If you had to live like a hunter-gatherer what lifestyle and location would you pick?

LeBrok

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Would you be hunter-gatherer of the steppe, riding horses and eating horse meat, or further in time being steppe mammoth hunter, living in mammoth tusk tents?

Would you be rather hunter gatherer of North Europe hunting deer in moderate climate forest, with your friend domesticated wolf "first dog"?

Perhaps south Europe - Middle East coastal area with seafood and more veggies to eat and no harsh winter is your thing?

Maybe, something more extreme, living like Eskimo on ice all year round hunting seals from your kayak, enjoying fresh liver?

Living in Amazon jungle, where food always runs close by and fresh fruit hangs above your hammock, and everyone walks naked?

What about living on Caribbean or Hawaiian island, sailing around in small sail boats and diving for crab and oysters?
 
My thing would be in South Europe by a coast of sea or a big lake. I don't particularly like snowy, long and cold winters.
I would choose to live in early holocene when South Europe was wetter and more green.

I like variety of food, and cherish ripe fruit and veggies all year long. So, definitely Northern Europe would cause a dietary limitations for me.
If it comes to hunting, bow and arrow would be my thing, stealth, and hunting mostly wild pigs. Pork is the king.
Fishing and catching crayfish would be my other favorite activity. I don't mind picking variety of berries in a forest and wild mushrooms.
I never like wearing layers of clothing. I'm happiest in summer wearing tshirt and sandals. I like walking barefoot too.

Preferably a small tribe where everybody knows everyone and sharing of all food is no problem.
Sedentary tribe, not migratory. I hate carrying lots of stuff, and hate walking long distances.
I'm a sprinter. A quick burst of energy of minutes or a game for an hour, is my favorite exercise.

From recent genetic tests of h-gs, I know that my wife is brunette with blue eyes. ;) But I'm not sharing her with all the tribe.
 
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Given that lack of vitamin D and sunlight intensifies my depression, I prefer warmer climates as well. I find myself much more clear intellectually and emotionally during the warmer months.
 
Surely not like Eskimo, it is very hard
 
I like hilly forests with a temperate to Mediterranean climate. As a HG I would be hunting deer and water fowl, and picking up berries, nuts and other fruits. I don't particularly like fishing (too mind numbing), except in shallow waters with a spear (to use my reflexes and spatio-visual skills) or just catching crayfish, which I did as a child on holiday in the south of France. My ideal natural environment would be eastern France, the Alps and Italy. I don't like boring flat landscapes nor harsh winters, so the Steppe and the Baltic aren't for me. The more rugged landscapes of the Altai and Mongolia do look attractive though. The Middle East could be a nice place too, especially the greener and more rugged Anatolia and Caucasus, but the Levant is quite nice too (from what I could see of it in Israel). I would certainly not choose to live anywhere tropical, especially if it's muggy (got enough of it in Japan in summer).
 
Long time ago, my ancestors were hunting deer and boar in and near the forests in the piedmont of the southern Carpathian hills.
But then the icecaps in the far north began to grow.
Our forests started to shrink and deer and boar became scarce.
In the northern plain reindeer started to appear and along came reindeer hunters.
Our tribe decided to move south.
When they reached the sea they followed to coast further south.
Finaly the coastline turned east and it was 5 weeks later that we found some small forests and some caves which provided us shelter and food.
Our tribe survived there for 5000 years in isolation, till the climate became warmer again and the forests grew.
Then gazelle hunters came from the east.
They had new weapons, bow and arrow.
We learned about it and we tought it was a good thing.
But more and more hunters came from the east and they hunted our boar and deer in our forests.
My parents and some of their friends decided to move.
They came back to the Carpathian hills and moved beyond, further northwest.
That was when I was born.
My tribe met the reindeer hunters again.
But this time the forests were growing and the reindeer hunters had to move further north.
And we had bow and arrow, those reindeer hunters were no match for us.
When we reached a nice place with clean water and good hunting grounds, my parents decided to settle.
I was young and I liked to make long journeys, several days or weeks to explore the forest and lakes and hills nearby.
I met a nice reindeer hunters daugther. She prefered to stay with me instead of moving further north.
We built a hut along the lakeside, and it was there where I founded my new tribe.
 
