What are Subsistence Strategies?

Foraging

The oldest human subsistence strategy is foraging. People who practice foraging are called foragers, and are sometimes referred to as hunter-gathers. (For this article, I use only the term foragers.) Foragers rely on their environment to provide all of their needs by gathering wild plants and hunting wild animals.

Before the introduction of agriculture around 10 K.Y.A. all humans subsisted through foraging. These foraging societies occupied fertile river valleys, plains, hills, etc. As agriculture took hold, farmers and herders pushed foragers out of these fertile areas and into marginal zones. Today, all foraging societies live in these marginal areas.

Types of Foragers

There are three types of foragers: pedestrian, equestrian and aquatic.

Pedestrian foragers, the most common and oldest of all foraging societies, travel from region to region within their home range by foot. Because they travel by foot, pedestrian foragers have smaller ranges than other types of foragers and have few material possessions. Examples of pedestrian foragers are the San of Southwest Africa, the Australian Aborigines and the pygmies of Central Africa.

Equestrian foragers, a foraging style that developed only in the Americas after Europeans introduced the horse, travel from region to region within their home range by horse. Their home ranges are typically larger than that of pedestrian foragers, making more resources available to equestrian foragers. The increased availability of resources allows equestrian forager societies to be larger than pedestrian forager societies. Unlike pedestrian foraging societies, equestrian foraging societies are stratified with a centralized male leadership. Examples of equestrian foragers are the plains Indians of North America such as the Sioux, Crow and Cheyenne, and the Tehuelche of South America.

Aquatic foragers rely on water resources for food and usually live in permanent settlements next to oceans, seas or lakes. They forage for aquatic resources in these bodies of water during warm seasons and may change their diet to include more terrestrial food resources, especially flora and small fauna, during cold seasons. Aquatic forager societies generally have more material goods and a higher level of stratification than any other foraging society. Examples of aquatic foragers are the Kwakiutl and Haida of the northwest coast of North America. The image to the right displays Kwakiutl totem poles.

Settlement Patterns

Because they depend on the availability of natural resources, most foragers are by necessity nomadic. They live in temporary camps for anywhere from a few days to a few years, and move their camps to different locations within a home range as they use up local resources. Foragers may have seasonal camps that they return to at different times during the year as well, but no matter where they settle, foragers must always have easy access to water.

The size of a forager group is much smaller than the size of societies using any other subsistence strategy, and is limited by the carry capacity of their home range, and social and cultural practices. Forger group populations usually remain far below the carry capacity of their home ranges. An average forager group has between 25-30 individuals with population densities varying from 30 persons per square mile to one person per 50 square miles depending on the availability of food resources.

Populations within a forager group remain low due to three major factors. First, mothers breast feed their children for several years, and the hormones in a woman's body during lactation suppress ovulation acting as birth control. (Women can still get pregnant while they are nursing, it's just a little bit harder.) This delays additional births, and keeps populations from growing. Second, if a group becomes too large, members of the group can move on to another group, perhaps one whose numbers are dwindling. This effectively redistributes populations and keeps group size at a sustainable level. Third, as group size increases, the frequency and intensity of social conflicts increases. If these social conflicts get too dangerous, a large group will split into smaller ones.

Economics

All forager societies have a division of labor based on gender and age, though the boundaries are not as rigid as those found in societies using other subsistence strategies. Typically, men hunt and butcher wild animals while women gather and processes wild plants. However, a man can perform "women's work" and a woman can perform "men's work" as long as the individual proves they have the ability to do it.

Diet

A forager's diet, generally well balanced even in harsh environments, consists of fauna they can hunt and flora they can gather. Flora, consisting mostly of nuts, roots, fruits and vegetables, makes up about 60-70% of their total daily intake. Foragers also eat protein rich insects. These resources are stable and reliable, unlike large animals which are difficult to hunt.

Studies have shown that a hunter spends only a few hours a day (depending on the environment) on "work," while the rest of the day can be spent on leisure activities, social interactions, family, and spiritual and mental growth. This means a hunter will on average spend 20 hours a week working and still be able to meet their subsistence needs. Gatherers, who are usually women, spend a little more time working each week because of domestic duties such as child rearing.

Social Organization

The highest level of social organization in a foraging society is the band. Bands are composed of a several families and possess no central leadership. Because people have few possessions (a determining factor in status and "class" division) and the resources needed for daily living can be had for free from the environment, forager societies are more egalitarian than societies using other subsistence strategies.

Interactions between people in a forager society are face-to-face because of small group sizes. If a conflict arises, individuals can deal with each other one-to-one, and don't generally need a third party to mediate. Most of these conflicts are hammered out in time, but when a problem cannot be fixed, people can always move on to another group. In large forager groups, intragroup conflicts will split the group into smaller groups.

Camps are the center of activity for a forager society. Social bonds are formed and maintained at the camp, food is consumed there, and important ceremonies are carried out there. Food sharing is a common practice, and sets up a social network based on sharing and reciprocity. Food sharing also serves to form close social bonds within a group, ensuring that individuals work together in order to survive.

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