Subsistence Strategies

1. Subsistence Strategies Making a Living

2. Subsistence Strategies • How people get food from their environment • Ecological anthropology studies the interaction between societies and their environments • Technology allows an area to support higher population density

3. Humans and the environment • Up until 10,000 ya humans foraged • About 10,000 ya we began to domesticate plants and animals • About 6,000 ya in new world • Domestic animals supported larger populations and sedentary villages developed • Sedentary life led to cultivation and more complex social structure

4. Humans and the environment • Why did some societies remain foragers rather than adopt domestication? • In some environments foraging is more reliable

5. Subsistence Strategies • Foraging – use plant and animal resources naturally available in the environment • Pastoralism – care of domesticated herd animals for dairy and meat food • Horticulture – production of plants using simple, non-mechanized technology • Agriculture – production of plants using more complex techniques that allow permanent cultivation • Industrialism – use of machine technology and chemical processes for the production of food

6. Subsistence Strategies • Societies may use one or a combination of subsistence strategies • Resources can be extended by trading with a group that uses a different subsistence strategy

7. Subsistence Strategies • Foraging – uses plant and animal resources naturally available in the environment • Hunting of large and small game • Fishing • Collecting various foods and plants • Supports low population density • Inuit of the Arctic Circle • Australian Aborigines

8. Foraging • Inuit of the Arctic Circle • Rely on large animals, seals, whales, caribou • Depends on detailed knowledge of environment and animal behavior, patience, problem solving, cooperation, avoiding conflict • Men hunt, women process and distribute meat, oil, skins

9. Foraging • Australian Aborigines • Plant foods available naturally, some hunting • Depends on detailed knowledge of environment, cooperation, food and water management • Men and women forage for plants and small animals

10. Foraging • Social patterns associated with foraging • Seasonal nomadism, gather in larger groups seasonally • Organization of society into small camps with flexible membership

11. Subsistence Strategies • Pastoralism - care of domesticated herd animals • Used in semiarid grasslands that do not support agriculture but grazing animals can digest grass • Herd animals produce milk and meat – cattle, sheep, goats, yaks, camels

12. Pastoralism • Transhumant pastoralism – men and boys move animals to different pastures at different altitude or climatic zone while women and children remain a permanent village • Nomadic pastoralism – whole population, men, women and children move with the herd and there are no permanent villages

13. Pastoralism • Complex interaction of land animals and people • Knowledge of how many animals the land can sustain • Knowledge of how many animals needed to support people in the group • Trade with sedentary neighbors necessary for grain and manufactured goods • Social pattern: • Patrilineal kinship

14. Subsistence Strategies • Horticulture - production of plants using simple, non-mechanized technology • Allow fields to rest fallow after cultivation • Use only digging sticks or hoes, do not use plows, draft animals, or irrigation

15. Horticulture • Swidden or slash and burn cultivation – • Trees are felled and brush is burned • Ash fertilizes soil • Fields used for 3 – 5 years • Fields lie fallow up to 20 years to allow forest to regrow • Requires 5- 6 times as much fallow land as cultivated land • Land will deteriorate if not allowed to lie fallow long enough

16. Horticulture • No surplus food • Most horticulturists also keep domesticated animals or hunt • Social patterns: • diverse environments and diverse cultures • Most shift residence as they move fields but some maintain permanent villages

17. Subsistence Patterns • Agriculture - production of plants using more complex techniques that allow permanent cultivation • Use of plow, draft animals, complex water and soil control, irrigation • Supports higher population density and requires more i labor

18. Agriculture • Requires more investment of capital than horticulture • More vulnerable to environment because of reliance on few crops and draft animals

19. Agriculture • Social patterns associated with agriculture • Sedentary villages, social stratification, occupational diversity, organization of state

20. Subsistence Strategies • Industrialism – use of machine technology and chemical processes for the production of food • Consumption must constantly increase and standard of living must always go up • Shift from subsistence strategies to wage labor

21. Industrialism • Globalization – integration of resources, labor, and capital into a global network • Industrial societies have at least two social classes: • Labor force • Managerial class • Smaller class that controls production and distribution

22. Subsistence Strategies • Anthropology is in the position to study the various impacts of subsistence strategies on the environment and make a contribution to improve our care of the environment as well as production of food