hunting and gathering society
A family in a hunting and gathering society prepares a meal from their day's finds.
Noun: A hunting and gathering society is a type of human community or culture that sustains itself primarily by hunting wild animals, fishing, and collecting wild plant foods such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables. These societies do not practice agriculture or raise domesticated animals for food on a large scale. They are typically characterized by a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place in search of food resources.
This term is used in anthropology, archaeology, and history to classify and describe the earliest forms of human social organization and those few societies that have maintained this lifestyle into the modern era. - It functions as a countable noun. - It describes a specific socio-economic system.
- Anthropologists study the social structure of a hunting and gathering society.
- Before the development of agriculture, all humans lived in hunting and gathering societies.
- The !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert are often cited as an example of a modern hunting and gathering society.
- In academic contrast: The term is often used in contrast to , , or to illustrate stages of human socio-cultural evolution.
- The transition from a hunting and gathering society to an agricultural one is called the Neolithic Revolution.
- Hunter-gatherer (noun): A member of a hunting and gathering society.
- The life of a hunter-gatherer requires extensive knowledge of the local environment.
- Hunter-gatherer (adjective): Describing characteristics of such societies.
- They studied hunter-gatherer subsistence patterns.
- Foraging society: A near-synonymous term often used interchangeably in academic literature.
- Foraging society
- Hunter-gatherer society
- Band society (This emphasizes the small, kinship-based social structure typical of such groups.)
This term specifically refers to the economic base (how food is obtained) and the social organization that arises from it. It does not simply mean "people who hunt and gather," but rather a complete societal system built around this mode of subsistence. The characteristic of being "usually nomadic" is a direct consequence of the need to follow food sources.
A family in a hunting and gathering society prepares a meal from their day's finds.
- group that supports itself by hunting and fishing and by gathering wild fruits and vegetables; usually nomadic