Evolution of society

Adaptive strategy
Yehudi Cohen coined the term Adaptive strategy in 1974. Adaptive strategy
The way people in a particular environment use cultural means to survive in that environment.

Stages for Adaptive strategy

Hunting and Gathering

Horticulture Pastoralism Agriculture

Industrialism

Hunting And Gathering Societies

The First Human Societal Existence on Earth
The appearance of the humans is about 2.5 million years 200,000 years of anatomically human form.

H & G Societies
A hunter-gatherer or forager society
is one in which most or all food is obtained

from wild plants and animals.

Hunting and Gathering is their main and single source of food. Pal eolithic age.

H & G Societies
Before H & G the Scavenging technique was used to collect food not hunting
Rather than killing large animals themselves for meat, they used carcasses of large animals killed by other predators or carcasses from animals that died by natural causes.

H & G Societies
For about 2 million years, this type of society was the dominant form of social organization. Only 10,000 to 12,000 years ago did other types of societies start to appear for 99.75% of hominid history, humans have been hunters and gatherers

H & G Societies

Out of 150 billion people ever 60% H&G

There are today only about 250,000 people living in such societies, that is, 0.001% of the worlds population.

H & G Societies
Era --10,000 YA 0 AD
1500 AD 2000 AD

population 10 million 200 million

350 million 6,070 million

percentage 100% H&G 50% H&G

1% H&G .001% H&G (300,000)

H & G Societies
Subsistence Technology:
the main mode of subsistence of such societies is through the
hunting of animals(or fishing, for societies living near coastal or Arctic areas)
The gathering of naturally growing plants, fruits, and vegetables.

H & G Societies
Types of H & G societies:
Pedestrian H & G.
Initial and simplest form of H & G. Gender Division of labor. Probability of men finding food is less than 25%; women 100% 1 hr. Hunting 1 hr. Gather
Leisure time

100 cal 240 CAL

40% (young & old) dont contribute, depend on rest

(compared to industrial society)

H & G Societies
Pedestrian H & G.

H & G Societies
Types of H & G societies:
Equestrian H & G. Use animals for riding. Larger groups, more mobile More likely to develop a social & political hierarchy They came into conflict with other tribes as they competed for hunting grounds. 10 bands form tribe.

H & G Societies
Types of H & G societies:
Aquatic H & G.
Little advance form of H & G
Even larger groups, greater social stratification, more elaborate material culture Elaborate fishing technology (boats). Every group tribe each with its own autonomous village. Lifeway similar to agriculturalists Large settled communities

Aquatic H & G.

H & G Societies
How the H & G came to end?
The Neolithic Revolution: 10,000 years ago

(The term Neolithic Revolution was coined in 1923 by Vere Gordon Childe)
when people first discover how to cultivate crops and to domesticate animals Fade up of limited set of food-producing techniques. Climate change Increasingly sedentary population.

The Neolithic Revolution

H & G Societies
Common Characteristics of Hunting and Gathering Societies.

H & G Societies

Habitat:
Nomadic way of settlement pattern
Hunter-gatherer societies tend to be relatively mobile, In form of band and tribal.

H & G Societies
Such Mobile communities typically construct shelters Using impermanent building materials they may use natural rock shelters

H & G Societies
Population
An individual band tend to be small in number (10-50 individuals). these may gather together seasonally to temporarily form a larger group (100 or more).

Types of Communities:
General Communities.(Bands & Tribes)
Complex Communities.(Chiefdoms & states)

H & G Societies
Why variance in Population:
when resources are abundant. In a few places where the environment is especially productive.

They set up seasonal camps wherever the animals and resources were plentiful.

H & G Societies
Bands migrated when food (plants or animals) became scarce in one location.

Were outta here! Yaba-daba-doo!

H & G Societies
Causes of Migration.
Couldnt find enough food Growing number of bands Changing climate (desertification) Follow animals on the move (hunting)

H & G Societies
Social Structure:

Family system is strong.

Non-hierarchical Egalitarian social structures. Grouped together based on kinship and band (or tribe) membership.

H & G Societies
Violence and wage war in huntergatherer societies is usually rare.

Sexual division of Labor.

Man did hunting Women did gathering

H & G Societies

At the 1966 "Man the Hunter" conference, anthropologists Richard Borshay Lee and Irven DeVore. Flux in territorial boundaries as well as in demographic composition

H & G Societies
Marshall Sahlins view of H & G societies: ethnographic data indicated that huntergatherers worked far fewer hours and enjoyed more leisure than typical members of industrial society, and they still ate well.
Against Thomas Hobbes had put it in 1651.

H & G Societies
Primitive tools
Spears
Bows and arrows Nets and traps

Digging sticks
Needles, pins awls Antler hammers

Axes

Comparative View of Evolutional Societies:

Type of Society H&G H Period
From creation to 12000 Y ago Productive Technology Population

size

Settlement

Pattern

Social

Organization

Primitive weapons
Domesticat ion of Animals

25-40

Nomadic

Family centered Religious system Developed

Social stratification s

Pastoralism From 12000 to 3000 BCE

Horticulture

Several hundreds

Nomadic

same
From 5000 years ago

Hand or simple tools

Several thousands

Semi Permanent
Permanent

Agriculture

Animals Millions of drawn plow people

Political economic religeous systems emerged

High level of S Stratifications

Industriali From 1750 years ago sm

Machines

same

Permanent

HIMBA PEOPLE OF NAMIBIA

ENIVIRONMENT
Himba people live in KEUNEN region of NORTHERN NAMIBIA. Its located just above the tropic of CAPRICORN which runs through the middle of NAMIBIA. Their position on EARTH gives them opposite seasons of the year compared to ours. Winter -JUNE to AUGUST-dry Summer NOV to FEB-Rainy

Inconsistent rain patterns causes frequent droughts and no much diversity in vegetation
.

Scarcity of resources bound them to stay as NOMADS and they are always on move.

LANGUAGE
OTIHIMBA,,a dialect of spoken in Himba region. HERERO language is Herero language spoken by about 250,000 people in NAMIBIA. The language is written using LATIN alphabets. HERERO is taught throughout the country in schools and universities.

GENDER ROLES
Strong separation in men & women roles. Typically the men are warriors and bring food to table.

Marital status defined by certain dress patterns

.

 Women of HIMBA usually referred as RED WOMEN as they use red paste on their body to protect them from sun as well as cosmetics.

MARRIAGE
Always want to reproduce to enhance the tribe. Polygamy is common practice. While husbands are away with goats ,wives have affairs with other tribesmen. Number of sexual partners result in the danger of AIDS facing ZIMBA people.

KINSHIP
Kinship ties might be closer as women have offspring from different men. Incest is mentioned by giving down cattle from a man to his sisters offspring.

RELIGION
Zimba are very spirtual people. Worship by lighting fire every morning called HOLY FIRE. FIRE represents their ancestors.

 Because of the importance of the fire ,only the chiefs home entrance can face the light the rest of the homes must face away.

ARTWORK
Himba people constantly decorating their bodies with shells and jewellery made by HIMBA people.

CONCLUSION
Himba people preserved their culture really well despite frequent visits by western people. Himba represents a living TIME CAPSULE for this particular region in Africa.

To Hear us Attentively