hunter-gatherers
Pre-agricultural human societies
Hunter-gatherers are people who live by hunting wild animals and foraging for plants rather than farming or herding.
This was the universal human way of life until agriculture emerged roughly 10,000 years ago.
A few hunter-gatherer societies persist today.
The term often appears in discussions of human evolution, diet, and social organization: Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in small nomadic bands.
Small fleshy fruits
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- edible plantsConsumable botanical matter
- mushroomsSpore-bearing fruiting bodies
- nutsSeeds in shells
seeds · tubers · herbs · wildcrafting · sustainable harvest · seasonal cycles · fiddleheads · acorns
Group playing music together
- kinshipState of being related
- egalitarianEquality principle supporter
- sharingDividing among others
- cooperationJoint action toward shared aims
elders · oral tradition · communal · clan · reciprocity · gift exchange · division of labor · camp
Earliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- Stone AgeEra of knapped tools
- archaeologyStudy of physical remnants
- cave paintingsPrehistoric artwork on stone
flint tools · megafauna · mammoths · ice age · petroglyphs · burial sites · Homo sapiens · Neanderthals
Monitoring location over time
- spearPole with sharp point
- bowRespectful forward inclination
- arrowPointed shaft for shooting
- trappingCatching with concealed devices
fishing · game · prey · stalking · ambush · snares · harpoon · bolas
Movement to new territory
- territoryLand under jurisdiction
- mobileCapable of movement
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- trailPath through wilderness
temporary shelter · carrying capacity · waterhole · campsite · range · pathways · lean-to · windbreak
Arctic indigenous people
- traditional knowledgeCommunity wisdom across generations
- land rightsLegal claims to territory
- ethnographySystematic study of peoples
- contemporaryOf the present age
Independence from outside aid
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
- food storagePreserving consumables for later
- abundanceAmple supply, overflowing
scarcity · caloric intake · nutrition · food security · resource management · carrying · processing · drying
berries
Small fleshy fruits
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- edible plantsConsumable botanical matter
- mushroomsSpore-bearing fruiting bodies
nuts · seeds · tubers · herbs · wildcrafting · sustainable harvest · seasonal cycles · fiddleheads · acorns · grubs
band
Group playing music together
- kinshipState of being related
- egalitarianEquality principle supporter
- sharingDividing among others
cooperation · elders · oral tradition · communal · clan · reciprocity · gift exchange · division of labor · camp · fireside
Paleolithic
Earliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- Stone AgeEra of knapped tools
- archaeologyStudy of physical remnants
cave paintings · flint tools · megafauna · mammoths · ice age · petroglyphs · burial sites · Homo sapiens · Neanderthals · hand axes
tracking
Monitoring location over time
trapping · fishing · game · prey · stalking · ambush · snares · harpoon · bolas · butchering
migration
Movement to new territory
trail · temporary shelter · carrying capacity · waterhole · campsite · range · pathways · lean-to · windbreak · roaming
Inuit
Arctic indigenous people
- traditional knowledgeCommunity wisdom across generations
- land rightsLegal claims to territory
- ethnographySystematic study of peoples
self-sufficiency
Independence from outside aid
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
- food storagePreserving consumables for later
abundance · scarcity · caloric intake · nutrition · food security · resource management · carrying · processing · drying · smoking
- humanityhuman, human being, humans, people, mankind
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- rainforestrainforest, jungle, tropical, tropics, canopy
- societiescivilization, secret societies, nation, literary societies, tribal society
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- Stone Agecave painting, paleolithic, hand ax, handaxes, hand axe
hunter-gatherersfarmers
Land-cultivating occupation holders
agriculturalists · pastoralists · herders · cultivators · agrarians
gather, hunt, gathering, hunter, hunting, gathered, hunted, gathers, hunts