Patterns of Subsistence Part II

Modes of Subsistence Subsistence strategies are ways in which societies transform the material resources of the environment into food. Anthropology, particularly ecological anthropology, is interested in the interactions between human cultures and their environments.

Food-Foraging Societies Foraging is a food-gathering strategy that does not involved food production or domestication of animals but, rather, relies on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods. Some characteristics of foraging societies are mobility, small group size, flexible division of labor by gender, food sharing, egalitarianism, communal property and rarity of warfare.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) Egalitarianism is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals, having the same political, economic, social, and civil rights. Up until about 10,000 years ago, humans lived by foraging.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) Foraging strategies vary in productivity, but in general, support lower population densities than other subsistence systems. Carrying capacity: the number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food-getting techniques. Density of social relations: is the number and intensity of interactions among the members of a camp, the more populous a group the higher the rate of conflict.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) All foragers exploit the diversity of their environments. The availability of water is crucial, the distance between their water source and their food sources must not be so great that more energy is required to gather water than can be obtained from the food.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) Typically, but definitely not always, foraging is done where there is a wide range of vegetal foods that provide most of their diet. In milder climates where there is predictable vegetal food sources foragers may experience times of leisure.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) Evidence demonstrates that the sexual division of labor in which men hunt and women gather wild fruits and vegetables is an extremely common phenomenon among foraging societies worldwide.

Food-Foraging Societies (cont) Reciprocal altruism is when food at one point in time is exchanged for food at some later time. The acquisition of difficult-to-acquire foods often requires coordinated efforts of several individuals.