Publication

1995 - Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, District of Columbia

Language

English

Word Count

111,500 words, Guess

Page Count

446 pages

Identifiers

and 2 more
  • LibraryThing668857
  • Goodreads4006104

Classifications

  • DDC306.3/49
  • LCCGN388 .K44 1995

Description

Because most of humanity's time as a species has been spent in a hunting-and-gathering subsistence mode, living hunter-gatherers have always played a pivotal role in interpretations of pre-history and anthropological theory. It is widely believed that "human nature" can be seen more clearly at this "stage" than at any other. Challenging this preconception, Robert L. Kelly crafts a new theoretical position by emphasizing the diversity among hunter-gatherer societies - a diversity that belies attempts to establish a single model of a predominant or "original" foraging lifeway. Kelly reviews the anthropological literature for the differences among ethnographically known hunter-gatherers. By considering the actual, not imagined, reasons behind diverse behavior, The Foraging Spectrum argues for a revision of many archaeological models of prehistory. Written for archaeologists and ethnologists outside the field of hunter-gatherer research, it stresses explaining, rather than explaining away, variability.

Subjects

Other Editions

  • The foraging spectrum: diversity in hunter-gatherer lifewaysSmithsonian Institution Press1995-01-01

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