anthropology codding • Why Forage? kramer HUNTERS AND GATHERERS IN brian f. codding is an assistant professor THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY of anthropology at the University of Utah. He has published more than thirty peer-reviewed papers on the ecology of hunter-gatherers. karen l. kramer is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Utah and the author of Maya Children: Edited by Brian F. Codding and Karen L. Kramer Helpers at the Farm. SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH ADVANCED SEMINAR SERIES The earliest humans were hunter-gatherers. Even though many of these foragers long ago transitioned to pastoralism and agriculture, foraging persists as a viable economic strat- egy both in remote regions and within the bounds of devel- W oped nation-states. Given the economic alternatives available, why do some groups choose to maintain their hunting and h gathering lifeways? Through a series of detailed case studies, y the contributors to this volume examine the decisions made contributors F by modern-day foragers to sustain a predominantly hunting Douglas W. Bird o and gathering way of life. What becomes clear is that hunter- Rebecca Bliege Bird r Nicholas Blurton Jones gatherers continue to forage because the economic benefi ts of a Brian F. Codding doing so are high relative to the local alternatives and, perhaps g James E. Coxworth more importantly, because the social costs of not foraging are e Russell D. Greaves Robert K. Hitchcock prohibitive; in other words, hunter-gatherers value the social ? Karen L. Kramer networks built through foraging and sharing more than the Richard B. Lee potential marginal gains of a new mode of subsistence. Why Karen D. Lupo Forage? shows that hunting and gathering continues to be a Maria Sapignoli vibrant way of life even in the twenty-fi rst century, and the George W. Wenzel David W. Zeanah authors predict that it will remain viable well into the future. ISBN 978-0-8263-5696-3 90000 university of new mexico press SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH ADVANCED SEMINAR SERIES unmpress.com • 800-249-7737 9 780826356963 > Why Forage? codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 1 4/19/16 9:50 AM School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series Michael F. Brown General Editor Since 1970 the School for Advanced Research (formerly the School of American Research) and SAR Press have published over one hundred volumes in the Advanced Seminar Series. These volumes arise from seminars held on SAR’s Santa Fe campus that bring together small groups of experts to explore a single issue. Participants assess recent innovations in theory and methods, appraise ongoing research, and share data relevant to problems of significance in anthropology and related disciplines. The resulting volumes reflect SAR’s commitment to the development of new ideas and to scholarship of the highest caliber. The complete Advanced Seminar Series can be found at www.sarweb.org. codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 2 4/19/16 9:50 AM Why Forage? hunters and gatherers in the twenty-first century Edited by Brian F. Codding and Karen L. Kramer school for advanced research Press • santa fe university of new Mexico Press • albuquerque codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 3 4/19/16 9:50 AM © 2016 by the School for Advanced Research All rights reserved. Published 2016 Printed in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Codding, Brian F., editor. | Kramer, Karen, editor. Title: Why forage? : hunters and gatherers in the twenty-first century / edited by Brian F. Codding and Karen L. Kramer. Description: Santa Fe : School for Advanced Research Press ; Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2016. | Series: School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015050549 (print) | LCCN 2016014134 (ebook) | ISBN 9780826356963 (paperback) | ISBN 9780826356970 (electronic) Subjects: LCSH: Hunting and gathering societies. | Subsistence farming. | Subsistence hunting. | Economic anthropology. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General. Classification: LCC GN388 .W58 2016 (print) | LCC GN388 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/64—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov /2015050549 Cover photograph: Pumé foragers by Russell D. Greaves codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 4 4/19/16 9:50 AM Contents LISt Of ILLuStrAtIONS  vii ACkNOWLEDGmENtS  xi INtrODuCtION Hunters and Gatherers in the Twenty- First Century  1 Karen L. Kramer and Brian F. Codding CHAptEr ONE Diversify or Replace: What Happens to Wild Foods When Cultigens Are Introduced into Hunter- Gatherer Diets?  15 Karen L. Kramer and Russell D. Greaves CHAptEr tWO Inuit Culture: To Have and Have Not; or, Has Subsistence Become an Anachronism?  