard work at the farm filled this void. This newly employed workforce preferred to live near the factories and towns started springing up giving rise to what is defined nowadays as an urban area. (Headland, 2002.25)
The society was now moving from subsistence to one where wealth creation was a core issue. Also, it was more profitable to work in these mushrooming factories than in the farms out in the countryside. The priorities changed from just feeding your family for the case of a farmer or hunter/gatherer to accumulating your own wealth which seemed a safer option than the former where your future is pretty much defined by the environment and the climate.
Summary
I guess it is this mentality that has almost signaled an end to the lifestyle of hunting and gathering. Even farming has become so commercial that one guy with a tractor can do more work in a day than 100 laborers with plows back in the days. For the few communities practicing hunting and gathering, they are doing it as a social event so as to reconnect with their customs and traditions but in reality, this practice is no longer economically viable. You need hard currency in order to gain access to certain social services and amenities in today’s society. With the majority of the human population living in urban areas so that the countryside is used more exclusively for cultivation, it is even more economical to have bigger farms nowadays because of the capital consumed by farm inputs like fertilizers and tractors.
Weather patterns are continuing to become less and less significant when it comes to planting and harvesting seasons. Countries like Israel and Egypt haven’t received a drop in rainfall in years but they are major food exporters in the world market. All this has been made possible by irrigation. This has led to the rehabilitation of semi-arid land where the hunting and gathering communities were pushed to and displacing them even further. The areas where land rehabilitation is not possible to have been gobbled up by urban centers. Furthermore, most governments demand that every child should attend a school, the citizens are given access to healthcare and other amenities through payment of taxes. It is obvious from the examples given above you cannot lead a migratory kind of life without a constant address in today’s society.
Should we be disappointed we have abandoned the customs and traditions of our ancestors? In a way we should because there are certain vices in today’s society that are rampant like greed and selfishness that weren’t as so back in those days. We have a huge problem of class distinction that defines which school you will go to and the kind of healthcare you will receive. Archeological evidence has also shown that our ancestors were healthier and were not ravaged by diseases like today. Herbal science has shown that wild fruits and berries are much more nutritious than the fruits we eat. As much as we can compare the two living situations and find their pros and cons, what remains constant is that society changes and we must adapt to it in order to sustain our lifestyles. Between tracking a bear to its lair and walking to the supermarket to buy your pound of meat, where would you prefer your next meal to come from?
References
Akkermans Peter M. M. G, Schwartz Glenn M. (2006). The Archeology of Syria. Cambridge University Press, pp 200-205.
Barnard Alan, (2004) Hunter-Gatherers in History, Archaeology and Anthropology. Berg Publishers, pp 23-29.
Headland Thomas N, Blood Doris (2002) What Place for Hunter-Gatherers in Millennium Three? SIL Publications pp23-25.
Headland Thomas N. Griffin P. Bion (1997) A Bibliography of the Agta Negritos of Eastern Luzon, Philippines SIL Electronic Working Papers pp 56-59.
Lourandos Harry (2000) Continent of Hunter Gatherers. Cambridge University Press. Pp170-175.
Rai, Navin K. (1981). Under the Shadow of Soft Gold: The Impact of the Logging Industry on a Hunter-Gatherer Society. Impulse 8(1) pp 48-50.