This Fleeting World

Beginnings: The Era of Foragers
Thought Experiment
Most people are not conscious of how human communication systems
have an impact on every aspect of our lives. Consider the route
between your home and your school and what you know and think
about the things you see along the way. Now ask yourself: “How
many of the thoughts and ideas in my head were NOT put there by
some other human being, either through speech or writing? How
many of the objects I use every day could I invent without the help
of other humans?” This may remind you of how much we depend on
the thoughts and experiences of other human beings.
of pigments for use in body painting) and of significant changes in stone
tool technologies (including the disappearance of the stone technologies
associated with most forms of Homo ergaster) with the appearance of a
new species known as “Homo helmei.” The remains of this species are so
close to those of modern women and men that we may eventually have to
classify them with our own species, Homo sapiens. The earliest anatomical,
technological, and cultural evidence for these changes appears in Africa
between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago.
Foraging Lifeways
Archaeological evidence is so scarce for the era of foragers that our understanding
of early human lifeways has been shaped largely by conclusions
based on the study of modern foraging communities. Indeed, the notion
of a foraging mode of production was first proposed by the anthropologist
Richard Lee during the late 1970s on the basis of his studies of foraging
communities in southern Africa. However, the scanty archaeological evidence
can be used to discipline the generalizations suggested by modern
anthropological research.
The scarcity of remains from the foraging era, combined with what we
know of the lifeways and technologies of modern foragers, makes us certain
that levels of productivity were extraordinarily low by modern standards.
Humans probably did not extract from their environment much more than
the 3,000 kilocalories per day that adult members of our species need to
maintain a basic, healthy existence.