Chapter 15

What is the most important form of food-getting among foragers?

fishing

How do the Yanomamö spend most of their time?

foraging

What kind of environment favors pastoralism?

grassland regions of the earth such as steppes (dry, low grass cover), prairies (taller, better-watered grass), or savannas (tropical grasslands)

What are some techniques for fishing?

hook and line, spearing, and ambushing with nets and dams

What are the three major types of food production systems?

horticulture, intensive agriculture, and pastoralism

What is commercialization?

increasing dependence on buying and selling, usually with money as the medium of exchange

What does the other kind of horticulture depend on?

long-growing tree crops

How has life changes for the Australian aborigines since the late 1960s?

many live in small, settled villages They still forage occasionally, but most of their food comes from the store. Some earn wages; many more subsist on government welfare checks

Where do most foraging societies currently live in?

marginal areas of the earth—deserts, the Arctic, and dense tropical forests—habitats that do not allow easy exploitation by modern agricultural technologies

In the last few hundred years about how many people have been foragers?

only about 5 million people

Which factors are associated with the beginnings of social differentiation among horticulturalists?

part-time craft occupations, part-time political offices, and kinship group hierarchies

What are hunter-gatherers?

people who collect food from naturally occurring resources

What do the Yanomamös plant?

plantains, manioc, sweet potatoes, taro, and a variety of plants for medicine, condiments, and craft materials

What else is necessary to guarantee a good crop?

proper irrigation and fertilization

What is pastoralism?

societies dependent mostly for their living on domesticated herds of animals that feed on natural pasture

What are subsistence economies?

societies in which almost all able-bodied adults are directly engaged in getting food for themselves and their families

For what crop do the Samoans practice shifting cultivation?

taro

Why can Samoans and Tahitians not weed as often?

the land of Samoa and Tahiti is mostly steep and weeding would risk the erosion of the soil

What can we learn about the food-getting strategies in the Imperial Valley in California?

the physical environment does not by itself account for the system of food-getting in an area

Why is there so much focus on hunter-gatherers when so few societies are left and foraging as a way of life for the world's humanity is mostly in the past?

the significance of the hunter-gatherer way of life in the evolution of human culture

What happens when the forest begins to grow back?

they abandon the garden and clear a new one (if they can, they clear adjacent forest, but if gardens are far from the village, they will move the village to a new location)

What is involved in Samoan horticulture?

three tree crops- breadfruit trees, coconut trees, and banana trees

What is they typical technique used by the Inupiaq to hunt sea mammals (early 19th century)?

to hurl a toggle harpoon into the animal from a kayak

What kind of environment favors horticulture?

tropical enviornments

What is the principal agricultural activity of Khanh Hau in Vietnam?

wet rice cultivation

What trends are a result of increasing commercialization?

1. farm work is becoming more mechanized as hand labor becomes scarce because of migration to industrial and service jobs in towns and cities or because hired hand labor has become too expensive 2. the emergence and spread of agribusiness, large corporation-owned farms that may be operated by multinational companies and worked entirely by hired, as opposed to family, labor 3. a reduction in the proportion of the population engaged in food production

What are some general features of pastoralism?

1. pastoralism has been practiced mainly in grassland and other semiarid habitats that are not especially suitable for cultivation without some significant technological input such as irrigation 2. Most pastoralists are nomadic, moving camp fairly frequently to find water and new pasture for their herds. But other pastoralists have somewhat more sedentary lives 3. Pastoral communities are usually small, consisting of a group of related families 4. trade is usually necessary for pastoral groups to survive 5. pastoralists are more vulnerable than foragers and horticulturalists to famine and food shortages 6. Pastoralists usually inhabit drought-prone regions, but recent pastoralists have had their access to grazing lands reduced, and political pressures have pushed them to decrease their movement over large areas

What is slash-and-burn horticulture?

A form of shifting cultivation in which the natural vegetation is cult down and burned off. The clear ground is used for a short time then left to regenerate

What is extensive (shifting) cultivation?

A type of horticullture in which the land is worked for short periods and then left to regenerate for some years before being used again

What about for tropical foragers?

Animals are available in tropical forests, but typically they are lean and do not provide humans with sufficient carbohydrates or fat. Therefore, tropical foragers rely on trade for agricultural products.

What else do horticultural societies depend on aside from just crops?

Many hunt or fish and most raise smaller animals, such as pigs, chickens, goats, and sheep

What do Samoan men do vs Samoan women?

Men do most of the harvesting, women do the weeding (occasionally)

What do the Yanomamö men do vs the Yanomamö women with gardening?

Men do the heavy clearing work to prepare a garden, and men and women plant the crops. Women usually go to the gardens daily to weed and harvest

What do the men do vs the women in the cotton fields?

Men do the irrigation, women pick the cotton in addition to household work

What is common among most recent forager societies?

Most live in small communities in sparsely populated territories and follow a nomadic lifestyle, forming no permanent settlements. As a rule, they do not recognize individuals' land rights. Their communities generally do not have different classes of people and tend to have no specialized or full-time political officials. Foragers are less likely to face serious food shortages and famines. Division of labor in foraging societies is based largely on age and gender. Foragers must decide what plants or animals to target.

