Huntergatherer

A hunter-gatherer (also written hunter-gatherer or hunter gatherer) refers to a person or society whose subsistence depends on obtaining food by hunting wild animals, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods such as fruits, nuts, seeds, and tubers, rather than through farming or domestication of animals.

Historically, hunter-gatherer economies dominated human life for much of our species’ existence and across many regions. The Neolithic Revolution, starting around 12,000 years ago in some areas, marks a broad shift toward agriculture and animal husbandry, but many groups continued or still continue foraging as their primary means of subsistence. Today, some communities around the world still live as hunter-gatherers, often in marginal or protected environments.

social organization in many hunter-gatherer groups is characterized by mobility and small, kin-based bands. Resources are shared within the group, and social structures tend to be relatively Egalitarian, with leadership and decision-making typically informal and linked to experience, skill, or ritual authority rather than inherited status. Division of labor often varies by age and sex and can adapt to seasonal availability.

Tools and technology associated with hunter-gatherers include stone implements, wooden tools, rimed spears, bows and arrows, fishing gear, and early forms of fire use. Diets are diverse and highly adaptable to local ecologies, ranging from large game to marine resources to wild plant foods.

In modern contexts, the term is used to describe historical populations as well as contemporary communities that practice foraging, sometimes alongside other subsistence activities.