Foragers

Homo sapiens have been around for at least 160,000 years and possibly for 200,000 years. Yet, humans have lived in sedentary, agriculture-based societies for only about 10,000 years. Why did our early ancestors live as foragers for so long? And, why do modern day foragers cling to their lifestyle even though they have been driven to the most marginal areas? What drives people to adopt agriculture? These questions are of great interest to anthropologists.

Also, we have very limited information about prehistoric humans because there are no written records. All we have are material remains. (If you are interested in how anthropologists study materials remains, I also offer an archeology course during the summer, ANT240) We know little about how they lived. Studying modern day foragers can tell us a great deal about how our ancestors lived.

Archaeologists often use "ethnographic analogy" to help explain the lives of people whom they are studying through their artifacts. Ethnographic analogy is using historically related peoples cultural practices to explain the practices of prehistoric peoples. For example, studying the Kalahari Bushmen can tell us a lot about how early humans in Africa lived. We have documentation on how the Bushmen live and we can apply that to the lives of people who lived in similar circumstances in the region thousands of years ago.

If you have ever been to Town Creek Indian Mound you see the ethnographic analogy being used to explain how the people of Town Creek lived. Archaeologists have created what they think the community looked like and have provided explanations of how they lived based on the artifacts found and documentation of the lives and practices of similar groups of Indians. There is no documentation of the lives of the people who lived at Town Creek. We have only the artifacts. Yet, when you visit Town Creek you see displays that address kinship and ritual practices. Where did that information come from? It couldn't have come solely from the artifacts. Archaeologists used documentation of similar groups that lived in the region later and have applied that information to the artifacts found, that are similar to artifacts of later groups. This is ethnographic analogy.  Studying modern days foragers provide insights into how our ancestors may have lived.