43 George W. Wenzel CHAptEr tHrEE “In the bush the food is free”: The Ju/’hoansi of Tsumkwe in the Twenty- First Century  61 Richard B. Lee CHAptEr fOur Twenty- First- Century Hunting and Gathering among Western and Central Kalahari San  89 Robert K. Hitchcock and Maria Sapignoli CHAptEr fIvE Why Do So Few Hadza Farm?  113 Nicholas Blurton Jones CHAptEr SIx In Pursuit of the Individual: Recent Economic Opportunities and the Persistence of Traditional Forager- Farmer Relationships in the Southwestern Central African Republic  137 Karen D. Lupo CHAptEr SEvEN What Now? Big Game Hunting, Economic Change, and the Social Strategies of Bardi Men  167 James E. Coxworth CHAptEr EIGHt Alternative Aboriginal Economies: Martu Livelihoods in the Twenty- First Century  185 Brian F. Codding, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Douglas W. Bird, and David W. Zeanah v codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 5 4/19/16 9:50 AM vi Contents CHAptEr NINE Economic, Social, and Ecological Contexts of Hunting, Sharing, and Fire in the Western Desert of Australia  213 Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, and Douglas W. Bird AppENDIx A Cross- Cultural Demographic and Social Variables for Contemporary Foraging Populations  231 AppENDIx B Economic Activities of Twenty- First- Century Foraging Populations  241 rEfErENCES  263 CONtrIButOrS  321 INDEx  325 codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 6 4/19/16 9:50 AM IllustratIons FIgures I.1 Distribution of hunter- gatherer populations  2 1.1 Savanna Pumé couple hunting small game and collecting wild tubers  16 1.2 Pumé subsistence base  23 2.1 Inuit man working on his snowmobile  44 3.1 Ju/’hoansi women gathering wild foods  62 4.1 People cooking in !Xere  92 5.1 Hadza women collecting berries  114 6.1 Bofi man making a net  139 6.2 Distribution of forest foragers in the western and central Central African Forest  140 6.3 Bofi children on their way to exchange koko  148 7.1 Bardi men spotting a bull dugong  169 7.2 Residual plots of age- controlled relationships in three status- linked activities and surviving offspring  179 7.3 Residual plots of age- controlled relationships between success in three status- linked activities and surviving offspring  180 8.1 A Martu grandson and grandfather warming by a morning fire  186 8.2 Summary of demographic data  200 8.3 Number of individuals per camp per week foraging by the number of co- residing dependents  206 9.1 Martu women hunting for sand monitor lizards   214 9.2 Map showing impact of anthropogenic fires in the Yulpul region  224 9.3 Proportion of a sand monitor hunter’s harvest given to other camp members  227 tables 1.1 Modern hunter- gatherer societies that combine wild resource use with some use of cultivars and domesticated animals  17 1.2 Descriptive characteristics of Pumé wild root and manioc trips  31 1.3 The nutritional composition of two common wild root species collected by Pumé foragers compared to bitter manioc  32 vii codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 7 4/19/16 9:50 AM viii Illustrations 1.4 The conditions under which a nonforaged resource may enter a hunter- gatherer diet through adoption versus trade  37 2.1 Clyde River traditional food production, 1980 and 1984  53 2.2 Per capita traditional food availability in Clyde River, 1980 and 1984  54 3.1 A breakdown of 2010 Tsumkwe study participants by gender  70 3.2 Ju/’hoan informants’ dependence on various food sources: wild, domestic, government, and commercial  71 3.3 A rank ordering of the two most important food sources at eight remote Ju/’hoan villages  72 3.4 Findings from the 1996–1997 Xamsa study  83 4.1 Wildlife obtained by a sample of subsistence hunters in the central Kalahari, 1958–1966  100 4.2 Wild animals obtained by subsistence hunters in the central Kalahari, 2010–2012  101 4.3 Employment and cash income for people in the western and central Kalahari, 2011  105 4.4 Population data for communities in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and resettlement sites outside of the reserve, Botswana, 1988–2014  107 4.5 A comparison of resource rights and natural resource management in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Botswana) and the Nyae Nyae Region (Namibia)  109 5.1 Circumstances of Hadza life during the period 1985–2000  120 6.1 Selected historic (1610–1885) descriptions of forest foragers  144 6.2 Major colonial and postcolonial impacts on Bofi and Aka lifeways in the southwestern Central African Republic  145 6.3 The average post- encounter return rates for prey  156 6.4 The number of prey taken from 1999 to 2003  157 6.5 A comparison of hunting inventories of Bofi foragers in Grima  157 6.6 Distributions of forest food proportions by Bofi foragers  161 6.7 Exchange values of different food commodities  163 7.1 Key technological shifts in the twentieth century and their effects on big game hunting  174 8.1 A summary of census data by age class and gender  201 8.2 The cost (Australian dollars) and energetic value (kcal) of items at the community shop  201 codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 8 4/19/16 9:50 AM Illustrations ix 8.3 Estimated wages earned (Australian dollars) and energetic returns (kcal) per day for subsistence- related activities  203 9.1 Least- squares mean and return rates by habitat type and season  219 9.2 Fire size and nearest neighbor distances in lightning fire– dominated and Martu fire– dominated landscapes  221 A.1 Cross- cultural demographic and social variables for contemporary foraging populations  236 B.1 Economic activities of twenty- first- century foraging populations  256 codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 9 4/19/16 9:50 AM