Types of Foraging (Essay Sample)

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Question one; Four types of subsistence patterns of food foraging
Food foraging is also known as hunting and gathering and was common among many indigenous communities of Southwest Asia and Mesoamerica. Foraging has involved hunting or trapping big game, hunting or trapping of smaller animals, gathering insects, wild fruits, vegetables, tubers, seeds, and nuts etc. This first part of the paper will focus explaining the four types of subsistence patterns of food foraging.
The hunting and gathering cultures combines some of these activities to get a balanced diet. This economic activity requires extensive lands and uninhibited movements. Permanent villages are rare unless the area occupied has abundantly reliable supply of food. For example the many rivers and streams of other Pacific Northwest allowed the Native Americans access to Corn and Fish that supported construction of large permanent villages. In most cases, these communities move from place to place once food supplies get exhausted in one area. Such groups are small and comprise of extended families or a number of related families who have come together. In situations where hunting and gathering take place, the adult men hunt the large game. Women, children and their grandchildren collect stationary food such as plants, insects, shellfish etc. An example of such a society is the Kung or San people who continue to live in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia, Botswana and in Angola. They lived in semi-permanent camps normally composed of up to thirty people located around a water body. The community depended on men to make the hunting tools these being poisoned tipped spears and arrows and hence provide meat to the family. The women on the other hand foraged for roots, nuts and berries in the Kalahari Desert this being the bulk of the food taken in the family. They also prepared meals for the family and generally supported the raising up of children. This did not restrict them to their homes as they could also go hunting given that this society was not rigid on the gender roles as men would also go gathering (Janick 586).
Pastoralism is a social organization based on livestock rising as the primary activity- Merriam Webster definition. The pastoral communities domesticate the animals and they are thus an organized agricultural activity. They basically use large uncultivated less productive land for their grazing. In the savannas, these communities gather with their animals when the rains are adequate and the pastures are available in plenty. When the dry spell sets in, they scatter to search for water and pasture (Kroeber 78).
Pastoralism communities use the animal products milk, blood and meat from the herds for subsistence for the family supply and any extra is sold to generate income for the family. Pastoralists move from one place to another adapting to the environment and opening the possibilities for both the fertile and infertile regions to support human existence. It is characterized by mobility, low population density, vitality. Men in these communities provide for the family. Women on the other hand take care of the family and the children; construct the shelters that the families use. With time these communities have thus developed a pastoral culture that is complete with system of life and governance. For example like all pastoral communities, the male Somali herd and trade with the animals as the women take care of the family( Janick 587).
Horticulture refers to the science and art involved in the cultivation, propagation, processing and marketing of ornamental plants, flowers, turf, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Horticultural scientists do research to enhance horticultural knowledge, skills, and technologies, education and the commercial part of the enterprise. Its origin can be traced to the transition of communities from hunters- gatherer to horticultural communities cultivating small scale around their dwellings. Horticulturists are having formed associations or professional bodies to help achieve their targets in research and education (Geo and Kruse 72-73).
Agriculture from a general perspective involves rearing animals and growing crops. Settlement in an agricultural environment is diverse from the areas of great rain supply to dry lands through irrigation. Over the years agricultural practices have changed with the advent of new technologies and development of global markets. In modern agriculture, it’s common to use pesticides, fertilizers, to do plant breeding, crossbreeding etc. Agriculture today is a global business and there is no gender based roles or division of labor (Kroeber 77).
Question two; The Highland Maya Cargo System
This is a social- economic system that has been developed over time and was founded to encourage the re-investing back to the society. As the system evolved it amalgamated the olden Mayan traditional cultures and the Catholic traditions that had existed in this area since the seventeenth century with Spanish interaction with the region. The social system involves four levels through which each man is expected to pass and through which he is obligated to a period of serving his community. At each step he pays his village a certain percentage of his earned income. As the man progresses through each level, he attracts greater levels of responsibility and attains more respect, prestige and honor in the community. This paper discus...