Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the predominantly vegetarian diets of both the early australopithecines and the present-day peoples of the Australian "out-back" and the African Kalahari. The paper also points out some of the unsettling racial dynamics, which have complicated scholarly investigations into what the comparative diets of these groups say about them and about their position relative to other branches of the human family. The paper then explores the group/social organization, the division of labor within Australopithecine camps and how and to what extent the ancient Australopithecines were food foragers and meat scavengers. The author of the paper relates that, in all of these instances, brief comparisons are drawn between the behavior and characteristics of the ancient Australopethecus and those of modern-day hunter-gatherers. The paper concludes that the similarities between the early hominids and today's aboriginal tribes suggest that we can learn much about the behavior and evolution of the former by studying the latter.

From the Paper:

"For their part, it does seem as though the contemporary aboriginal peoples of Australia and the Kalahari of Namibia and Botswana - the two groups that offer the most by way of comparison to the ancient Australopithecus - are not especially enamored with scavenging, either, mostly because meat is not a vital staple of their everyday diet. To wit, The San speakers of the Kalahari have always had a preference for nuts, vegetables and for plant roots - although meat was (and ostensibly still remains) desirable as something of a luxury item."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Goodale, Jane.1963 Desert People: A Study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia. American Anthropologist 65(4): 928-931.
• Jacobs, James Q.2000. James Q. Jacobs on the Web. Electronic Document, http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleo/scavenging.html, accessed June 7, 2007
• Johanson, Donald. 2001. USATODAY.com. Electronic Document, http://cgi1.usatoday.com/mchat/20010416002/tscript.htm accessed June 7, 2007.
• Klekamp, J., A. Riedel, C. Harper and H.J. Kretschmann. 1987. Journal of Anatomy, Electronic Document, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1261675, accessed June 7, 2007
• O'Neil, Dennis.2006. Electronic Document, http://anthro.palomar.edu/subsistence/sub_2.htm, accessed June 7, 2007

More papers on Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers:

• Term Paper # 133912 : "Understanding the Ancient Australopithecus"
• Comparison Essay # 118385 : "Behavioral Ecology of Hunter-Gatherers"

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