Why is it so important to shift gardens?

Not only is a burned field easier to plant, but the organic matter that is burned provides necessary nutrients for a good yield. If horticulturalists come back too quickly to a spot with little plant cover, a garden made there will not produce a satisfactory yield

What has changed for the Inupiaq after the early 19th century?

Now the Inupiaq live in villages or towns with many modern conveniences But even though the people may buy most of their food, there is still a preference for traditional foods, so the Inupiaq still hunt and fish on the weekends

How did the Inupiaq live?

Related families usually live together and move camp by boat or sled to be in the best place to intercept the migratory animals and fish

What are some general features of horticulturalists?

Simple farming techniques have tended to yield more food from a given area than is generally available to foragers. Horticulture is able to support larger, more densely populated communities. The way of life of horticulturalists is more sedentary than that of foragers, although communities may move after some years to farm a new series of plots. Horticultural societies exhibit the beginnings of social differentiation.

What are two examples of pastoral societies?

The Basseri and The Saami

What is food production?

The cultivation and domestication of plants and animals

What is horticulture?

The growing of crops of all kinds with relatively simple tools and methods, in the absence of permanently cultivated fields. The methods used do not include fertilization, irrigation, or other ways to restore soil fertility after a growing season

What is involved in the proper planting of a rice crop?

The seedbeds are prepared as soon as the rains have softened the ground in May. The soil is turned over (plowed) and broken up (harrowed) as many as six separate times, with two-day intervals for "airing" between operations. During this time, the rice seeds are soaked in water for at least two days to stimulate sprouting. Before the seedlings are planted, the paddy is plowed once more and harrowed twice in two directions at right angles.

How much does the physical environment affect food-getting?

There is a restraining effect on the major types of subsistence, but cross-cultural evidence indicates that neither foraging nor food production is significantly associated with any particular type of habitat

What is characteristic about foraging societies that depend heavily on fishing (such as on the Pacific Coast of the northwestern United States and Canada or on the south coast of New Guinea)?

They are more likely to have bigger and more permanent communities and more social inequality than foraging societies elsewhere that depend mostly on game and plants. They also tend to have higher population densities, food storage, occupational specialization, resource ownership, slavery, and competitiveness

What is true about the community of the Ngatatjara?

They are mostly nomadic, move their campsites in search of food, and live in isolated campsites inhabited by a small number of people

What do the women of the Inupiaq do?

They butcher the animal, prepare it for eating or storage, and process the skin. Women sew all of the skin clothing. They also hunt small animals, such as hares, and do much of the fishing and make fishing nets They also gather plants that they can find

What is another reason that contemporary foragers should not be considered a figment of the past?

They have been interacting with kinds of societies that did not exist until after 10,000 years ago—agriculturalists, pastoralists, and intrusive, powerful state societies. Foraging people have increasingly depended not only on trade but also on agriculture and commercial activities as additional means of subsistence

What is still happening in contemporary foraging societies?

They have evolved and are still evolving economically and socially like all contemporary societies

What is intensive agriculture?

Using techniques that enable them to cultivate fields permanently

What is foraging?

a strategy whereby humans gather, hunt, scavenge, or fish to obtain their food from plants and animals found in the wild

Where did early foragers live?

all types of environments

What describes the environment of Ngatatjara?

averages less than 8 inches of rain per year, and the temperature in summer may rise to 118°F The few permanent water holes are separated by hundreds of square miles of sand, scrub, and rock. Even before Europeans arrived in Australia, the area was sparsely populated, with less than one person per 35 to 40 square miles. Now there are even fewer people because the aboriginal population was decimated by introduced diseases and colonial mistreatment

What is market foraging?

collecting our food from stores

What are the main cash crops in the village of Vasilika in Greece?

cotton and tobacco

What are cash crops?

crops raised for sale

How does the physical environment have an effect on what kind of foraging is practiced in environments that are farther away from the equator?

1. Farther away from the equator, foragers depend much less on plants for food and much more on animals and fish (fishing becomes increasingly important in cold climates because foragers need nonportable housing in severe winters to protect themselves from the cold and fishing is more localized)

Wet rice cultivation includes what three interacting components?

1. a complex system of irrigation and water control 2. a variety of specialized equipment, including plows, waterwheels, threshing sledges, and winnowing machines 3. a clearly defined set of socioeconomic roles—from those of landlord, tenant, and laborer to those of rice miller and rice merchant

What are some general features of intensive agricultural societies?

1. a high degree of craft specialization, complex political organization, and large differences in wealth and power 2. intensive agriculturalists work longer hours than horticulturalists 3. Intensive agricultural societies are more likely than horticultural societies to face famines and food shortages (because they are often producing crops for market)

Why can't the Inupiaq rely on plants as part of their diet?

In the North American Arctic, where they live year round, plants were too scarce

Why do anthropologists prefer the term "foragers" to "hunter-gatherers"?

It includes fishing as well as hunting land animals and gathering wild plants.