You ask the best questions, LeBrok! :)

Bicicleur, what a lovely narrative. You have hidden depths and talents, including one for narrative writing. :)

As to the substance, I'm more on LeBrok's and Maciamo's wavelength. Both my preferences and my heart draw me to say right near where I was born, perhaps the mouth of the Magra Valley near LaSpezia. A wonderful Mediterranean climate, the sea, which perhaps then was richer in fish than it is now, the marshy plain of the river with wild fowl and fish, green hills nearby.

Bocca di Magra:
boccadimagra_bianca_flickr-e1364162600253.jpg



However, much of the flora and fauna which make it so wonderful today, and which make for such good eating, were not there then. They were all brought by the Neolithic farmers, and even later by the Greeks.

So, I think I would go with Maciamo's suggestion of the Middle East. There were all those wild grains to reap, pulses, hazelnuts and fruits, wild greens, and not only gazelles, but in certain places wild pig, sheep, cattle etc. I would have liked to be near the sea if possible, but I don't know if all of those things would have been available there. If not, then maybe around the Sea of Galilee with all its good fishing and fresh water. I don't think women did much hunting, but I like to fish.:) I think it was also greener then.

So much nicer to have a stable "home", even if it was a straw thatched hut; no constant trekking for endless miles with a baby at the breast, a toddler at your skirts and goodness knows how many others; no packing up the "teepee" and all the belongings as well as the children, especially as I get the feeling that, as was the case with the North American Indians, it was the women who had to do all of that. :) Also, no endless months of freezing cold. Maybe it would even have occurred to me to plant the wild grains somewhere near that hut.

Yes, that sounds like the best bet. Southern Europe/Italy would be second.

@LeBrok,
I don't like to share either, not where that's concerned, at least, and absolutely wouldn't agree to being shared. :) So, kudos to you.
 
There is no place for hunter gatherers in nice climate countries - farmers will overtake these lands and destroy Nature's self! You must all go to Siberia :)
 
Both my preferences and my heart draw me to say right near where I was born

I live in a densely populated area.
But where I grew up, it was a place that was flooded all around every autumn.
Therefore it was a noman's land in between.
I was always out to play with my friends in the fields and pastures.
And in winter it froze and the flooded pastures, they were all covered with ice.
It was the most fun part of the year, the whole village was out on the ice.
But when they had to construct the highway, it was the only empty space where it could pass.
I lost my childhood to that highway.
And when my own kids grew up, I felt sad that I couldn't offer them the same playgrounds any more.
 
There is no place for hunter gatherers in nice climate countries - farmers will overtake these lands and destroy Nature's self! You must all go to Siberia :)
In this fantasy exercies we can go back in time, Dagne. Way back in time, to the times when farmers didn't exist. ;)
 
I live in a densely populated area.
But where I grew up, it was a place that was flooded all around every autumn.
Therefore it was a noman's land in between.
I was always out to play with my friends in the fields and pastures.
And in winter it froze and the flooded pastures, they were all covered with ice.
It was the most fun part of the year, the whole village was out on the ice.
But when they had to construct the highway, it was the only empty space where it could pass.
I lost my childhood to that highway.
And when my own kids grew up, I felt sad that I couldn't offer them the same playgrounds any more.
I was roaming around my town and fields with my "band of brothers" too. If only my mother new half of the stories... ;)
 
I live in a densely populated area.
But where I grew up, it was a place that was flooded all around every autumn.
Therefore it was a noman's land in between.
I was always out to play with my friends in the fields and pastures.
And in winter it froze and the flooded pastures, they were all covered with ice.
It was the most fun part of the year, the whole village was out on the ice.
But when they had to construct the highway, it was the only empty space where it could pass.
I lost my childhood to that highway.
And when my own kids grew up, I felt sad that I couldn't offer them the same playgrounds any more.

