AFRICA
BY MARK ANTHONY PHELPS
Hunting, fi shing, and gathering activities are collectively
known as foraging. Foraging was the only economic option
for all humans prior to the Neolithic Revolution (ca. 9000
b.c.e.). Given that Homo sapiens sapiens appeared around
40,000 years ago, the bulk of human existence has been spent
foraging. Th e primary sources for Africa from antiquity are
sparse. Written sources, aside from the Nile Valley and its im-
mediate cultural neighbors, are foreign and are unconcerned
with recording the lives of foragers. Oral sources rarely ex-
tend back beyond the 18th century c.e. One is thus left with
archaeological evidence to reconstruct this aspect of human
history, along with models based upon historical foraging
groups.
Th e advent of the Neolithic Revolution is manifested
in the archaeological record in the form of domesticated
plants, domesticated animals, the beginnings of a sedentary
lifestyle, and the appearance of ceramics as a means of stor-
ing domesticated products. However, the African evidence
does not correspond neatly with this model. In Africa there
is evidence of ceramics before domestication. Th ere is also
evidence of hunting, gathering, and fi shing among settled
groups as well as evidence of pastoralism side by side with
gathering.
Th e Nile Valley provides the earliest evidence for seden-
tarization. At the delta site of Merimda Beni Salama, by 8000
b.c.e. foragers were living in houses with hearths and had
large pottery vessels for water storage. In the Faiyûm there is
evidence of a settlement on a shrinking lake from the seventh
millennium b.c.e. Foragers lived in this settlement, with silos
built to store excess food. Farther south, around Khartoum,
there is evidence from around 7000 b.c.e. of a foraging soci-
ety with ceramics, silos, and net weights for fi shing. Evidence
of a number of hunting and fi shing camps has been found
in modern-day Sudan. Th roughout the Nile Valley the domi-
nant fi sh species harvested were the Nile perch and catfi sh.
With the development of the harpoon around 8500 b.c.e.
(appea r i ng fi rst in Sudan), deepwater fi sh were exploited as
well. A wide variety of species was hunted, including aurochs,
hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and a number of smaller spe-
cies. Birds were also harvested. Tubers seem to have been the
dominant fl ora food source. Domestication reached the Nile
Valley in the fi ft h millennium b.c.e.
Ceramics had appeared throughout the Sahara by 6000
b.c.e. Th e Sahara supported plant life until around 4500 b.c.e.,
when a prolonged desertifi cation process began; through this
process the basic climatic patterning of today emerged around
2500 b.c.e. During the wetter period permanent streams as
well as a number of lakes were found in the Sahara. Th e faunal
representation was more Sahel-like, with many types of wild
grasses. Herding was being practiced at Ti-n-Torha (Libya) by
7000 b.c.e. It is not confi rmed in the western reaches of the
Sahara until the third millennium b.c.e.
As the Sahara dried, the herders apparently moved south
into western Africa. Th eir infl uence is discernible all over
the region from the second millennium, as herding became
a staple. Th ey also brought domesticated millet and sorghum
with them. Th e date of the domestication of the latter two is
not known but is fi xed at no later than around 1800 b.c.e.,
evidenced by African species that are present in India.
Along the Niger yam cultivation may have begun as
early as 4000 b.c.e., based upon the presence of a new type
of hoe, though paleobotanical evidence is lacking. However,Although meat accounts for a relatively small propor-
tion of the caloric intake of the Bushmen (estimated
between 15 and 30 percent), it is still the prestige
food item produced by foragers. Meat distribution
is among the most important issues that occupy the
attention of foragers. A !Kung woman stated that the
primary gender status gap appears because men are
“masters of the meat.”
The anthropologist Richard Lee experienced a
social leveling mechanism in the course of purchas-
ing a bull to be slaughtered for a Christmas feast for
the band of !Kung he was researching. Once word
of the particular bull chosen became known to the
members of the band, the men began to complain to
the anthropologist of his repulsive choice of animal.
Thoroughly depressed by the continuous complain-
ing concerning his choice, Lee watched the killing of
the bull and the unmistakable joy the animal brought
the crowd. The animal’s fl esh appeared to be in per-
fect accord with what he had been told was the ideal.
Confused, he was told by an informant that he had
experienced the mechanism of “insulting the meat.”
For the !Kung, there is a fear that a good hunter
could become vain, begin to hoard meat, and try to
assert his will upon others. Thus, when an animal is
killed, those who go with the hunter to retrieve the
carcass will complain about investing so much work
for a useless “bag of bones.” The hunter will apolo-
gize profusely. Likewise, when a hunter announces
that he has had no real luck but may have injured a
little animal, the rest of the band knows to get ex-
cited, as a large animal must have been hurt. Hunt-
ers engage in self-deprecation when announcing their
luck. In an environment in which death is a constant
threat, bands must take care that all their members
freely share risks and resources. It is impossible to as-
sert that such was the case among ancient African
foragers, but the logic behind the mechanism prob-
ably was at work in these societies as well.INSULTING THE MEAT
572 hunting, fishing, and gathering: Africa