The Foraging Spectrum

Book excerpt: The author wrote this book primarily for his archaeology students, to show them how dangerous anthropological analogy is and how variable the actual practices of foragers of the recent past and today are. His survey of anthropological literature points to differences in foraging societies' patterns of diet, mobility, sharing, land tenure, exchange, gender relations, division of labour, marriage, descent and political organisation. By considering the actual, not imagined, reasons behind diverse behaviour this book argues for a revision of many archaeological models of prehistory. From the reviews [A]n excellent overview of key issues in hunter-gatherer studies. Alan Barnard in American Ethnologist Not since Man the Hunter has there been such a synthesis and such a mix of stimulating ideas. This will be the authoritative work on hunter/gatherers for a good number of years. Brian Hayden in Canadian Journal of Archaeology [A]uthoritative, comprehensive, and highly readable. . . . A well-worn and heavily annotated copy should be the companion of anyone claiming an interest or expertise in present or past hunter-gatherers. Bruce Winterhalder in American Antiquity Prepublication praise The Foraging Spectrum [is] a well-written, scrupulously researched synthesis of modern approaches to foraging behavior, both past and present. David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History A tour de force of scholarship in behavioral ecology. Mathias Guenther, Wilfred Laurier University