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"Foraging persists as a viable economic strategy both in remote regions and within the bounds of developed nation-states. Given the economic alternatives available, why do some groups choose to maintain their hunting and gathering lifeways? Through a series of detailed case studies, the contributors to this volume examine the decisions made by modern-day foragers to sustain a predominantly hunting and gathering way of life. What becomes clear is that hunter-gatherers continue to forage because the economic benefits of doing so are high relative to the local alternatives and, perhaps more importantly, because the social costs of not foraging are prohibitive; in other words, hunter-gatherers value the social networks built through foraging and sharing more than the potential marginal gains of a new means of subsistence. Why Forage? shows that hunting and gathering continues to be a viable and vibrant way of life even in the twenty-first century."

It is impossible to understand how Europe shifted from the culture & technology of the Mesolithic Age to that of the Neolithic Age without a detailed understanding of the interactions that occurred between local Mesolithic populations & transient & immigrant populations who brought with them Neolithic forms of economic production & ways of life. Key among these Neolithic innovations were the cultivation of plants & the domestication of animals. A variety of different cultures arose from these interactions, some relatively homogeneous, others far more diverse, but in all cases local populations in this region began to shift to more complex & sophisticated technology & away from a food collection economic mode. 7 Figures. D. Knaff

Hereditary economic inequality is unknown among mobile foragers, but hereditary class distinctions between elites and commoners exist in some sedentary foraging societies. With agriculture, such stratification tends to become more pronounced. We develop a model to explain the associations among productivity, population, property rights, and inequality. Using Malthusian dynamics, we show that regional productivity growth leads to enclosure of the best sites first, creating inequality between insiders and outsiders. Hereditary elite and commoner classes subsequently arise at the best sites. Food consumption becomes more unequal and commoners become poorer. These predictions are consistent with a wide range of archaeological evidence. Adapted from the source document.

Study conducted among the Chenchu tribe of Dornala and Yerragondapalem, two mandals of Prakasam District, India

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Illustrations -- Preface -- 1 The Killer Ape -- 2 The Rich Smell of Meat and Wickedness -- 3 Virgin Huntresses and Bleeding Feasts -- 4 The White Stag -- 5 The Sobbing Deer -- 6 The Noise of Breaking Machinery -- 7 The Sorrows of Eohippus -- 8 The Sick Animal -- 9 The Bambi Syndrome -- 10 A Fatal Disease of Nature -- 11 The Spirit of the Beast -- 12 A View to a Death in the Morning -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INDEX