That's very beautiful, Bicicleur; thank-you for sharing it.

My earliest memories are of sitting underneath my grandfather's grape arbor, with the dappled sunlight falling on me, and breathing in the musty smell of the grapes, the piney scent of the rosemary bushes, the sweet perfume of the roses cut by the spiciness of the carnations, and looking out over the river to the green hills on the other side.

I think it's the smells that most evoke "home" and "childhood" to me. It was the same for my mother. After I was already married we went with my parents to southern California on holiday. It was the first time she'd ever been there. The vegetation is just like home; you'd swear you're surrounded by the Mediterranean macchia. The whole setting of a city like Santa Barbara strung out along its beach with its Palm trees is also just like La Spezia. She took one look at the setting, at the fig and hazelnut trees, the flowers, and inhaled the smell of the sea and wild herbs, and started crying. She looked at my father and said, couldn't we have moved here?

Sense memory will get you every time. :) I tried to give my children some of those memories through their summers in Italy, and they loved it, but it's different for them than it is for me.

@LeBroc,
Alas, I have no naughty stories to share. I was a boringly bookish sort of girly girl, very obedient, very conservative and restrained, the kind who sat quietly at the feet of her grandparents and great-aunts and uncles listening to their stories. It's not for nothing that I always played Mary during May celebrations, and nuns in school plays. They even gave me a real veil and wimple to try to induce me to "sign up". My anti-clerical father went mad with rage. :)

@Dagne,

Don't misunderstand, I do like winter, which I got used to after I got here, and I like sledding and skating, even skiing, and then coming in all frosty to drink hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire. Some of my father's genes do survive in me. :) However, no offense, but I couldn't handle Siberia even today, much less then.

The best time to live is right now, in my opinion. This is just fun fantasy courtesy of LeBroc.

Ed. I suppose you could say I like a mix of wild nature and the companionship of village life and the conveniences of the modern world. When I retire some day I'm going to go "back to my roots" where, thankfully, the towns are either in or back up to nature preserves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuB4GiXLRjk
 
@Dagne,

Don't misunderstand, I do like winter, which I got used to after I got here, and I like sledding and skating, even skiing, and then coming in all frosty to drink hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire. Some of my father's genes do survive in me. :) However, no offense, but I couldn't handle Siberia even today, much less then. QUOTE]

Angela, I love sun and warm blue seas, and I hate winter darkness sleet and slush. Frankly I don't imagine anyone who may want to live in cold and winter darkness....


LeBrook, by the way, I noticed in one of your other threads when you mentioned about Estonia and IE cattle breeders - grass in Estonia is green only half a year the other half it is winter white or led grey. For about half a year cattle has to stay inside and to be fed... I don't imagine how these IE cattle breeders survived unless the climate was different 4000 years ago or the cattle was different...
20170224_094144.jpg "spring time"
 
Angela, I love sun and warm blue seas, and I hate winter darkness sleet and slush. Frankly I don't imagine anyone who may want to live in cold and winter darkness....


LeBrook, by the way, I noticed in one of your other threads when you mentioned about Estonia and IE cattle breeders - grass in Estonia is green only half a year the other half it is winter white or led grey. For about half a year cattle has to stay inside and to be fed... I don't imagine how these IE cattle breeders survived unless the climate was different 4000 years ago or the cattle was different...
View attachment 8544 "spring time"

The beauty is that as long as you have organized storage with hay, cows will eat dry grass for half a year, still giving you nutritious milk every day through winter. Even today, cows in Northern Europe are kept for milk and not for meat. Only young bulls are consumed for meat.
 
Hmm, what's the best place for a vegetarian?

I like hot weather, even if it's dampy. When other people are gasping for fresh air I'm just beginning to thaw. I guess my place is in the jungle, but not hunting. Have you ever seen the slaughter of a pig? This experience turned my inside organs out. No, killing and disembowelment is not my case.
 
