Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Hunter Gatherers

Abstract

This handbook examines the ethnohistory of hunter-gatherers and its relevance to archaeology and anthropology. Organized into seven thematic sections, it highlights the underlying theoretical trends that have shaped and informed the development of hunter-gatherer research over recent centuries, along with cross-cutting themes such as hunter-gatherer gender relations. It investigates hunting and gathering as a distinctive way of life that formed the general behavioural context for early human evolution, particularly population dispersals within several key regions such as Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe. It also analyses how global transformations affected hunter-gatherer societies in Africa, Europe, and Asia in the terminal Pleistocene and earlier Holocene, as well as the profound changes in climate and biogeography that were taking place during this period. More specifically, it looks at the local and regional opportunities and constraints that arose from this environmental change and how humans responded to them. In addition, the book explores how hunter-gatherer societies were influenced by factors such as the expansion of agro-pastoral farming and the rise of urbanism, nation states, and global empires. Finally, it discusses new avenues to advance hunter-gatherer research in the long term.