Hmm, what's the best place for a vegetarian?

I like hot weather, even if it's dampy. When other people are gasping for fresh air I'm just beginning to thaw. I guess my place is in the jungle, but not hunting. Have you ever seen the slaughter of a pig? This experience turned my inside organs out. No, killing and disembowelment is not my case.

I hear you. My mom went to live on her uncle's farm after her mother died, and she said she got used to everything except the hog butchering. She said on that day she'd go for a long walk into the hills. I think it was mainly because of the squealing. I did the same; I didn't even wait to hear anything.

Hunter-gatherers were always on the verge of extinction, so I don't think they could be very picky in terms of what they were willing to eat. It was all about getting enough calories. That was true even in Europe until very recently.

Still, I suppose the largest percentage of calories from plant life would have been in the Levant in the Holocene, with the Natufians? Until they adopted animal husbandry I think the only animal protein came from gazelles.

You'd do well in Liguria today, at least if you allow yourself dairy and fish. The traditional cuisine is predominantly vegetables, fruit, cheese from sheep's milk, fish, pasta and bread, olive oil and wine. Some cured pork meats are served, and occasionally some rabbit, but they're easily avoided. Most of those foods came with Neolithic farmers, though, and after them the Greeks, so it would have been different for the hunter-gatherers.

If the weather then was similar to what it is now, the temperatures aren't that high in the winter, though (still, no snow), and the area can be hit by torrential rains.

Maybe somewhere further south would have been better.
 
The beauty is that as long as you have organized storage with hay, cows will eat dry grass for half a year, still giving you nutritious milk every day through winter. Even today, cows in Northern Europe are kept for milk and not for meat. Only young bulls are consumed for meat.



Somehow I think that the first herders were nomadic. They had their summer and winter places to be, without having to prepare hey (and how would they cut the grass without having iron?) and keeping cows in sheds protected against harsh winter conditions.

This is what herders normally do, they follow their herds. Besides, it would explain why the CWC herders would pick up farmer genes and incorporate them to current Lithuanian gene pool. I remember reading somewhere that full scale farming in Lithuania started only somewhere 500 - 1000 years after the first herders came.
 
Hunter-gatherers were always on the verge of extinction, so I don't think they could be very picky in terms of what they were willing to eat. It was all about getting enough calories.



Are you so sure about this Angela? There were fewer hunter gatherers but why do you think that they were getting extinct if not for the farmers? Besides, in as much as I remember hunter gatherers were better fed, taller, stronger and healthier (i.e., had better teeth) compared to incoming farmers. And they did not have to work like farmers. Being a hunter gatherer in a nice warm climate must have been a real bless. The golden age, according to Greeks...

Farmer strength is about being numerous and in the long run creating cities and culture that we all enjoy now.
 
Somehow I think that the first herders were nomadic. They had their summer and winter places to be, without having to prepare hey (and how would they cut the grass without having iron?) and keeping cows in sheds protected against harsh winter conditions.

This is what herders normally do, they follow their herds. Besides, it would explain why the CWC herders would pick up farmer genes and incorporate them to current Lithuanian gene pool. I remember reading somewhere that full scale farming in Lithuania started only somewhere 500 - 1000 years after the first herders came.

Believe it or not..
The HG that first domesticated animals were sedentary.
Their flock of female goats was intented to attract male goats which they hunted.
They defended their flock from predators.

Largescale herding started during the 8.2 ka climate event, and most herders were farmers that had abandonned their farms.
 
Human beings have been cutting grain and hay with sickes since the earliest days of the Neolithic and before. They didn't need iron or steel.

250px-Museum_Quintana_-_Neolithische_Sichel.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle

In my grandparents' day, and even in my parents' youth, people were still using the modern version of this. I've tried it once or twice. I don't know how people could move after a day of it, much less a whole harvest season. That constant twisting must play havoc with your back; no wonder that by 50 or 60 so many peasants were practically crippled by back problems.
 

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